CALL FOR PAPERS Software Quality Journal - Special Issue on Cultural Issues and Software Quality

With software development an increasingly globally integrated activity involving a complex chain of cooperating partners it is clear that culture can play an important role in determining the efficiency of the process and the efficacy of the software produced. SQJ wishes to address this important area in the form of a Special Issue.

It is clear that approaches to software development can have culturally dependent outcomes, responses and effects. For example Open Source has produced differing responses in many parts of Asia than from those in many European countries. Likewise culturally diverse project teams are likely to have a fundamentally different dynamic to those of a more mono-cultural grouping and consequent impact on the software produced. Equally the groupist or individualist nature of the owner/ producer/actor/user may elicit varying software creations.

Although research has been conducted into models of culturally sensitive software development, little work exists reporting the suitability of approaches for varying cultures. For example no coherent body of work exists connecting say practical cultural theory (e.g. Hofstede) with software development. Partly this maybe due to the very interdisciplinary nature of the subject but this SQJ Special Issue is intended to address this previous omission.

This special issue aims to present the foundational constructive call to software quality strategists and technicians to consider culture in software development practices. This special issue of "Software Quality Journal" will focus on how software quality is both perceived, received and constructed varies with culture, in terms of the people who develop, use or simply live alongside software.

Original papers are solicited that present research results, innovative case studies, actual culturally reflective software experiences, state-of-the-art surveys, and tutorials. Topics of particular interest on "Cultural issues and Software Quality" include but are not limited to:

• Impact of cultural diverse project teams
• Cultural Software Quality perspectives
• Culturally-sensitive Software development models and methods
• Cultural Theory and Software Quality
• Life Cycle Issues and cultural difference
• Innovative quality culturally varying practices in software engineering
• Measuring culture in software development
• Empirical Case Studies highlighting cultural issues or ramifications

Editor Dr David Preston School of Computing and Technology Docklands Campus University of East London London, E16 2RD, United Kingdom. Tel: +44-208-223-3306 Fax: +44-208-590-7799 Email: d.preston@uel.ac.uk

Submitted papers will be rigorously refereed.

Papers should be submitted to the special issue through Editorial Manager http://sqjo.edmgr.com selecting the article type "Special Issue: Cultural Issues" on or before May 2, 2009.

Submission of a manuscript to the Software Quality Journal is a representation that the manuscript:
a) has not been previously published,
b) is not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere, and
c) will not be submitted elsewhere until a decision is made regarding its suitability for publication in Software Quality Journal.

Submission is also the representation that the work has been approved for open publication if performed under an official sponsorship requiring such an approval.