Connectionists: International Conference on Software and Systems Reuse, Product Lines, and Configuration (VARIABILITY 2026): First Call for Research Papers

[Announce]

*** First Call for Research Papers ***

International Conference on Software and Systems Reuse, Product Lines,
and Configuration (VARIABILITY 2026)

29 September - 2 October 2026

https://conf.researchr.org/home/variability-2026<http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~george/GPLists_2021/lm.php?tk=Y29ubmVjdGlvbmlzdHMJCQljb25uZWN0aW9uaXN0c0BtYWlsbWFuLnNydi5jcy5jbXUuZWR1CUludGVybmF0aW9uYWwgQ29uZmVyZW5jZSBvbiBTb2Z0d2FyZSBhbmQgU3lzdGVtcyBSZXVzZSwgUHJvZHVjdCBMaW5lcywgYW5kIENvbmZpZ3VyYXRpb24gKFZBUklBQklMSVRZIDIwMjYpOiBGaXJzdCBDYWxsIGZvciBSZXNlYXJjaCBQYXBlcnMJNDE0CVZhcmlhYmlsaXR5CTE3NgljbGljawl5ZXMJbm8=&url=https%3A%2F%2Fconf.researchr.org%2Fhome%2Fvariability-2026>


The International Conference on Software and Systems Reuse, Product Lines, and
Configuration (VARIABILITY 2026) invites high-quality contributions from researchers and
practitioners in software engineering, systems engineering, and related disciplines
focussing on a broad spectrum of methods, concepts, and tools for variability.
VARIABILITY aims to be the premier forum for the exchange of ideas, experiences, and
results in all aspects of software and systems variability management, reuse, software
configuration, and customization.

As software and systems become increasingly configurable, reusable, and adaptable,
managing their variability across all lifecycle phases is more critical—and more challenging
—than ever. VARIABILITY 2026 seeks to bring together the diverse communities that
address these challenges from theoretical, technical, and practical perspectives.

VARIABILITY results from a merge of three prominent conferences focussing on software
and systems variability, configuration and reuse: SPLC (the International Systems and
Software Product Line Conference, 29 successful editions), VaMoS (the International
Working Conference on Variability Modelling of Software-Intensive Systems, 19 successful
editions), and ICSR (the International Conference on Systems and Software Reuse, 22
successful editions).

VARIABILITY is by design open as a conference. It welcomes new fields of variability-
intensive research, such as artificial intelligence, hybrid software-hardware systems, etc.
For this first edition of VARIABILITY, we strive to continue the success of the predecessor
conferences ICSR, SPLC, and VaMoS by welcoming high-quality submissions for the
research track in numerous closely related areas, such as systems and software product
lines, systems and software reuse, configurable systems and software, product
configuration, and systems and software variability. We will award the best research paper
and the best artifact paper.


Topics of Interest

We invite contributions on variability management, reuse, and configuration across all
phases of the software and systems lifecycle. The topics of interest include, but are not
limited to:

Requirements & Domain Engineering
• Domain analysis and variability modeling
• Decision modeling and support
• Customization and personalization specification
• Requirements variability and traceability

Architecture & Design
• Variability-aware software architectures
• Architecture-centric product line engineering
• Model-driven engineering (MDE)
• Multi-product lines, program families, product lines of product lines, software
ecosystems

Implementation & Code Generation
• Generative programming and code synthesis
• Modularization techniques for reusable code
• Programming languages and frameworks for variability
• Open-source strategies for software reuse

Testing, Verification & Quality Assurance
• Testing and analysis of configurable systems
• Safety and security in variable systems
• Formal Methods for Software Product Lines
• Non-functional properties: quality-aware analysis, quality-driven configuration
• Reuse in testing, verification, and quality assurance

Evolution, Maintenance & Operation
• Refactoring and restructuring of configurable systems
• Reverse engineering, variability mining, and refactoring
• Runtime variability and dynamic (software) product lines
• Maintenance strategies for large-scale reused systems
• Variability in DevOps and CI/CD pipelines

