Empirical Software Engineering: An International Journal provides a forum in which researchers and practitioners can report both original and replicated studies varying from controlled experiments to field studies from data intensive to qualitative. Preference is given to studies that can be replicated or expanded upon. The aim of such studies is to expose in an experimental setting the primitives of software engineering. Papers on the infrastructure for supporting experimentation are also published. The journal focuses on the collection and analysis of data and experience that can be used to characterise evaluate and reveal relationships between software engineering artifacts. As such the journal forms a repository for the accessing and dissemination of the data and artifacts used in the studies. The following topics are relevant to the journal given an appropriate emphasis on the collection and analysis of supporting data: Comparison of cost estimation techniques Analysis of the effects of design methods and characteristics Evaluation of the readability of coding styles Development derivation and/or comparison of organizational models of software development Evaluation of testing methodologies Reports on the benefits derived from using graphical window-based software development environments Development of predictive models of defect rates and reliability from real data Infrastructure issues such as measurement theory experimental design qualitative modeling and analysis approaches.