ian miguel tjltcsstandacuk apologies multiple copies call papers intention submit deadline approaching constraints journal special issue abstraction automation constraint modelling guest editors alan frisch university york uk ian miguel university st andrews uk introduction constraint programming cp powerful technology successfully used tackling wide range reallife complex applications solve problem cp first needs modelled set constraints must satisfied solution formulating model especially formulating one solvable practice often difficult cp technology currently accessible small number experts cp widely used nonexperts research effort needed order ease use cp technology one way improving usability extending cp technology enable models formulated higher level abstraction instance support set variables variables whose domain values sets many constraint languages solvers abstracted away lowlevel details set variable represented user longer needs know details however variables take certain types values functions relations yet supported directly constraint solvers case abstract variable refined representation comprises set primitive variables collection constraints among order avoid forcing user perform step manually automated refinement key goal automation also aid modelling process transforming constraint model one solved effectively transformations include adding implied constraints adding symmetrybreaking constraints adding constraints exploit dominances optimisation problems removing propagationredundant constraints creating relaxed versions initial problem special issue devoted development use abstraction automation facilities constraint modelling invite submissions interested authors challenging important area topics interest include limited use abstraction facilities formulating models abstraction constraint languages abstract variable domains abstraction search control automated refinement automated generation implied constraints automated generation symmetrybreaking constraints automated generation constraints exploit dominances automated generation relaxations paper submission researchers invited submit original papers make significant contribution field ianmcsstandacuk note usual online submission procedure constraints journal followed initially special issue submissions pdf format follow constraints journal guidelines papers 30 journal pages preferred submitting please use subject constraints special issue paper submission clearly specify email address phone number corresponding author receipt papers acknowledged submissions reviewed least two reviewers accepted papers meet usual highquality standards constraints journal authors intending submit send expression interest including provisional title list authors sentences outlining topic paper tjltcsstandacuk may 1st 2007 important dates expression interest may 1st 2007 submission papers july 1st 2007 notification acceptance october 1st 2007 final versions accepted papers dec 1st 2007 expected publication special issue 2nd issue 2008 apr 1st important links special issue home page httpwwwcsstandrewsacukianmmodellingspecialissuehtml constraints journal home page httpaiuwaterloocavanbeekconstraintsconstraintshtml guidelines authors httpaiuwaterloocavanbeekconstraintsinstructions_for_authorshtml thu 07 aug 2008 223330 0100 uai cfp constraints journal special issue abstraction automation constraint modelling