AI and Data-Driven Methods
• Machine learning for variability management
• AI-assisted product configuration
• Data and repository mining from product lines and configuration histories
• Recommendation systems for reuse and customization

Industrial Applications and Tool Support
• Variability and reuse in AI, cyber-physical systems, robotics, automotive, aerospace,
quantum computing, etc.
• Sustainable technologies for variation and sustainable software reuse approaches
• Human, organizational, and social aspects of variable systems and software
• Industrial case studies and lessons learned
• Tools support for all activities in variability management, configuration, and reuse


Submission Guidelines

Paper Types
We invite the following types of submissions:

• Full Papers (up to 16 pages excluding references): Research papers must present
original, unpublished work with validated results through empirical evaluation, formal
analysis, or implementation-based experiments. Submissions must clearly articulate the
problem, its relevance, the proposed contribution, and validation results.

• Short Papers (6 - 8 pages excluding references): Short papers present early-stage
research, novel ideas, or conceptual proposals that are not yet fully developed or
validated but offer promising directions. These papers should articulate the vision,
motivation, and potential impact.

Formatting
Papers must use the Springer LNCS template according to:
https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines<http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~george/GPLists_2021/lm.php?tk=Y29ubmVjdGlvbmlzdHMJCQljb25uZWN0aW9uaXN0c0BtYWlsbWFuLnNydi5jcy5jbXUuZWR1CUludGVybmF0aW9uYWwgQ29uZmVyZW5jZSBvbiBTb2Z0d2FyZSBhbmQgU3lzdGVtcyBSZXVzZSwgUHJvZHVjdCBMaW5lcywgYW5kIENvbmZpZ3VyYXRpb24gKFZBUklBQklMSVRZIDIwMjYpOiBGaXJzdCBDYWxsIGZvciBSZXNlYXJjaCBQYXBlcnMJNDE0CVZhcmlhYmlsaXR5CTE3NgljbGljawl5ZXMJbm8=&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.springer.com%2Fgp%2Fcomputer-science%2Flncs%2Fconference-proceedings-guidelines>

Springer provides author guidelines that should be consulted for further details:
https://resource-preview-cms.springernature.com/springer-cms/rest/v1/content/19242230/data/v17<http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~george/GPLists_2021/lm.php?tk=Y29ubmVjdGlvbmlzdHMJCQljb25uZWN0aW9uaXN0c0BtYWlsbWFuLnNydi5jcy5jbXUuZWR1CUludGVybmF0aW9uYWwgQ29uZmVyZW5jZSBvbiBTb2Z0d2FyZSBhbmQgU3lzdGVtcyBSZXVzZSwgUHJvZHVjdCBMaW5lcywgYW5kIENvbmZpZ3VyYXRpb24gKFZBUklBQklMSVRZIDIwMjYpOiBGaXJzdCBDYWxsIGZvciBSZXNlYXJjaCBQYXBlcnMJNDE0CVZhcmlhYmlsaXR5CTE3NgljbGljawl5ZXMJbm8=&url=https%3A%2F%2Fresource-preview-cms.springernature.com%2Fspringer-cms%2Frest%2Fv1%2Fcontent%2F19242230%2Fdata%2Fv17>

Submission Link
Submissions should be made via Easy Chair, selecting the research track:
https://easychair.org/conferences?conf=variability2026<http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~george/GPLists_2021/lm.php?tk=Y29ubmVjdGlvbmlzdHMJCQljb25uZWN0aW9uaXN0c0BtYWlsbWFuLnNydi5jcy5jbXUuZWR1CUludGVybmF0aW9uYWwgQ29uZmVyZW5jZSBvbiBTb2Z0d2FyZSBhbmQgU3lzdGVtcyBSZXVzZSwgUHJvZHVjdCBMaW5lcywgYW5kIENvbmZpZ3VyYXRpb24gKFZBUklBQklMSVRZIDIwMjYpOiBGaXJzdCBDYWxsIGZvciBSZXNlYXJjaCBQYXBlcnMJNDE0CVZhcmlhYmlsaXR5CTE3NgljbGljawl5ZXMJbm8=&url=https%3A%2F%2Feasychair.org%2Fconferences%3Fconf%3Dvariability2026>


