FSE Topic Selection
Decide the venue before drafting. FSE — the ACM International Conference on the Foundations of
Software Engineering, historically ESEC/FSE on its European rotation — is one of the two
general software-engineering flagships, alongside ICSE, and the ACM SIGSOFT home for foundational
and empirical SE. Its research papers are PACMSE journal articles, so reviewers read for a
durable software-engineering contribution, not a one-conference result. A technically strong
paper whose real lesson is about compilers, PL semantics, or pure ML is respected and then
rejected as out of scope.
The routing question that matters most
FSE and ICSE overlap heavily in scope and reviewer pool, so the decisive question is rarely "is
this SE?" but "which SE community and calendar fits this paper now?" Both welcome techniques,
empirical studies, and human-factors work. Use the finer signals below and the live deadlines to
choose — a strong paper is publishable at either, and the nearer honest deadline usually wins.
Sibling-venue routing table
| Signal in your project |
Better home |
Why |
| Broad SE contribution, empirical or conceptual, ready now, and the next FSE deadline is nearer |
ESEC/FSE |
PACMSE journal-style track; the second general-SE flagship |
| Equally broad, but ICSE's cycle lands sooner or you want its stage |
ICSE |
Sibling general-SE flagship; different calendar and template (IEEE 10+2) |
| Core is automating a development task; tool/systems flavor dominates |
ASE |
Automated software engineering is its named center |
| Core is testing, program analysis, or fault detection with depth |
ISSTA |
Deeper testing/analysis expertise, round-based reviewing |
| The whole method is repository mining |
MSR |
Purpose-built co-located conference |
| Maintenance and software evolution focus |
ICSME |
Scope match |
| Study is too long or too nuanced for the page budget |
EMSE / TSE / TOSEM |
Journals with no conference page ceiling; some offer a journal-first path back to an FSE stage |
Contribution shapes FSE rewards
- Technique + tool + evaluation on real subjects — a new analysis, testing, repair,
synthesis, or recommendation technique, embodied in a tool and evaluated on real systems against
credible baselines (the CUTE lineage).
- Empirical study — mining, controlled experiments, or mixed-methods work that changes what
the community believes about how software is built or maintained (the flaky-tests lineage).
- Methodology / measurement validity — interrogating an instrument the field relies on (the
"are mutants a valid substitute?" lineage) — a distinctly prized FSE mode.
- Human and organizational factors — how practitioners actually use, trust, or abandon tools,
with sound qualitative method.
- Foundational or conceptual — models, theories, or formal underpinnings with a clear SE
payoff — the "foundations" in the name is not decorative.
The model-swap and re-label tests
Two quick tests sharpen a borderline verdict:
- Model-swap test: if your paper leans on an LLM or learner, ask whether the software-
engineering lesson survives swapping the model for another. If not, the model is the
contribution and a PL/ML venue fits better.
- Re-label test: could this paper be submitted to ISSTA or ASE unchanged and read as native
there? If its heart is testing depth or automation machinery, route accordingly; FSE rewards the
broader SE framing and empirical breadth.
Evidence maturity, without the ladder cliché
Fit is necessary but not sufficient: the same idea sits at different doors depending on how far
the evidence has come. An observation with an argument but no study is a workshop or vision paper;
a working technique evaluated only on examples you chose needs real subjects before the research
track; a study too deep for the page budget belongs in a journal first. Submitting one step early
earns a polite "promising, but..." and costs a full cycle, because FSE, like its siblings, runs on
an annual rhythm.
Cheap reconnaissance before committing
[Scope] scan the last two FSE programs (dblp, conf.researchr.org) for your subarea
-> 3+ recent papers = a reviewer pool exists; 0 = opening or mismatch
[Citations] is your bibliography majority SE venues (ICSE/FSE/ASE/ISSTA/EMSE/TSE)?
-> majority non-SE => reviewers read you as a visitor; naturalize the intro first
[Calendar] compare the next FSE deadline with ICSE/ASE/ISSTA/journal dates -> route to the
nearest honest fit rather than waiting a year for a marginal preference
Decision procedure
[Audience] who acts differently if the claim holds? -> SE developers/testers/maintainers/researchers?
[Claim type] technique / empirical / methodology / human-factors / foundational
[FSE vs ICSE] both fit? -> choose by calendar, community pull, and template preference
[Sibling check] testing depth -> ISSTA; automation core -> ASE; mining-only -> MSR
[Verdict] ESEC/FSE research track / sibling venue / journal-first, with a one-line reason
Run this before the writing skills; a wrong venue decision wastes every later step. When the
verdict is FSE, continue with fse-workflow for the calendar and fse-writing-style for the
paper shape.
