What we are looking for in submissions
IEEE Software appeals to the reflective professional who wants to be on the leading edge, is looking for new insights and timeless practical advice, and is interested in exploring both inside and outside the boundaries of their core practices. Our readers span software professionals of all levels and orientations: from developers to project managers, testers to quality engineers, requirements analysts to process experts, interaction designers to executives, and from small to large organizations. We also target educators and researchers who cater to the reflective professional.
All our articles are rigorously peer-reviewed, but our orientation, style, and manner of operation are different from those of formal transactions or research journals. IEEE Software is unique in terms of its mission of bridging the worlds of research and practice. We sometimes publish "researchy" articles as well as peer-reviewed opinion pieces, provided that we deem their message relevant to the reflective professional.
In general, we're looking for the following qualities in peer-reviewed articles:
- The article is relevant to practitioners. Its topic and content reflect current or predicted industrial needs. The article offers practitioners clear, concrete, and convincing insights or advice. Any results it presents are supported by practical application.
- The article is technically sound. The arguments are logical and coherent. The underlying methods are scientific and applied correctly.
- The article cites work from which it derives, but it doesn't necessarily include an extensive literature review. It's sufficient for the article to briefly position itself relative to other pertinent work. Articles in general do not contain more than 15 references. An extra allowance may be granted to survey/synthesis articles.
- The article's introduction states the objectives in terms that encourages the reader to read on, and quickly moves on to its central topic.
- The article is well organized and focused.
- The article is concise. Accepted articles seldom exceed eight magazine pages.
- The article is written in a style accessible and appealing to practitioners, avoiding overly complex or theoretical treatments.
- The article avoids shallow or purely anecdotal content such as unsupported or unverifiable claims, clichés, and superficial advice. It treats its topic with sufficient depth, rigor, and balance to be of value to readers.
- A nonsurvey, nonsynthesis article presents original work. If it derives from previous work, it must contain a significant amount of new material or provide a novel perspective.
For policy concerning derivative work, multiple submissions, and concurrent submissions, click here.