Paper Originality, Double-Blind Policy, Reviewing
All papers must be original and not under review elsewhere. Submissions will be double-
blind and reviewed by at least three experts. Submissions will be evaluated based on their
novelty, relevance, rigor, transparency, and presentation. Authors of submissions to the
first deadline might be invited to submit a revision of their papers to the second deadline,
which will be reviewed as a revision. Accepted papers will be published in the VARIABILITY
2026 proceedings by Springer in the LNCS series.

Revisions
Research-track papers can be submitted to the first or second cycle. In the first cycle,
papers can receive the following decisions: accept, revision, or reject. Revision means that
the reviewers believe that the paper has potential, but that its quality or contribution is not
yet ready for publication. Such papers are offered lightweight shepherding by a community
member, who is not necessarily a PC member or reviewer. Revised papers should be
submitted to the second cycle together with a response letter, explaining how the reviewer
comments were addressed. They are then reviewed by the same PC members. Papers
rejected in the first cycle can be resubmitted in the second cycle, but need to contain an
appendix “Changes to First-Cycle Submission” at the end of the PDF (after references,
regardless of the page limit) that lists the major changes in bullet-point format.


Journal Special Issue

Selected accepted papers will be invited to submit extended versions with at least 30%
additional and original material, to be published in a special issue in a reputable Software
Engineering journal (currently under negotiation).


Important Dates (AoE)

• First Paper Submission Deadline: 4 December 2025
• First Notification of Acceptance/Revisions: 16 February 2026
• Camera-Ready Deadline of Directly Accepted Papers: 1 April 2026
• Second Paper Submission Deadline: 2 April 2026
• Second Notification of Acceptance: 1 June 2026
• Camera-Ready Deadline of Accepted Revised Papers and Directly Accepted Papers: 15
July 2025
• Author Registration: 15 July 2025


Organisation

General Chairs
• George A. Papadopoulos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus
• Gilles Perrouin, FNRS & University of Namur, Belgium

Research Track Chairs
• Thorsten Berger, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
• Ina Schaefer, KIT, Germany

Industry Track Chairs
• Shaukat Ali, Simula Research Lab and Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
• Martin Becker, Fraunhofer IESE, Germany

Journal First Track Chairs
• Mathieu Acher, University Rennes, Inria, CNRS, IRISA, France
• Xhevahire Tërnava, LTCI, Télécom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France

Doctoral Symposium Track Chairs
• Rick Rabiser, LIT CPS, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria
• Iris Reinhartz-Berger, University of Haifa, Israel

Demos and Tools Track Chairs
• Sandra Greiner, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
vLeopoldo Teixeira, Federal University of Pernambuco

Projects Showcase Chairs
• Daniel Struber, Chalmers, University of Gothenburg, Radbound University, Sweden
• Dalila Tamzalit, Nantes Université, France

Hall of Fame Chairs
• Martin Becker, Fraunhofer IESE, Germany
• Goetz Botterweck, Lero - The Irish Software Research Centre and University of Limerick, Ireland
• Natsuko Noda, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan

Workshops Chairs
• Lidia Fuentes, Universidad de Malaga, Spain
• Malte Lochau, University of Siegen, Germany

Tutorials Chairs
• Loek Cleophas, Eindhoven University of Technology and Stellenbosch University, The Netherlands
• Mahsa Varshosaz, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Proceedings Chair
• Sophie Fortz, King's College London, UK

Publicity Chairs
• Wesley Assunção, North Carolina State University, USA
• Kentaro Yoshimura, Hitachi Ltd, Japan

Local Organiser and Finance Chair
• George A. Papadopoulos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus

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