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In my master thesis I developed a software tool that improves a common workflow used in a certain industry. Currently, no such tool exists, and this workflow is conducted manually all around the globe. I am currently in the finalization phase of my thesis and my supervisor told me to write a paper on the tool and the worflow improvement.

Now here is my Problem:

  • I have the tool and I can show that the workflow is performed better with it (our industry partner puts almost no limits on use cases, interviews, etc)
  • I have no idea how properly package this into a paper (also, what to objectively measure to "proof" the improvement)

Could someone please point out a few "good" papers, where a software tool was created for a problem domain (where no such tool existed before) and evaluated so that I can learn from it's structure, the approach and the proper "packaging" of the entire paper?

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    I think it's impossible to answer without knowing more about the domain of the software you've developed. If it is numerical software, I can help.
    – David Ketcheson
    Commented Nov 17, 2013 at 16:52
  • It's a decision support tool for customer relationship management
    – Isa9a3
    Commented Nov 17, 2013 at 18:02
  • I wrote one that I think is "good" and that was published as a synthesis (as opposed to a methods) paper esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/12-0137.1
    – David LeBauer
    Commented Nov 18, 2013 at 4:34
  • Read recent ICSE and CHI proceedings, many of them are about the design and evaluation of tools.
    – Austin Henley
    Commented Nov 18, 2013 at 18:57
  • possible duplicate of Should I write a paper on open-source software I've built?
    – 410 gone
    Commented Jun 8, 2014 at 12:35

2 Answers 2

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Although I don't have any specific tips on structuring this type of paper, you might be interested in this list of journals that focus on publishing scientific software. You should be able to find lots of examples of "software" papers there. Those papers that I have read in Methods in Ecology and Evolution have been particularly high quality, and you might try starting there.

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If you just want to write a paper on the software itself, the list provided in user4936 answer is perfectly fine.

If you want to conduct a research on how the tool actually enhanced certain processes in a firm, you might go for a paper in an Information Systems venue.

Start looking for articles in what you can access of the Top 8 journals for IS. Look for "decision support system" and add some of your paper's keywords. You will find plenty of papers with methodologies.

Be aware that IS venues demand very strong theoretical background and motivation for a study. They like theory a lot. So, be prepared to read a lot and to write a lot :-)

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