Source: brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills → FSE-Skills/skills/fse-topic-selection/SKILL.md
1---2name: fse-topic-selection3description: Use when deciding whether a software-engineering project belongs at ESEC/FSE or should be routed to ICSE, ASE, ISSTA, MSR, ICSME, or an SE journal (EMSE/TSE/TOSEM), and when distinguishing FSE from its sibling general-SE flagship ICSE by contribution shape, evidence maturity, and the PACMSE journal-style fit.4---567# FSE Topic Selection89Decide the venue before drafting. FSE — the ACM International Conference on the Foundations of10Software Engineering, historically **ESEC/FSE** on its European rotation — is one of the *two*11general software-engineering flagships, alongside ICSE, and the ACM SIGSOFT home for foundational12and empirical SE. Its research papers are PACMSE journal articles, so reviewers read for a13**durable software-engineering contribution**, not a one-conference result. A technically strong14paper whose real lesson is about compilers, PL semantics, or pure ML is respected and then15rejected as out of scope.1617## The routing question that matters most1819FSE and ICSE overlap heavily in scope and reviewer pool, so the decisive question is rarely "is20this SE?" but **"which SE community and calendar fits this paper now?"** Both welcome techniques,21empirical studies, and human-factors work. Use the finer signals below and the live deadlines to22choose — a strong paper is publishable at either, and the nearer honest deadline usually wins.2324## Sibling-venue routing table2526| Signal in your project | Better home | Why |27|---|---|---|28| Broad SE contribution, empirical or conceptual, ready now, and the next FSE deadline is nearer | **ESEC/FSE** | PACMSE journal-style track; the second general-SE flagship |29| Equally broad, but ICSE's cycle lands sooner or you want its stage | **ICSE** | Sibling general-SE flagship; different calendar and template (IEEE 10+2) |30| Core is *automating* a development task; tool/systems flavor dominates | **ASE** | Automated software engineering is its named center |31| Core is testing, program analysis, or fault detection with depth | **ISSTA** | Deeper testing/analysis expertise, round-based reviewing |32| The whole method is repository mining | **MSR** | Purpose-built co-located conference |33| Maintenance and software evolution focus | **ICSME** | Scope match |34| Study is too long or too nuanced for the page budget | **EMSE / TSE / TOSEM** | Journals with no conference page ceiling; some offer a journal-first path back to an FSE stage |3536## Contribution shapes FSE rewards3738- **Technique + tool + evaluation on real subjects** — a new analysis, testing, repair,39 synthesis, or recommendation technique, embodied in a tool and evaluated on real systems against40 credible baselines (the CUTE lineage).41- **Empirical study** — mining, controlled experiments, or mixed-methods work that changes what42 the community believes about how software is built or maintained (the flaky-tests lineage).43- **Methodology / measurement validity** — interrogating an instrument the field relies on (the44 "are mutants a valid substitute?" lineage) — a distinctly prized FSE mode.45- **Human and organizational factors** — how practitioners actually use, trust, or abandon tools,46 with sound qualitative method.47- **Foundational or conceptual** — models, theories, or formal underpinnings with a clear SE48 payoff — the "foundations" in the name is not decorative.4950## The model-swap and re-label tests5152Two quick tests sharpen a borderline verdict:5354- **Model-swap test:** if your paper leans on an LLM or learner, ask whether the software-55 engineering lesson survives swapping the model for another. If not, the model is the56 contribution and a PL/ML venue fits better.57- **Re-label test:** could this paper be submitted to ISSTA or ASE unchanged and read as native58 there? If its heart is testing depth or automation machinery, route accordingly; FSE rewards the59 broader SE framing and empirical breadth.6061## Evidence maturity, without the ladder cliché6263Fit is necessary but not sufficient: the same idea sits at different doors depending on how far64the evidence has come. An observation with an argument but no study is a workshop or vision paper;65a working technique evaluated only on examples you chose needs real subjects before the research66track; a study too deep for the page budget belongs in a journal first. Submitting one step early67earns a polite "promising, but..." and costs a full cycle, because FSE, like its siblings, runs on68an annual rhythm.6970## Cheap reconnaissance before committing7172```text73[Scope] scan the last two FSE programs (dblp, conf.researchr.org) for your subarea74 -> 3+ recent papers = a reviewer pool exists; 0 = opening or mismatch75[Citations] is your bibliography majority SE venues (ICSE/FSE/ASE/ISSTA/EMSE/TSE)?76 -> majority non-SE => reviewers read you as a visitor; naturalize the intro first77[Calendar] compare the next FSE deadline with ICSE/ASE/ISSTA/journal dates -> route to the78 nearest honest fit rather than waiting a year for a marginal preference79```8081## Decision procedure8283```text84[Audience] who acts differently if the claim holds? -> SE developers/testers/maintainers/researchers?85[Claim type] technique / empirical / methodology / human-factors / foundational86[FSE vs ICSE] both fit? -> choose by calendar, community pull, and template preference87[Sibling check] testing depth -> ISSTA; automation core -> ASE; mining-only -> MSR88[Verdict] ESEC/FSE research track / sibling venue / journal-first, with a one-line reason89```9091Run this before the writing skills; a wrong venue decision wastes every later step. When the92verdict is FSE, continue with `fse-workflow` for the calendar and `fse-writing-style` for the93paper shape.9495---9697**Source:** [`brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills`](https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills) → `FSE-Skills/skills/fse-topic-selection/SKILL.md`
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