Charter of the International Working Conference on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality

Last Update: 08/04/2025 – Version 3.1

1. SCIENTIFIC MATTERS

1.1 Goals

The goals of REFSQ are to advance Requirements Engineering (RE) knowledge:

by providing a forum for researchers and practitioners to expose their work to the RE community
through active and open discussions that are stimulated by high-quality paper presentations
by publishing of proceedings in a readily-accessible form by a recognised publisher of computer science

1.2 Name

The full name of the conference series is:

International Working Conference on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality

The conference abbreviation is REFSQ. Every REFSQ instance is abbreviated as REFSQ <year, 4 digits>, for example in REFSQ 2021.

REFSQ instances do not have special, major themes as part of the title of the conference, but the Program Chairs can emphasize one or more specific areas of interest in the text of the call for papers.

1.3 Timing & Location

REFSQ takes place annually in the period March-April at a location within Europe.

1.4 Audience & Format

The audience of REFSQ includes researchers, practitioners, educators, and students in Requirements Engineering.

The format of the conference is explicitly designed to stimulate open discussion. Time allocated to the presentation of papers is at least balanced by time for discussion. Formally assigned roles such as discussant and session chair are key elements of the REFSQ scientific programme.

Submissions shall be elicited from academia, industry and public administration for presentation in the scientific programme. A separate industry programme will comprise invited talks of interest to industry and public administration.

Generally, a REFSQ instance includes tracks and co-located events such as the doctoral symposium, a posters & tools track, and workshops. A typical schedule of a REFSQ instance is as follows:

Day 1: workshops + doctoral symposium
Day 2: scientific programme including posters & demos
Day 3: industry programme
Day 4: scientific programme including posters & demo

1.5 Success criteria

Criteria for success of a REFSQ instance include:

Quality and quantity of submissions;
Appropriate programme, including maintenance of REFSQ’s normal balance of presentations and discussions;
Appropriate mix of researchers and practitioners among the attendees;
Appropriate mix of students and faculty among the researcher attendees;
Appropriate mix of attendee nationalities;
Financial viability.

1.6 Composition of the Program Committee

A REFSQ instance Program Committee shall be composed of representatives from academia, industry, and public administration with recognized expertise in the broad area of RE. REFSQ aims to renew approximately 1/3 of the Program Committee members from one instance to the next one.

1.7 Assessment of submissions

All paper submissions, except specially elicited keynote and invited industry programme presentations, will be peer-reviewed by at least 3 members of the Program Committee. Conflict of interest rules as stated in ANNEX B shall be followed during the assignment and review process.

A Program Committee meeting is held to select the submissions to be presented at the coming REFSQ instance. The Program Committee meeting is chaired by the Program Chairs. All members of the Program Committee are invited to attend the Program Committee meeting. The Program Chairs are not allowed to submit to the REFSQ instance that they are chairing. Members from the same institution as the Program Chairs are allowed to submit as long as conflict of interest rules are respected. For each workshop associated with REFSQ, the workshop organizing team should include at least one program chair who does not submit any paper to the workshop.

1.8 Awards

The Program Chairs may choose to assign a Best Paper (BP) award to a paper presented at their chaired REFSQ edition.
The SC may choose to assign a Most Influential Paper (MIP) award to a paper presented at the REFSQ edition held 10 years earlier, recognising research that has made a significant long-term impact on the field. The awardee, if any, is selected by a committee nominated and presided by the SC Chair.

2. GOVERNANCE

REFSQ is governed by the Steering Committee (SC).

The SC delegates responsibilities for the scientific program to the Program Chairs of each REFSQ instance.
The SC delegates responsibilities to the Industry Program Chairs for the industry program.
The SC delegates financial and organizational responsibilities to the Local Organisation.
The SC delegates support and coordination functions (e.g., organizing periodic meetings), and the maintenance of the organisational memory (see Article 3) to the Background Organisation.
The Local and Background Organisations may be the same or separate organisations.

2.1 Steering Committee (SC) composition

Mission:
The SC is responsible for ensuring REFSQ’s long-term health, by setting strategy, selecting locations, appointing organizers, maintaining oversight of financial and operational matters, ensuring that REFSQ retains its scientific rigour and characteristic features and by securing organisational memory through continuity of experience.

