On the Abolition of the "ICSE Paper" and the Adoption of the "Registered Proposal" and the "Results Report"

TL;DR

This paper proposes replacing traditional ICSE papers with a two-tier system of registered proposals and results reports to improve novelty and reproducibility in software engineering research.

Contribution

It introduces a novel publication model that separates idea proposals from empirical results, aiming to address the novelty and reproducibility issues in the field.

Findings

Community support based on survey responses

Potential for increased reproducibility and innovation

Alignment with existing top-tier conferences

Abstract

To address the 'novelty-vicious cycle' and the 'replicability crisis' of the field (both discussed in the survey) we propose abolishing the "ICSE paper" as we know it and replacing it with a two-tier system that also evolves the existing notion of 'Registered Report'. Authors proposing a new idea, experiment, or analysis would submit a "Registered Proposal" of their idea and the proposed experimental methodology to undergo peer review. The following year, anyone can submit (shorter) "Results Reports" on the realization of the empirical work based on the registered proposals of the previous ICSE (or FSE or ISSTA or ASE etc.). Both works should be first class citizens of the mainstream events. We argue that such a disruptive (heretical?) idea is supported and based on the responses of the community of the Future of Software Engineering pre-survey