Undergraduate Research on Software Engineering Competition

Call for Papers

The VII Undergraduate Research Assistant Program Competition of the Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering (CTIC-ES) is an event aimed at promoting the discussion and dissemination of research papers in Software Engineering conducted within the scope of undergraduate and high school education. Furthermore, the contest seeks to foster collaboration among researchers and future researchers during the Brazilian Software Conference (CBSoft 2026), which will take place from September 8th to 12th, 2026.

CTIC-ES aims to select papers developed by undergraduate and high school students, which will be awarded and published in the CBSoft 2026 proceedings. The contest's goal is to encourage students from all undergraduate programs in Computer Science and related fields, as well as high school in the field of Computing, to produce and submit scientific papers based on work they have done on topics related to Software Engineering. The papers may result from participation in research assistants programs or final-year projects.

In case of questions, please approach the Program Co-Chairs via e-mail.

• Paola Accioly (prga@cin.ufpe.br)
• Phyllipe Lima Francisco (phyllipe@unifei.edu.br).

Important Dates

Topics of Interest

Submissions will be accepted for papers developed by undergraduate and high school students related to (but not limited to) the following topics:

• Agile software development
• Artificial intelligence for software engineering
• Business value and software validation
• Experimental software engineering
• Free software
• Human and social aspects of software engineering
• Industrial applications of software engineering
• Mobile application development
• Model-driven software development
• Requirements engineering
• Search-based software engineering
• Services and microservices
• Software architecture
• Software configuration management and deployment
• Software ecosystems and systems of systems
• Software engineering for cloud computing and the web
• Software engineering for artificial intelligence
• Software engineering for game development
• Software maintenance and evolution
• Software metrics and measurement
• Software modularity
• Software product lines
• Software processes
• Software quality and quality models
• Software reengineering
• Software repository mining and software analysis
• Software reuse
• Software startups
• Software testing and verification
• Theoretical foundations and formal methods
• Technical debt management

On use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) or AI-assisted technologies in research papers

When submitting to VII CTIC - ES, the authors acknowledge that they comply with the Generative AI usage policy, based on existing policies proposed by IEEE, ACM, and Springer.

It's forbidden to:

• List Generative AI tools and technologies, such as ChatGPT, as authors of works
• Use texts or sections entirely produced by generative AI tools

It is allowed (with explicit disclosure in the acknowledgments) to:

• Use generative AI tools to create parts of the content, with disclosure in the paper acknowledgments indicating what was generated and which tool was used. It is important to check the terms of use of the tool, which is the responsibility of the authors. For example, in the acknowledgments: ChatGPT was used to generate the first paragraph of Section 3 and to generate Table 3.2.

It is allowed (no need to mention):

• Use AI or AI-assisted technologies to improve the quality of images in terms of contrast and clarity.
• Utilize generative AI tools to edit and improve the quality of your existing text (similar to an assistant like Grammarly to improve spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, engagement).

Criteria for Participation

Participation in the VII CTIC-ES is open to students enrolled in undergraduate or high school in the years 2025 or 2026 at Higher Education Institutions, High Schools, or Technical Education Institutions. The student’s enrollment status or recent graduation must be verified with appropriate documentation, as follows:

• For students who have not completed the course: proof of enrollment or academic record.
• For recently graduated students: certificate of course completion or declaration issued by the educational institution, along with the academic record.

The proof must be submitted via the work submission platform.

If the paper is part of a larger project, the content of the paper should clearly identify the scope of the development, how the work relates to other activities within the larger project, and what specific actions and contributions were made by the undergraduate student(s) or group of undergraduate students.

Submissions

The paper must contain a maximum of 10 and a minimum of 6 pages, in PDF format and follow the SBC article style. The submission of papers will be exclusively electronic, through the JEMS submission system of the SBC.

The names of the authors must be included in the submitted paper. The student must appear as the first author. Software, tools, and data collection must be presented in the paper through links to the repositories. Authors are encouraged to make available packages with open data (replication package) to facilitate the reproducibility of the work.

The article must, obligatorily, contain the following elements: title, abstract, keywords, motivation, problem characterization, research context (clarifying the specific scope, whether it is part of a larger project, whether it is developed by a group, etc.), goals, contributions, related work, research method, results, and final considerations.

