James D. Arthur and Sallie M. Henry
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
The production of high-quality software is a major concern of today's computing industry. Software production will always be difficult due to the problems inherent in the nature of software. Delivering software on time and within budget, and satisfying all of its requirements pose significant technical challenges for researchers, managers, and practitioners. There seems to be no silver bullet! Better education is the key factor in increasing the probability of success in software engineering.
The journal Annals of Software Engineering (ASE) has been established to help to better educate people involved and interested in the engineering of complex software systems. It is an international, archival, peer-reviewed journal that covers all aspects of software engineering. ASE publishes original contributions, state-of-the-art surveys, tutorials, and reports describing engineering practices and/or real-life project experiences.
ASE is unique among the current software engineering journals in the way it is produced. It is published annually in multiple volumes. Each volume focuses on a particular area of software engineering and is edited by prominent scholars in that area. A Call for Papers is issued for each volume and solicits papers dealing with the topic of that volume. All papers go through a rigorous refereeing process. Quality is the principal criterion in accepting contributions to ASE. The length of the paper is judged by the referees with respect to the quality of its contribution and no specific length limitation exists.
This first volume of ASE is edited by Dr. James D. Arthur and Dr. Sallie M. Henry on the topic of "Software Process and Product Measurement." The second volume, on "Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Foundations and Techniques", will be edited by Dr. John D. McGregor and will be published in 1996. Volumes 3 and 4 will be published in 1997. Volume 3, on the topic of "Software Requirements Engineering", will be edited by Dr. Nancy R. Mead. Volume 4, on the topic of "Software Testing and Quality Assurance", will be edited by Dr. Richard Hamlet. At least two volumes are being planned for 1998. For information regarding ASE, the worldwide web home page can be accessed at: "http://manta.cs.vt.edu/ase/"
We are committed to achieving the highest technical quality and hope that you are pleased with this first volume. We welcome your participation in making ASE a significant archival journal of software engineering. We encourage you to submit proposals for editing new volumes, submit papers for volumes under preparation, and consider serving as a referee.
OSMAN BALCI
Editor-in-Chief