Junior PCMSR 2026

Call for MSR Junior PC 2025

Following two successful editions of the MSR Shadow PC in 2021 and 2022 (see also this paper or this presentation for more context), and MSR Junior PC 2023, 2024 and 2025 (see this paper), MSR Junior PC 2026 will continue to integrate the junior MSR PC members into the main technical track program committee!

Goal: Train the next generation of MSR (and, more broadly, SE) reviewers and program committee members, in response to a widely recognized challenge of scaling peer review capacity as the research community and volume of submissions grow over time.

Target: Similar to the previous MSR Junior PC, the primary audience for the Junior PC is early-career researchers (PhD students, postdocs, new faculty members, and industry practitioners) who are keen to get more involved in the academic peer-review process but have not yet served on a technical research track program committee at international SE conferences (e.g., ICSE, ESEC/FSE, ASE, MSR, ICSME, SANER).

Similar to MSR 2025, the MSR Junior PC review process in 2026 will have a model of 2 regular PCs and 1 junior PC. This approach aligns with other conferences, where typically 3 PCs review each paper.

Junior PC members will receive training from senior researchers and/or past MSR distinguished reviewers on how to write and provide constructive reviews for software engineering papers, what to look for, what to avoid, and how to ensure the review aligns with the MSR review criteria. They will also receive guidance from the MSR (Junior) PC Co-Chairs on the expected review quality, confidentiality, and ethics standards, how to write good reviews, and how to participate in discussions (see ACM reviewers’ responsibilities). Finally, Junior PC members will receive feedback on how to improve their reviews before the rebuttal notification (by the discussion lead). The discussion lead will perform quality assurance, ensuring the reviews are of high quality and remain constructive.

Review Process for MSR 2026: All submissions to the MSR research track will be reviewed jointly by both regular and junior PC members, as part of the same process. Junior PCs will then serve alongside regular PC members on the main technical track PC, participating fully in the review process, including author responses and PC discussions to reach consensus. Each paper will receive two reviews from two regular PC members and one review from a Junior PC member. The final decisions will be made by consensus among all reviewers, as always. Based on our experience with the MSR Shadow PC in 2021 and 2022 and MSR Junior PC in 2023, 2024 and 2025 (see this paper). The addition of junior PC members preserves the overall quality of reviews that authors receive, as previous findings show that reviews written by junior reviewers are of similar quality to those written by regular PC members.

Why Join the MSR Junior PC?

Serving on the Junior PC is an excellent opportunity for early-career researchers (PhD students, postdocs, new faculty members, industry practitioners, etc) to be recognized and gain experience in community service, i.e., being part of a major conference program committee. It is also worthwhile for a number of reasons, including:

• Seeing examples of actual reviews for the same papers, written by the regular PC members, gaining more experience as a reviewer, and learning from the senior researchers how to write better reviews.
• Participating in the real process and having a share in the final outcome of the paper increases the motivation and engagement of the junior reviewers throughout the process.
• Understanding how a PC operates and is run.
• Being mentored by experienced PC members.
• Gaining experience reviewing papers and understanding the challenges faced by reviewers reading multiple papers, which may not always be in their area of expertise.
• Submitting high-quality reviews makes one a more likely candidate for future PCs of the technical track of MSR or otherwise.
• Getting to see both strong and weak papers at the submission stage.
• Discovering what it takes to publish a paper in a reputable conference, such as MSR.
• Having a chance to read top-notch papers in your area of expertise before they are published.

What is Required of MSR Junior PC Members?

Junior PC members must commit themselves to writing their own detailed and rigorous reviews for papers assigned to them by the allotted deadline. This timely review commitment is essential to the good functioning of the Junior PC. Candidates who might be unable to fulfill their reviewing duties should refrain from applying. Junior PC members will be expected to review a load of 1-3 papers per member, submit on-time reviews, and participate in the online discussion of their assigned papers. Junior PC members must follow the ethical standards of peer review, respect the anonymity of the review process, must not share which papers they have reviewed or solicit sub-reviews, and must abide the ACM Policy on the usage of Generative AI for reviewing. Junior PC members who do not adhere to the ethical standards of peer review will be excluded from the process.

Who Can Participate in the MSR Junior PC?

The Junior PC is open to PhD students, post-docs, new faculty members, and industry practitioners experienced in software engineering or mining software repositories research, especially those who have not yet served in a program committee of the technical research track (or the main track) of the international SE conferences (e.g., ICSE, FSE, ASE, MSR, ICSME, SANER). We will select the Junior PC members based on research experience for joining the Junior PC. The Junior PC selection process will also strive to ensure diversity.

How to Apply?

If you are interested in participating, please complete the online application form (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSexgE5RISm15QGJpRC5M-SLQQSUrVOvnQJQjzu-KNWAwIg86g/viewform) for MSR 2026 Junior PC by September 15th, 2025 AoE.

Important Dates

All deadlines are firm, and are in Anywhere on Earth (AoE):

• Junior PC Self-Nomination Deadline: September 7th, 2025, AoE
• Announcement of Junior PC members: October 1st, 2024 AoE
• MSR Review Tutorial: October 7th – October 21st, 2025