Preface for the special issue on selected software artifacts from DisCoTec 2023 – the 18th International Federated Conference on Distributed Computing Techniques

This special issue includes a selection of the artefacts presented at the 18th International Federated Conference on Distributed Computing Techniques (DiScoTec 2023), held at the NOVA University Lisbon (Lisbon, Portugal), in June 18-23, 2023. The federated conference included: COORDINATION 2023, the 25th International Conference on Coordination Models and Languages); DAIS 2023, the 23rd International Conference on Distributed Applications and Interoperable Systems; and FORTE 2023, the 43rd International Conference on Formal Techniques for Distributed Objects, Components, and Systems. All the three conferences welcomed submissions describing technological artefacts, including innovative prototypes supporting the modelling, development, analysis, simulation, or testing of systems in the broad spectrum of distributed computing subjects. The artefact evaluation chairs have selected a subset of high-quality accepted artefacts to be invited for submission to this special issue. Following the revision process, nine artefacts have been accepted to be part of this special issue. The published contributions include different types of artefacts, including programming libraries, frameworks, as well as tools for the analysis, verification, and simulation of distributed systems.