For papers developed by higher education students, it must be stated if they are part of an undergraduate research assistants program or graduation final project following these guidelines:

• If it is an undergraduate research assistants program, the authors must provide the link to the internal symposium of the higher education institution where the paper was published/presented.
• If it is a graduation final project, the authors must provide the link to the higher education repository (usually the library webpage).
• If the paper has already been published the authors must provide the link to the original publication.
• It is recommended that this information be placed in a section after the conclusion, titled "Previous Work".

The paper will be published in the extended proceedings of the SBES 2026 in the SBC OpenLib following these rules:

• If the paper is original, the full paper will be published.
• If the paper is not original, meaning it has already been published in another publication (including in SBES), the version to be published in the extended proceedings of the event will be a 2-page summary in the SBC article publication format, prepared by the authors. The paper must include a summary in Portuguese and an abstract in English. In case of acceptance, this 2-page summary will be submitted as the final version.

Selection and Awards

The selection of the best papers will be carried out in two complementary phases:

• Phase 1 - Paper Evaluation:

  All submitted papers will be reviewed by at least three evaluators from the program committee. The papers with the best evaluations in this phase will be selected for Phase 2, which involves an oral presentation during the event. It is mandatory that at least one author of each paper approved for Phase 2 be registered for CBSoft 2026 (and pay the registration fee) in order for the paper to be published in the event proceedings. Papers that are not presented at the VII CTIC-ES will not be eligible for the award.

• Phase 2 - Oral Presentation Evaluation:

  The finalist papers will be presented to a panel consisting of three evaluators from the selection committee. The presentation must be made exclusively by the first author of the paper, individually. The final ranking of the awarded papers will be based on a weighted average of the evaluations from both phases, calculated as follows:

To avoid possible biases, the Phase 2 panel will not have access to the scores from Phase 1. Furthermore, after the award ceremony, the scores (from both phases) of the best papers will be made publicly available at the following link: >currently unavailable<.

Evaluation Criteria

Phase 1 (Article Evaluation):

• Innovation and Originality:

  Assesses the degree of innovation and originality of the work. Considering the contribution as a specific scope of undergraduate research to the field of Software Engineering.

• Relevance and Clarity of Scope:

  Evaluates the importance of the problem addressed and the contribution made to the scientific and practical community in the field of Software Engineering. The scope of the work is well defined and, if necessary, is delimited within the context of the larger project.

• Rigor and Transparency:

  Assesses the level of scientific rigor employed in the work, including the appropriate choice of research methods and techniques. Additionally, it examines the clarity with which the data, methods, and results are presented, allowing for the reproduction or verification of the study.

• Quality of Presentation:

  Evaluates the organization, clarity, writing, and formatting of the article, considering the ability to communicate ideas in an objective and well-structured manner.

Phase 2 (Oral Presentation Evaluation):

• Clear Communication:

  Evaluates the logical organization of the presentation and the presenter’s ability to convey ideas in a clear, accessible, and objective manner in the context of Software Engineering.

• Expertise of the Work:

  Evaluates the presenter’s ability to confidently and deeply answer questions.

• Visual Aids:

  Considers the quality and relevance of slides or supporting materials, including the proper use of charts, tables, and illustrations to complement the presentation.

• Professional Growth:

  Examines evidence of academic or professional learning and growth throughout the research, including reflections on challenges faced and lessons learned.

• Scientific Consistency:

  Assesses the scientific consistency of the study, including the adequacy of the methodology, analysis of results, and consistency of conclusions. It also considers the relevance of the problem addressed and the potential contribution of the research to academic and practical advancements in Software Engineering, highlighting its contribution to both academia and industry.

The program chair strongly advises authors to pay close attention to the detailed criteria for each phase of the process. In turn, evaluators will be instructed to consider the criteria in alignment with the context and scope of undergraduate research assistant programs, aiming for a fair, consistent, and coherent evaluation.

II Exhibition of Works Undergraduate Research Assistant Competition of the Brazilian Symposium of Software Engineering

During the event, an exhibition will take place in which the papers selected for Phase 2 will be displayed in a poster session format, alongside the works from the Software Engineering Thesis and Dissertation Contest (CTD-ES).

Participation in this exhibition is a prerequisite for the oral presentation and, consequently, for eligibility for the award.