*** First Call for Journal First Papers *** International Conference on Software and Systems Reuse, Product Lines, and Configuration (VARIABILITY 2026) 29 September - 2 October 2026, 5* St. Raphael Resort and Marina Limassol, Cyprus https://conf.researchr.org/home/variability-2026 The VARIABILITY conference series brings together the communities previously served by ICSR, SPLC, and VaMoS, forming a unified venue for research on variability, configuration, customization, and related disciplines in software and systems engineering. VARIABILITY 2026 invites Journal-First presentations of papers recently published in leading software engineering journals, including TSE, TOSEM, IST, EMSE, JSS, ASEJ, SoSyM, and reputable open-access journals. This initiative provides authors with the opportunity to engage directly with the VARIABILITY community, while offering attendees a richer and more diverse program. The Journal-First papers remain published in their respective journals, and a one-page summary will be included in the VARIABILITY 2026 proceedings with a pointer to the original publication. Scope To qualify for a Journal-First presentation at VARIABILITY 2026, a paper must meet these criteria: • It was published on the publisher’s website between May 2024 and March 2026. • It fits within the scope of VARIABILITY 2026, as described in the research track call (https://conf.researchr.org/track/variability-2026/variability-2026-papers#Ca...), and can bring new insights or directions to the community. • It presents new research results or significant extensions of prior work that have not been presented at SPLC, VaMoS, or ICSR before. • It has not been presented at, and is not under review for, Journal-First Tracks of other related conferences. How to Submit Authors of papers that meet the above criteria are invited to submit a short proposal for presentation. The proposal should be one page and include the following: • Paper title, authors, extended abstract, and a link or DOI to the original journal paper. • If the journal paper builds on or is related to previously published work (such as a poster or tool demo), the proposal must clearly explain why it should be considered a Journal- First paper. • All proposals must be submitted as a PDF via EasyChair: https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=variability2026 (Journal-First Track). • Please upload both the proposal PDF and a ZIP file containing the original journal paper. Accepted papers will be published in the VARIABILITY 2026 Companion Proceedings published by Springer in the LNCS series. A Journal-First proposal must be at most one page long and it must follow the Springer guidelines: https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gui... . By submitting your paper for inclusion in these proceedings, you acknowledge that you and your co-authors must comply with Springer’s publications policies (https://www.springer.com/gp/editorial-policies) including requirements related to research integrity, copyright, and ethical standards. Any alleged violations of these policies may be investigated by Springer and could result in corrective actions, including withdrawal of the paper. Evaluation and Selection Proposals will be selected based on the quality of the publication and the journal, after confirming that the paper fits the scope of the conference. Since the papers have already been peer-reviewed and accepted by their journals, they will not undergo another technical review. The goal is to include as many papers as possible in the Journal-First Track. However, if an unusually high number of papers are received, some might not be accepted. If needed, priority will be given to papers that best align with the conference topics of interests and the structure of the sessions. Conference Attendance For each paper accepted into the Journal-First Track, at least one author must register for the conference and attend to give the oral presentation. Important Dates (AoE) • Submission of Papers: 2 April 2026 • Notification of Acceptance: 1 June 2026 • Camera-Ready Submission: 15 July 2026 • Author Registration: 15 July 2026 Organisation General Chairs • George A. Papadopoulos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus • Gilles Perrouin, FNRS & University of Namur, Belgium Research Track Chairs • Thorsten Berger, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany • Ina Schaefer, KIT, Germany Industry Track Chairs • Shaukat Ali, Simula Research Lab and Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway • Martin Becker, Fraunhofer IESE, Germany Journal First Track Chairs • Mathieu Acher, University Rennes, Inria, CNRS, IRISA, France • Xhevahire Tërnava, LTCI, Télécom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France Doctoral Symposium Track Chairs • Rick Rabiser, LIT CPS, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria • Iris Reinhartz-Berger, University of Haifa, Israel Demos and Tools Track Chairs • Sandra Greiner, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark • Leopoldo Teixeira, Federal University of Pernambuco Projects Showcase Chairs • Daniel Struber, Chalmers, University of Gothenburg, Radbound University, Sweden • Dalila Tamzalit, Nantes Université, France Hall of Fame Chairs • Martin Becker, Fraunhofer IESE, Germany • Goetz Botterweck, Lero - The Irish Software Research Centre and University of Limerick, Ireland • Natsuko Noda, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan Workshops Chairs • Lidia Fuentes, Universidad de Malaga, Spain • Malte Lochau, University of Siegen, Germany Tutorials Chairs • Loek Cleophas, Eindhoven University of Technology and Stellenbosch University, The Netherlands • Mahsa Varshosaz, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark Proceedings Chair • Sophie Fortz, King's College London, UK Publicity Chairs • Wesley Assunção, North Carolina State University, USA • Kentaro Yoshimura, Hitachi Ltd, Japan Local Organiser and Finance Chair • George A. Papadopoulos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus