Software Process - Improvement and Practice Journal: Special Issue on Free/Open Source Software Processes

Guest Editors:

• Joseph Feller, University College Cork
• Brian Fitzgerald, University of Limerick
• Scott Hissam, Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
• Karim Lakhani, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Walt Scacchi, University of California, Irvine

Free/open source software (F/OSS) products and processes (development methods and practices) are being adopted on a global basis throughout the software community. However, it is unclear whether the enthusiastic adoption of F/OSS processes is justified or not. Specifically, it is unclear what processes and practices are specific to, or characteristic of the development, deployment, use, or evolution of F/OSS systems. This special issue of Software Process - Improvement and Practice seeks papers that investigate F/OSS processes from a variety of perspectives and approaches. We are particularly interested in empirical studies of F/OSS processes found in different F/OSS projects, as well as studies that employ tools and techniques for studying, mining, or modeling F/OSS processes through analysis of F/OSS source code, development artifacts, computer-mediated communications (public discussion forums, chat archives, Wikis/Blogs), Web sites, and public repositories.

Potential topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• F/OSS development, deployment, usage, or evolution processes within or across F/OSS projects
• Processes associated with the diffusion, adoption, assimilation, and tailoring of F/OSS innovations in different communities #
• Socio-technical, economic, or cultural processes that shape the development, adoption, or evolution of F/OSS systems, or the career opportunities of F/OSS developers
• Studies that compare F/OSS and conventional, "closed source" software engineering processes in different project settings
• Development or reuse of F/OSS technologies, processes, and practices in support of commercial software products or services
• Studies of development and evolutionary trends across large samples of F/OSS projects
• Tools and techniques for discovering, modeling, simulating, analyzing, enacting, redesigning, or improving F/OSS processes found in different F/OSS projects
• Processes that typify the success or failure of F/OSS projects

Schedule:

• Abstract submission (required): 15 February 2005
• Full paper submission: 1 March 2005
• Expected publication: Winter/Spring 2006.

Manuscripts should be in the range of 6000 words or 30 pages, double-spaced and with figures included.

Prospective authors are advised to consult the instructions for authors at the SPIP Web site at Wiley-Interscience .

Authors are also encouraged, where appropriate, to consider prior studies of F/OSS published in the Information Systems Journal 11(4), 2001, 12(1), 2002; IEE Proceedings-Software 149(1), 2002; Research Policy 32(7), 2003; Systemes d'Information et Management 8(1), 2003; IEEE Software 32(1), 2004; the online proceedings of the 1st through 4th International Workshop on Open Source Software Engineering (on this website); or the MIT Open Source research paper repository ( opensource.mit.edu ).