Call for papers, Special Issue on the Interplay of Automated Software Engineering and Software-Intensive Business

The rapid automation of software engineering processes—driven by advances in generative AI, agentic systems, and new forms of AI-assisted and natural-language-driven development—is reshaping how software is conceived, developed, evolved, and operated. At the same time, automation is extending beyond code into core business activities in software companies, from product management and pricing to customer-facing operations, platform governance, and data-intensive workflows. These developments raise profound questions about the structure, strategy, innovation, capabilities, and day-to-day functioning of software-intensive businesses, and they call for closer integration between research on software engineering automation and research on software business.

This special issue aims to bridge research on the automation of software engineering with research on software business. We seek contributions that examine both how automated software engineering practices affect business models, business model innovation, organizational capabilities, and ecosystems, and how automation is being applied to business-level activities within software companies and software-intensive businesses. This may also include the automation of data-related activities, such as data quality management and data pipeline orchestration, when these are closely tied to software products, software operations, or software-intensive business processes. Submissions should provide novel empirical, conceptual, or methodological insights into the interplay between automation, software engineering, and software business. We interpret automation broadly, encompassing generative AI, agentic systems, analytics-driven decision support, workflow automation, and other forms of digital augmentation and autonomous execution. We welcome empirical, theoretical, methodological, and design-oriented contributions from researchers and practitioners. Submissions may address multiple levels of analysis, including individuals, teams, organizations, platforms, ecosystems, and markets. In particular, we encourage work that critically investigates the organizational and strategic capabilities required to govern and leverage automation for innovation and competitive advantage, as well as the affordances it creates and the constraints it introduces. Beyond potential benefits, we therefore welcome contributions that examine tensions, trade-offs, risks, failures, and unintended consequences.

The special issue is inspired by themes discussed at the International Workshop on Software-intensive Businesses (IWSiB’26) and the International Conference on Software Business (ICSOB’25). Extended versions of selected papers from these venues are welcome, provided they contain substantial new material and comply with the journal’s policy. The issue is equally open to original submissions from the broader international community. All manuscripts will be reviewed according to the journal’s standard peer-review process.

Submissions should explicitly address automation in relation to software-intensive business, including organizational, strategic, market, or ecosystem implications. Purely technical software engineering papers without a clear connection to the software business are outside the intended scope of this special issue.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Automation in Software Development, Delivery, and Operations: adoption, use, and governance of AI-assisted and automated activities across requirements engineering, design, coding, testing, integration, deployment, operations, maintenance, and continuous practices such as continuous delivery, experimentation, and improvement, with attention to measurable delivery and business outcomes, including productivity, quality, delivery speed, cost, security, and technical debt.
  • Software Product Management under Automation: AI-supported product discovery, product strategy, roadmapping, prioritization, portfolio management, experimentation, pricing, monetization, and product–market fit, including how automation reshapes product decision-making and value capture.
  • Human Work, Organizing, and Capabilities: human–AI collaboration, changing roles and skills, team coordination, organizational design, sourcing, leadership, learning, and change management in software-intensive businesses adopting automation.
  • Software Platforms, Ecosystems, and Communities under Automation: marketplace orchestration, platform governance, architecture, ecosystem evolution, lifecycle management, complementor management, open source, inner source, licensing, community health, and compliance in the presence of AI automation
  • AI-enabled Software Business: AI-native software startups and corporate ventures, AI-enabled software products and business operations, the economics of AI-based features and services, new scaling logics and business models, and sources of competitive advantage enabled or constrained by automation.
  • Responsible, Secure, and Sustainable Automation: accountability, transparency, privacy, intellectual property, security, safety, regulation and compliance, environmental impact, and the broader societal implications of automation in software engineering and software-intensive business.
  • Agile and Lean Projects and Practices under Automation: agile and lean methods and practices in settings shaped by AI and automation, including project and process management, organizational arrangements, continuous learning and adaptation, and behavioral and cognitive factors influencing adoption and use.

Deadline

Opening Date for Submissions: April 1st, 2026

Submission Deadline: September 30th, 2026

How to Submit

Submission link: TBA

Editor

Guest editor list:

  • Andrey Saltan, Andrey.Saltan@lut.fi, LUT University, Finland
  • Dimitri Petrik, University of Stuttgart, Germany
  • Usman Rafiq, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy
  • Jorge Melegati, University of Porto, Portugal