Service-oriented computing (SOC) is considered today a key enabler for the development of robust and high-quality intelligent Internet-scale distributed applications. Extensive research and development in the past few years has pushed SOC technology into state-of-the-art applications in emerging areas such as Cloud computing, Internet-of-Things (IoT), Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication, Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs), Mobile-Edge Computing, Social computing as well as mobile and enterprise systems. However, many of the critical components on building reliable, robust, and user-centric, cloud-based service-oriented architecture applications and systems are still open for research. Hence, it is time to face new service-oriented architecture (SOA) research opportunities by addressing new research challenges on emerging applications domains like smart cities, smart logistics, smart factories and e-Health, just to mention a few.

Many of the service components are deployed on resource-limited embedded systems and are performance sensitive; others are deployed on cloud servers providing highly parallel services and on edge servers in the middle of resource-limited systems and high-end servers. Edge servers and clouds are connected through various types of networks, including emerging network function virtualization services. These components are part of complex applications and systems that span multiple execution environments. Their capabilities are increasingly being managed and (re)configured via emerging software-defined and elasticity mechanisms. In addition, they have to interact with humans in order to obtain useful human-sensing data and solve complex problems. Thus, on the one hand, SOC may provide effective solutions for managing the ever-increasing complexity while meeting the challenging requirements of services on largely distributed, heterogeneous and dynamic resource environments. On the other hand, the exploitation of emerging trends in such environments to build SOC applications and systems for large-scale service-based systems is an open research challenge.

The 2018 IEEE International Conference on Service-Oriented Computing and Applications provides an international forum for researchers from multiple disciplines to exchange and share their experiences, ideas, and latest research results on all aspects of service-oriented computing. The conference includes three days of parallel-track program, special-topic workshops, keynotes and tutorials, and panel discussion.

We invite submissions of high-quality papers describing fully developed results or ongoing work on the following topics and related areas:
 -Service-oriented architectures, engineering, and applications
 -Cloud-based service systems
 -SOCA in IoT and Cyber-Physical Systems
 -Service Models and Applications for Mobile-Edge Computing
 -Service coordination techniques in IoT and cloud environments
 -SOC-based smart process and workflow management
 -Configurable, reconfigurable and software-defined service middleware
 -Data analytics and data services in and for SOC-based systems
 -IoT and data marketplaces
 -Smart data and service contracts
 -Cognitive computing techniques for SOCA
 -Social computing for and atop SOCA
 -SOCA development, deployment and testing tools and methodologies
 -Security and privacy for SOCA
 -Dependable and trustworthy SOCA
 -SOCA for smart applications (cities, transportation systems, factories, homes and offices, etc.)