CLOSED: Call for Papers: Special Section on Applied Software Aging and Rejuvenation in Computing Systems

IEEE TETC seeks submissions for this upcoming special issue.
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Submissions Due: 15 March 2024

Important Dates

  • Submission Deadline: 15 March 2024

Publication: Early 2025


Software aging, characterized by the gradual deterioration of performance and reliability in long-running computer programs, has long been a pervasive concern across various systems, from embedded devices to critical software applications. For over two decades, extensive research has delved into understanding and mitigating this phenomenon. Central to addressing software aging are proactive strategies encompassing software rejuvenation. These strategies involve the deliberate restart of applications, components, threads, tasks, virtual machines, or entire machines, along with failover mechanisms to redundant systems. A multitude of rejuvenation techniques, each tailored to specific application types and platforms, have been proposed, covering diverse aspects such as scheduling plans, scope, and granularity.

In contemporary times, the complexities arising from software aging and the application of software rejuvenation methods have expanded their reach into intricate domains. These domains encompass Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), AI systems, and control systems, all of which are progressively integrated into safety-critical operations. Within these dynamic realms, software aging and rejuvenation techniques assume paramount significance as they play a pivotal role in safeguarding critical properties, such as resilience against failures and cyber-attacks.

The International Workshop on Software Aging and Rejuvenation (WoSAR) stands as the foremost global platform for the exchange of insights and advancements in both theoretical and practical dimensions of software aging and rejuvenation research. In its 15th edition, co-located with the 34th International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering, WoSAR 2023 provided an invaluable forum for researchers and practitioners to disseminate their contributions related to the software aging phenomenon and its alleviation through rejuvenation techniques.

As part of this ongoing exploration, we cordially invite original research papers in the domain of software aging and rejuvenation for a dedicated section in the IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing. Authors who presented their work at WoSAR 2023 are encouraged to submit extended versions of their papers, contributing to the continuous evolution of our understanding and solutions for software aging challenges.

Authors are invited to submit a manuscript to the special section on Applied Software Aging and Rejuvenation in Computing Systems. Relevant topics of interest to this special section include (but are not limited to):

  • Theory and implementation of techniques to identify and address the progressive degradation of
    performability / availability / reliability / scalability in software systems.
  • Software methodologies and their implementations for detection, localization, testing, and monitoring of aging-related bugs/errors/failures/information obsolescence, etc.
  • Real-life frameworks and their implementations for modeling, detecting, characterizing, and addressing the software aging phenomenon.
  • Design, evaluation, and implementation of rejuvenation techniques.
  • Hardware support to mitigate software aging in computing systems.
  • Industrial techniques for software rejuvenation.
  • Software aging and rejuvenation methodologies in support to Cyber-Physical Systems (e.g., anomaly detection, security intrusions, testing, fault localization, on-line feedback control).
  • Software aging and rejuvenation methodologies in support to AI systems.

Submission Guidelines

The papers submitted to this special section must include new significant technical contributions that fall within the scope of the journal. Contributions describing an overall working system and reporting real world deployment experiences are particularly of interest. The submissions must include clear evaluations of the proposed solutions (based on simulation and/or implementations results) and comparisons with state-of-the-art solutions. 

For additional information please contact the Guest Editors by sending an email to wosar2023@gmail.com Papers under review elsewhere are not acceptable for submission. Extended versions of published conference papers (to be included as part of the submission together with a summary of differences) are welcome, but there must have at least 40% of new impacting technical/scientific material in the submitted journal version and there should be less than 50% verbatim similarity level as reported by a tool (such as CrossRef). 

Guidelines concerning the submission process, LaTeX and Word templates can be found here.

While submitting through ScholarOne, at  please select the option “Special Section on Applied Software Aging and Rejuvenation in Computing Systems.

As per TETC policies, only full-length papers (10-16 pages with technical material, double column – papers beyond 12 pages will be subject to MOPC, as per CS policies -) can be submitted to special sections. The bibliography should not exceed 45 items and each Author’s bio should not exceed 150 words.  


Questions? Contact the guest editors at wosar2023@gmail.com.

  • Raffaele Romagnoli, Carnegie Mellon University, USA (Member, IEEE)
  • Jianwen Xiang, Wuhan University of Technology, China (Member, IEEE)
  • Corresponding TETC Editor: Nan Guang, City University of Hong Kong, China (IEEE Fellow)