# Fse Topic Selection > 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. - Skill: `thedixitjain/fse-topic-selection` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add thedixitjain/fse-topic-selection` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/thedixitjain/fse-topic-selection/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Research & Search - Author: thedixitjain (https://skillmd.com/u/thedixitjain) - Updated: 2026-09-08 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/thedixitjain/fse-topic-selection --- # 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 ```text [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 ```text [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`](https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills) → `FSE-Skills/skills/fse-topic-selection/SKILL.md`