Doctoral Symposium – Call for Papers

Goal and Scope

    The OSS 2022 doctoral symposium features three tracks – early pre-doctoral, late pre-doctoral, and post-doctoral. Our overall goal is to help the next generation of OSS and OpenSym researchers form connections and gain advice on their proposed areas of research. Each track will work towards this goal as appropriate for its career preparation stage. The three tracks will meet together for the day to enable multi-level peer mentoring as more senior students and junior researchers reflect on their experiences during their PhD studies.

• Early Pre-doctoral TrackThis track is open to PhD students currently pursuing a doctoral degree in the general area of OSS and Open Collaboration, who have not yet completed the dissertation proposal phase (or equivalent) of their program. Students would be typically in the first year of the PhD, and should have already participated in at least one independent study/research project as part of their research group. This track aims to expose early PhD students to the OSS and OpenSym research community and research process and to help them progress toward their dissertation proposal.
• Late Pre-doctoral TrackThis track is open to PhD students currently pursuing a doctoral degree in the general area of OSS and Open Collaboration, who have completed the dissertation proposal phase (or equivalent) of their program. This track aims to bring together students who (a) are pursuing a specific research question, (b) have a concrete research plan for completing their studies, and (c) have obtained some initial results motivating their methodology and plan. Students will gain feedback from a broader community outside their institution and network with peers in the OSS and Opensym research community.
• Post-doctoral TrackThis track is dedicated to researchers who have recently completed their PhD dissertations in the general area of OSS and Open Collaboration (between June 1st, 2020 and the submission deadline). This track provides an opportunity for researchers to present their research agenda to a general audience and gain feedback in preparation for job interviews. Students will develop a research vision that builds on the individual research projects of their dissertation, and learn to present it to a general audience who is familiar with the research area, but not their specific project or focus.

Evaluation

    All submissions that meet the submission criteria (see below) and fit the scope of the conference will be evaluated by the General Chair and the Program Co-chairs on the basis of their scope and relevance to the OSS and OpenSym community. Submissions that are out of the scope of the conference will be rejected.

Publication and Presentation

    Accepted papers will be published in the companion volume (and not in the main proceedings). Participants from all tracks will present at the symposium, which is closed to the public OSS and OpenSym community to encourage valuable open discussion and feedback. Presentations will be limited in time to leave sufficient time for feedback. During the main conference, the authors can present again. More presentation details will follow after notification of acceptance.

How to Submit

    Submissions must be formatted according to the OpenSym 2022 Formatting Instructions. Papers should provide all details (name, affiliation, contact details) of the PhD student. Page limits vary by track, as described below. All submissions must be in PDF and must be submitted via email to Gregorio Robles (grex at gsyc.urjc.es).

• Early Pre-doctoral TrackPapers must not exceed 2 pages (including figures and appendices) plus up to 1 page that contains ONLY references. To encourage students to share their nascent ideas and gain feedback, accepted papers will not be published in the conference proceedings, but in the companion volume.The submission should include a description of a research project in which you have already participated. Focus on research questions and on lessons learned so far about the research and the research process. Expound on your own proposal ideas. What is your general research area? What open questions/problems do you find personally meaningful, and why are they interesting to you? It is acceptable for this to be a broad outline of the research area and where you think you might want to contribute.The paper should explicitly list the supervisors involved in the PhD, including their affiliation.
• Late Pre-doctoral TrackPapers must not exceed 2 pages (including figures and appendices) plus up to 1 page that contains ONLY references. Accepted papers will not be published in the conference proceedings, but in the companion volume.The submission should include a statement of the general technical problem addressed, its importance, and the specific research questions under investigation. Provide an overview of the related research background in the context of the work being conducted, a sketch of the research methodology, the envisioned (algorithmic or software) contribution, a description of the evaluation method, and the results obtained so far.The paper should explicitly list the supervisors involved in the PhD, including their affiliation.
• Post-doctoral TrackPapers must not exceed 3 pages (including figures and appendices) plus up to 1 page that contains ONLY references. Accepted papers will not be published in the conference proceedings, but in the companion volume.The submission should be a shortened version of a research proposal for a job and include a synopsis of the PhD dissertation, focusing on the research problem addressed, its contributions, evidence documenting these contributions (in terms of working software systems or case studies), and a statement of their innovation and importance, a description of your research vision going forward for the next few years – not just the next few obvious steps after the dissertation: Think about what your next PhD topic would be. Think big picture! – and two or three “lessons” you learned through the PhD process. Reflect on what worked well and what could have gone better.The first of the submission’s references should be the author’s dissertation, including a URL where it is accessible.

Important Dates

    Submission: July 31st 2022

    Author notification: August 5th 2022

    Early Bird Registration: August 10th, 2022

    Camera ready: August 19th 2022

    Submissions close at 23:59 AoE (Anywhere on Earth, UTC-12)