Call for Papers

FM 2021 CALL FOR REASEARCH PAPERS

FM 2021 is the 24th international symposium in a series organized by Formal Methods Europe (FME), an independent association whose aim is to stimulate the use of, and research on, formal methods for software development. The symposia have been notably successful in bringing together researchers and industrial users around a programme of original papers on research and industrial experience, workshops, tutorials, reports on tools, projects, and ongoing doctoral work. FM 2021 will be both an occasion to celebrate and a platform for enthusiastic researchers and practitioners from a diversity of backgrounds to exchange their ideas and share their experience.

FM 2021 will highlight the development and application of formal methods in a wide range of domains including software, cyber-physical systems and integrated computer-based systems. We are in particular interested in the application of formal methods in the areas of systems-of-systems, security, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, manufacturing, sustainability, power, transport, smart cities, healthcare, biology. We also welcome papers on experiences from application of formal methods in industry, and on the design and validation of formal methods tools.

After analyzing the COVID-19 situation, FME board has decided that FM 2021 will be held online. The organisation team of FM 2021 is fully committed to make this online FM conference a wonderful experience for all participants.

TOPICS OF INTEREST

FM 2021 encourages submissions on formal methods in a wide range of domains including software, computer-based systems, systems-of-systems, cyber-physical systems, security, human-computer interaction, manufacturing, sustainability, energy, transport, smart cities, and healthcare. We particularly welcome papers on techniques, tools and experiences in interdisciplinary settings. We also welcome papers on experiences of formal methods in industry, and on the design and validation of formal methods tools. The broad topics of interest for FM 2021 include, but are not limited to:

• Interdisciplinary formal methods: Techniques, tools and experiences demonstrating the use of formal methods in interdisciplinary settings.
• Formal methods in practice: Industrial applications of formal methods, experience with formal methods in industry, tool usage reports, experiments with challenge problems. The authors are encouraged to explain how formal methods overcame problems, led to improved designs, or provided new insights.
• Tools for formal methods: Advances in automated verification, model checking, and testing with formal methods, tools integration, environments for formal methods, and experimental validation of tools. The authors are encouraged to demonstrate empirically that the new tool or environment advances the state of the art.
• Formal methods in software and systems engineering: Development processes with formal methods, usage guidelines for formal methods, and method integration. The authors are encouraged to evaluate process innovations with respect to qualitative or quantitative improvements. Empirical studies and evaluations are also solicited.
• Theoretical foundations of formal methods: All aspects of theory related to specification, verification, refinement, and static and dynamic analysis. The authors are encouraged to explain how their results contribute to the solution of practical problems with formal methods or tools.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Papers should be original work, not published or submitted elsewhere, in Springer LNCS format, written in English, submitted through EasyChair:

https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=fm2021

Each paper will be evaluated by at least three members of the Programme Committee. Authors of papers reporting experimental work are strongly encouraged to make their experimental results available for use by the reviewers. Similarly, case study papers should describe significant case studies, and the complete development should be made available at the time of review. The usual criteria for novelty, reproducibility, correctness and the ability for others to build upon the described work apply. Tool papers and tool demonstration papers should explain enhancements made compared to previously published work. A tool demonstration paper need not present the theory behind the tool, but can focus on the tool's features, how it is used, its evaluation, and examples and screenshots illustrating the tool's use. Authors of tool and tool demonstration papers should make their tool available for use by the reviewers.

The review process at FM is not double blind. There is no need to omit author names and affiliations from the submission.

We solicit various categories of papers:

• Regular Papers (max 15 pages)
• Long tool papers (max 15 pages)
• Case study papers (max 15 pages)
• Short papers (max 6 pages), including tool demonstration papers. Besides short tool demo papers, short papers are encouraged for any topic that can be described within the page limit, and in particular for novel ideas without an extensive experimental evaluation. Short papers will be given short presentations at the conference.

All page limits do not count references and appendices.

For all papers, an appendix can provide additional material such as details on proofs or experiments. The appendix is not part of the page count and not guaranteed to be read or taken into account by the reviewers. It should not contain information necessary for the understanding and the evaluation of the presented work. Papers will be accepted or rejected in the category in which they were submitted.

At least one author of an accepted paper is expected to present the paper at the conference as a registered participant.

BEST PAPER AWARD

At the conference, the PC Chairs will present an award to the authors of the submission selected as the FM 2021 Best Paper.

PUBLICATION

Accepted papers will be published in the Symposium Proceedings to appear in Springer's Lecture Notes in Computer Science in the subline on Formal Methods. Traditionally, extended versions of selected papers will be invited for publication in a special issue of one or more journals.