###############################################################################

                      ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review

     Special Issue on Repeatability and Sharing of Experimental Artifacts
                                 January 2015

                        http://www.sigops.org/osr.html

CALL FOR PAPERS

There is increasing interest in promoting repeatable and reproducible research
in computer science.  A community gains confidence in scientific claims when
the experiments supporting those claims are published, examined, and repeated.
Repeating research also helps a community expand on previous results and
discover new directions for investigation.  Repetition requires that the
artifacts used in an experiment be made available to, and made usable by,
investigators.  In other words, artifacts must be shared.  Possible artifacts
include not only binaries, source code, and datasets but also computing and
networking infrastructure such as testbeds and clouds.

Systems researchers face special challenges in the areas of repeatability and
artifact sharing.  Some arise from the nature of systems software, which is
typically complex and rife with internal and external dependencies.  Other
issues arise from execution environments: for example, to reproduce performance
and scalability results, one may need access to actual and specific hardware.
Still more systems-specific challenges arise from the difficulty of measuring
properties of interest, such as time and energy consumption.

The goal of the January 2015 issue of Operating Systems Review is to present a
selection of high-quality papers about the state of repeatable research in
computer systems and the sharing of experimental artifacts related to systems
research.  The issue solicits both technical papers and position papers related
to these topics.

Suggested paper topics include, but are not limited to:

  * novel ways to manage systems research artifacts, dependencies, workflows,
    and data collection
  * testbeds for repeatable research and/or publishing executable artifacts
  * "rich publications" that connect papers to software and data
  * repeatability in distributed and nondeterministic systems
  * mitigating obstacles to artifact sharing, repeatability, and reproduction
  * repeatability challenges specific to systems
  * measurement bias in systems experiments
  * experiences and outcomes from systems repetition and reproduction studies
  * improving scientific practice in systems research
  * incentives for producing and sharing high-quality research artifacts

Papers are expected to present significant results, insights, and/or directions
for future work, and they are expected to include substantial material that has
not already been published.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Submissions must be no longer than ten (10) pages; shorter papers are allowed
and encouraged.  Submissions must be written in English and follow the standard
formatting guidelines for papers appearing in Operating Systems Review (see
<http://www.sigops.org/osr.html>).  Papers must be submitted in PDF format via
the submission web site.  Submitted papers will be reviewed by the guest editor
and the review committee.  Papers will be evaluated on technical quality,
originality, relevance, and presentation.  Accepted papers will be published in
the January 2015 issue of Operating Systems Review.

Submission web site: https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=osrrepeat2015

Questions about these instructions should be directed to the guest editor.

IMPORTANT DATES

  * Submission deadline:        September 26, 2014 (EXTENDED!)
  * Notification of acceptance: October 31, 2014
  * Camera-ready deadline:      November 14, 2014
  * Special Issue Publication:  January 2015

GUEST EDITOR

Eric Eide, University of Utah

REVIEW COMMITTEE

Jeannie Albrecht, Williams College
Tim Brecht, University of Waterloo
Amer Diwan, Google
Sebastian Fischmeister, University of Waterloo
Rebecca Isaacs, Microsoft Research
Jelena Mirkovic, USC Information Sciences Institute
Kiran-Kumar Muniswamy-Reddy, Amazon.com
Victoria Stodden, Columbia University
Ryan Stutsman, Microsoft Research
Peter F. Sweeney, IBM Research
Michael Zhivich, MIT Lincoln Laboratory

###############################################################################