##Call for Papers

Dark Software Engineering (DSE) focuses on the deliberate misuse of software engineering practices to deceive, manipulate, or exploit users. Beyond user-interface “dark patterns,” DSE spans requirements, architecture, implementation, testing, deployment, and operations, including AI-enabled deception (e.g., persuasive chatbots and synthetic media). The DSE’26 workshop brings together software engineering, HCI, AI, industry, and policy communities to define the problem space, share evidence and tools, and shape concrete engineering responses.

##Workshop Organization

This workshop will be held in conjunction with the International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2026).

##Topics of interest

Includes, but not limited to:

-Taxonomies and classifications of dark patterns and dark software engineering across requirements, design, implementation, testing, and operations.

-Case studies from industry or the public sector documenting harms, root causes, and remediation.

-AI deception and manipulation: persuasive chatbots, synthetic media, recommender systems, data-poisoning, prompts, and UI-level deception.

-Adversarial and manipulative UX: consent flows, default settings, confirmshaming, forced continuity, disguised ads, obstruction, and nagging patterns.

-Organizational dynamics: incentives and metrics that drive DSE; governance models that counteract them.

-Tooling for detection and prevention: static/dynamic analysis, UI linting, pattern detectors, log and telemetry audits, compliance tooling, “ethics as code.”

-Testing and evaluation: experiment design that avoids deceptive outcomes, guardrail tests, red-teaming for UX and ML systems, human factors evaluation.

-Documentation and transparency: model cards, data sheets, decision logs, audit trails, changelogs that surface user-impacting changes.

-Policy and regulation: compliance-aware engineering for consumer protection, privacy, AI governance, accessibility, and advertising rules.

-Education and training: curricula, exercises, and practitioner guidelines for ethical software engineering and dark-pattern avoidance.

-Open problems: benchmarks, datasets, and shared infrastructures for studying and mitigating DSE.

##Submission guidelines

###Submission types
-Long papers: Up to 8 pages — mature contributions with completed results, rigorous evaluation, or in-depth case studies.

-Short papers: Up to 6 pages — concise original work, early results, focused experience reports, or industry demonstrations.

-Extended abstracts: Up to 5 pages — position or experience pieces with emerging results, lessons learned, open problems, or novel ideas; exempt from APCs under current ACM open-access

###Originality and review

-Submissions must describe original work not published or under review elsewhere.

-The review process is single-blind: author names and affiliations must appear in the submission.

-Each submission will be reviewed by at least three reviewers and evaluated for clarity, relevance, originality, and contribution.

-Submissions will receive a preliminary desk check for scope, format, and page limits compliance.

###Formatting and submission

-Submit in PDF via HotCRP. (Link will be available soon)

-Submissions must strictly conform to the ACM conference proceedings formatting instructions. Use the ACM Primary Article Template in the double-column format and follow all ACM proceedings instructions.

-Page limits include the abstract, figures, tables, and references.

-There is no limit on the number of submissions per author. Each submission will be evaluated on its own merits.

##Publication and presentation
Accepted papers will be published in the ACM Digital Library.

At least one author of each accepted paper must register for DSE’26 and present the work at the workshop.

###APC note
As per current ACM open-access policies, extended abstracts are exempt from APCs. For other paper types, standard ACM policies apply.

###Contact
For scope questions or clarifications, email the co-organizer, Mohamad Kassab: mkassab@bu.edu