Call for Papers

About TechDebt 2026

Technical Debt stands as a pivotal metaphor in the realm of software evolution, representing development shortcuts taken for expediency that cause the degradation of internal software quality. A critical element of the technical debt metaphor is its ability to bridge the communication gap between technical and non-technical stakeholders within software development teams. The International Conference on Technical Debt (TechDebt) is the flagship conference dedicated to discussing how to identify, address, and manage technical debt in software projects. This premier event unites leading researchers and practitioners in software engineering to explore diverse strategies for managing various forms of technical debt, share experiences and best practices, and identify the most pressing challenges faced by both industry and academia.

The 9th International Conference on Technical Debt will be held on April 12-13, 2026, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As with the previous editions, TechDebt will be co-located with the 48th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2026).

Topics

The TechDebt conference warmly invites research and practical contributions to its Technical Track. The topics of interest are organized around three main themes: Technical Debt Core, Software Modernization, and AI applied to Software Maintenance and Evolution.

Technical Debt Core

• Investigations on Specific Technical Debt Types: Specific technical debt types (e.g., test debt, build debt, architectural debt); Less studied kinds of technical debt (e.g., requirement, documentation, security debt); Other types of debt (e.g., social debt, process debt); Debt in specific domains (e.g., AI-based systems, mobile applications).
• Case Studies and Practical Experiences: Case studies on successful and unsuccessful technical debt management practices; Case studies on the remediation of technical debt in real-world projects; Experiences from industry on managing and paying down technical debt; Empirical evidence on the effectiveness of technical debt management tools and approaches.
• Tools and Approaches for Managing Technical Debt: Tools, demos, and libraries to identify, assess, and manage technical debt; Methods and frameworks for identifying, monitoring, and managing technical debt; Decision frameworks for prioritizing debt items against features and other debts; Estimation of technical debt principal and interest; Quality assurance practices to minimize and address technical debt.
• Human and Organizational Factors: Human factors in managing technical debt (e.g., team dynamics, communication challenges); Stakeholder perspectives and concerns about technical debt; The impact of organizational culture and processes on technical debt accumulation and repayment.
• Emerging Trends in Technical Debt Research: Use of artificial intelligence and machine learning for technical debt management; Software visualization techniques for technical debt identification and monitoring; New trends in technical debt for AI-driven systems and mobile applications; The role of software economics in shaping technical debt decisions.
• Position and Vision Papers: Position and vision papers offering novel perspectives on technical debt; New conceptual frameworks and metrics to study technical debt and its evolution.

Software Modernization

Strategies and patterns for software modernization; Architecture recovery and reengineering; Legacy system analysis and transformation; Automated and semi-automated code refactoring; Reverse engineering and program comprehension; Model-driven approaches to modernization; Modernization of monolithic systems to microservices; Continuous modernization and evolution; Technical debt in modernization initiatives; DevOps and CI/CD implications on modernization; Empirical studies on modernization efforts; Tool support for software modernization; Measuring modernization progress and impact; Risks and challenges in modernization projects; Socio-technical aspects of system modernization; Case studies and industrial reports on modernization.

AI applied to Software Maintenance and Evolution

AI and machine learning for code/design/architecture technical debt prediction and localization; Large Language Models (LLMs) for code understanding; AI-assisted code review and refactoring; Automated technical debt detection and remediation using AI; AI-based tools for software comprehension and documentation; AI-driven support for program analysis; Intelligent recommendation systems for software developers; Chatbots and virtual assistants for software maintenance tasks; Generative AI for software evolution and transformation; AI models for predicting software quality and maintenance effort; Evaluation frameworks for AI-based maintenance tools; Empirical studies on the effectiveness of AI in software maintenance; Human-AI collaboration in software evolution tasks; Threats and limitations of AI-based software maintenance/evolution tools.

Paper Categories

We invite submissions of papers to the Technical Track in any areas related to the theme and goal of the conference in the following categories:

• Research Papers: (up to 10 pages, plus 2 pages for references only). Innovative and significant original research in the field.
• Experience Papers: (up to 10 pages, plus 2 pages for references only). Experiences, case studies, challenges, problems, and solutions gathered from industrial contexts.
• Short Papers: (up to 5 pages, plus 2 pages for references only). Early stages of research, new ideas, visions, and/or reflections; or technical debt-related tools.

All submissions must not exceed their page limit for the main text, inclusive of all figures, tables, appendices, etc. Two more pages containing only references are permitted. All submissions must be in PDF.

Evaluation Criteria

Submissions must be original and unpublished work. Each paper submitted to the main Technical Track will undergo a rigorous review process by at least three members of the program committee. The evaluation will consider:

• Novelty: The novelty and innovativeness of contributed solutions, problem formulations, methodologies, theories, and/or evaluations.
• Rigor: The soundness, clarity, and depth of a technical or theoretical contribution, and the level of thoroughness and completeness of an evaluation.
• Relevance: The significance and/or potential impact of the research on the field of software engineering.
• Verifiability and Transparency: The extent to which the paper includes sufficient information to understand how an innovation works, how data was obtained, analyzed, and interpreted, and how the paper supports independent verification or replication.
• Presentation: The clarity of the exposition in the paper.

Review Process

TechDebt 2026 uses a doubly anonymous reviewing model for the Technical Track. Any submission that does not comply with these requirements may be desk-rejected without further review.

Open Science Policy

While all submissions will undergo the same review process, we strongly encourage authors to make data available upon submission (either privately or publicly) and especially upon acceptance (publicly). If authors cannot disclose industrial or otherwise non-public data, they should provide an explicit (short) statement in the paper.

Accepted Papers and Attendance Expectations

• After acceptance, the list of paper authors cannot be changed under any circumstances.
• At least one author of each accepted paper is required to register for TechDebt 2026 and present the paper.

Submission Process

• Papers must be submitted electronically via the TechDebtConf2026 HotCRP site: https://techdebt2026.hotcrp.com.
• Submissions must conform to the IEEE conference proceedings template. LaTeX users must use \documentclass[10pt,conference]{IEEEtran}. Template available at: https://www.ieee.org/conferences/publishing/templates.html.

Important Dates

• Abstract Submission: Thursday, October 16, 2025
• Submission Deadline: Thursday, October 23, 2025
• Acceptance Notification: Monday, January 5, 2026
• Camera Ready Deadline: Monday, January 26, 2026

Contact

For questions regarding the Technical Papers track, please use the Technical Debt Technical Papers contact form.