Composition:

Program Chairs become members of the SC upon their appointment, and will remain members for 4 years after the REFSQ instance for which they are responsible.
The Head of the Background Organisation becomes a member of the SC upon appointment, and will remain member for two additional instances after the last instance of REFSQ for which he/she is responsible.
Two members of the SC are elected, one as Chair and another as Vice-Chair, by a vote of the SC members. The SC Chair and SC Vice-Chair serve for 3 REFSQ instances. In absence of the SC Chair, the Vice-Chair assumes the responsibility of the Chair.
The SC Chair will remain as SC member until the maximum of: one REFSQ instance after the end of his/her chair mandate AND the regular appointment period.
If necessary, the SC Chair can propose additional SC members, which are elected by a majority vote of the SC.
The SC can vote to terminate an inactive member’s membership.
The REFSQ SC can include up to two Industry Representatives. The mandate will be for 3 years. The Industry Representatives are proposed by the SC chairs, and elected by a majority vote at a SC meeting.

Meetings:
Two SC meetings are held annually; one at the REFSQ instance, and one after approximately six months, possibly at the IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference. Additional ad-hoc virtual meetings, electronic discussions, and electronic voting procedures may take place as needed throughout the year.

2.2 Voting Procedures

Voting can take place at SC meetings and electronically.

Eligible if at least 50% of members are present (in person) or respond (electronically).
Normal decisions: majority of ≥50%.
Special decisions: qualified majority ≥2/3 of all SC members.
In case of tie: chair’s vote decides.

Special decisions (require explicit vote and 2/3 majority):

Decision to stop the REFSQ series.
Major changes to the governance section of the REFSQ charter.

2.3 REFSQ instance roles

Program Chairs – two experienced RE researchers; responsible for programme committee, submissions, review, programme, industry programme approval, conference chairing, proceedings, tracks, appointing track chairs.
Industry Programme Chair(s) – responsible for industry relations and industry programme; can be more than one person.

2.4 REFSQ instance process

SC appoints Program Chairs 2 instances in advance (≥1.5 years before).
Industry Programme Chair(s) proposed by Program Chairs, appointed by SC Chair.
Program Chairs appoint other chairs and PC (≤6 months after appointment).
SC appoints Head of Background Organisation when location is decided.

2.5 Background and Local Organization Appointment & Finance

Appointment:
- SC appoints Program Chairs as above.
- Background Organisation appointed at same moment as location allocation.

Finance:

If Background and Local are separate: must agree on services provided.
Local Organisation sets registration fee with SC Chair & Vice-Chair before publication.
Local Organisation provides financial report at the conference.
Registrations fund both Background and Local activities.

2.6 Location decision

SC Chair & Vice-Chair solicit bids, present proposals to SC, vote.
Location decided ≥2 instances in advance.

3. Organisational Memory

To maintain organisational memory, the Program Chairs, SC Chairs, and Background Organisation collect/archive:

Data:

Submission & acceptance data (PC Chairs)
Attendee data (Background Org)
Programme committee data (PC Chairs)
Sponsor details (Background Org)
Financial data (Background Org)

Other materials:

Accepted papers & presentations (PC Chairs)
REFSQ webpages (Background Org)
Calls for papers (PC Chairs)
Calls for participation (Background Org)

ANNEX A

Find the list of current steering committee members on this page.

ANNEX B: Rules of conflict of interest

A reviewer is considered to have a conflict of interest on a paper that has an author or co-author in any of the following categories:

yourself
your past and current graduate students
your graduate advisors
members of your research group within the last 5 years
a co-author of a paper submitted for publication within the last 5 years
an employee of the same organisation (academic department, research lab unit, etc.) within the last 5 years
someone with whom you have had a significant funding or financial relationship within the last 5 years
a member of your family or anyone you consider a close personal friend
someone whose work you cannot evaluate objectively

Rules:

Reviewers are not allowed to see the reviews of papers on which they have conflicts.
Conference submissions under review and discussions by the Program Committee are considered confidential.
Program Chairs can view all reviews, but an alternate chair is assigned for any papers on which both Program Chairs have a conflict. For those papers, the alternate chair will select reviewers and chair the discussion.

Download the Charter (v3.1, 08 Apr 2025)