Special Issue

In today’s research landscape, software is essential across various disciplines. Many researchers utilize high-performance scientific software to obtain simulation results, conduct data analysis, and visualize their findings. These codes streamline researchers’ workflows and enhance scientific progress. To make this possible, research software engineers work behind the scenes to maintain these codes or improve the user experience. Research software engineers dedicate significant time to programming, while full-time software engineers focus on writing code to address research challenges, with many professionals falling somewhere in between. This special issue, titled “Code, Practices, and People” will focus on the interactions among those who develop code and applications, as well as the practices they engage in, such as code reviews. Additionally, it will explore leadership and career paths for research software engineers.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

  • Discovery enabled by software
  • Architectures, frameworks, libraries, and technology trends
  • Research data management
  • Support for scalability and data-driven methods
  • Improving the reproducibility of research
  • Usability, portals, workflows, and tools
  • Sustainability, security, and stability
  • Software engineering approaches supporting research
  • Community engagement
  • Training and workforce development
  • Building an research software engineer (RSE) profession
  • Accessibility and belonging for RSEs

Editorial board

  • Patrick Diehl, Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • Miranda Mundt, Sandia National Laboratory
  • Chen Zhang, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Important dates

  • Submission deadline: November 21, 2025
  • Authors receive first review: January 9, 2026
  • Revised manuscripts are due: January 23, 2026
  • Authors receive final notifications: February 20, 2026

Requirements

  • Only accepted papers to USRSE’25 are invited to submit to the special issue.
  • The accepted papers need to be extended with 40% new content.
  • We will try to have at least one reviewer of the conference paper as a reviewer for the journal paper to assist with the decision.
  • The journal submission will undergo a separate evaluation process from the conference paper and acceptance is not guaranteed.

Submission details

Please follow the submission guidelines of the journal Future Generation Computer Systems carefully. The templates are available here.

Previous special issues

  • Research Software Engineering – Software-Enabled Discovery and Beyond, Future Generation Computer Systems, USRSE 23, Link