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Conference Formatting Requirements
Comprehensive formatting requirements and submission guidelines for major academic conferences across disciplines.
Last Updated: 2024
Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence
NeurIPS (Neural Information Processing Systems)
Conference Type: Top-tier machine learning conference
Frequency: Annual (December)
Formatting Requirements:
- Page Limit:
- Main paper: 8 pages (excluding references)
- References: Unlimited
- Appendix/Supplementary: Unlimited (optional, reviewed at discretion)
- Format: Two-column
- Font: Times or Times New Roman, 10pt for body text
- Line spacing: Single-spaced
- Margins: 1 inch (2.54 cm) all sides
- Column separation: 0.25 inch (0.635 cm)
- Paper size: US Letter (8.5 × 11 inches)
- Anonymization: Required for initial submission (double-blind review)
- Remove author names, affiliations
- Anonymize self-citations ("Author et al." → "Anonymous et al.")
- Remove acknowledgments revealing identity
- Citations: Numbered in square brackets [1], [2-4]
- References: Any consistent style (commonly uses numbered references)
- Figures:
- High resolution (300+ dpi)
- Colorblind-friendly palettes recommended
- Can span both columns if needed
- Tables: Clear, readable at publication size
- Equations: Numbered if referenced
- LaTeX Class:
neurips_2024.sty(updated annually) - Supplementary Materials:
- Code strongly encouraged (GitHub, anonymous repo for review)
- Additional experiments, proofs
- Not counted toward page limit
LaTeX Template: assets/journals/neurips_article.tex
Submission Notes:
- Use official style file (changes yearly)
- Paper ID on first page (auto-generated during submission)
- Include "broader impact" statement (varies by year)
- Reproducibility checklist required
Website: https://neurips.cc/
ICML (International Conference on Machine Learning)
Conference Type: Top-tier machine learning conference
Frequency: Annual (July)
Formatting Requirements:
- Page Limit:
- Main paper: 8 pages (excluding references and appendix)
- References: Unlimited
- Appendix: Unlimited (optional)
- Format: Two-column
- Font: Times, 10pt
- Line spacing: Single-spaced
- Margins: 1 inch all sides
- Paper size: US Letter
- Anonymization: Required (double-blind)
- Citations: Numbered or author-year (consistent style)
- Figures: High resolution, colorblind-safe recommended
- LaTeX Class:
icml2024.sty(updated yearly) - Supplementary: Strongly encouraged (code, data, appendix)
LaTeX Template: assets/journals/icml_article.tex
Submission Notes:
- Must use official ICML style file
- Checklist for reproducibility
- Ethics statement if applicable
Website: https://icml.cc/
ICLR (International Conference on Learning Representations)
Conference Type: Top-tier deep learning conference
Frequency: Annual (April/May)
Formatting Requirements:
- Page Limit:
- Main paper: 8 pages (excluding references, appendix, ethics statement)
- References: Unlimited
- Appendix: Unlimited
- Format: Two-column
- Font: Times, 10pt
- Anonymization: Required (double-blind)
- Citations: Numbered [1] or author-year
- LaTeX Class:
iclr2024_conference.sty - Supplementary: Code and data encouraged (anonymous GitHub)
- Open Review: Reviews and responses are public post-decision
LaTeX Template: assets/journals/iclr_article.tex
Unique Features:
- OpenReview platform (transparent review process)
- Author-reviewer discussion during review
- Camera-ready can exceed 8 pages
Website: https://iclr.cc/
CVPR (Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition)
Conference Type: Top-tier computer vision conference
Frequency: Annual (June)
Formatting Requirements:
- Page Limit:
- Main paper: 8 pages (including figures and tables, excluding references)
- References: Unlimited (separate section)
- Format: Two-column
- Font: Times Roman, 10pt
- Anonymization: Required (double-blind)
- Blur faces in images if needed
- Anonymize datasets if they reveal identity
- Paper size: US Letter
- Citations: Numbered [1]
- Figures: High resolution, can be color
- LaTeX Template: CVPR official template (changes yearly)
- Supplementary Material:
- Video demonstrations encouraged
- Additional results, code
- 100 MB limit for all supplementary files
LaTeX Template: assets/journals/cvpr_article.tex
Website: https://cvpr.thecvf.com/
AAAI (Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence)
Conference Type: Major AI conference
Frequency: Annual (February)
Formatting Requirements:
- Page Limit:
- Technical papers: 7 pages (excluding references)
- References: Unlimited
- Format: Two-column
- Font: Times Roman, 10pt
- Anonymization: Required (double-blind)
- Paper size: US Letter
- Citations: Various styles accepted (be consistent)
- LaTeX Template: AAAI official style
- Supplementary: Optional appendix
LaTeX Template: assets/journals/aaai_article.tex
Website: https://aaai.org/conference/aaai/
IJCAI (International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence)
Conference Type: Major AI conference
Frequency: Annual
Formatting Requirements:
- Page Limit: 7 pages (excluding references)
- Format: Two-column
- Font: Times, 10pt
- Anonymization: Required
- LaTeX Template: IJCAI official style
Computer Science
ACM CHI (Human-Computer Interaction)
Conference Type: Premier HCI conference
Frequency: Annual (April/May)
Formatting Requirements:
- Page Limit:
- Papers: 10 pages (excluding references)
- Late-Breaking Work: 4 pages
- Format: Single-column ACM format
- Font: Depends on ACM template
- Anonymization: Required for Papers track
- LaTeX Class:
acmartwith CHI proceedings format - Citations: ACM style (numbered or author-year)
- Figures: High quality, accessibility considered
- Accessibility: Alt text for figures encouraged
LaTeX Template: assets/journals/chi_article.tex
Website: https://chi.acm.org/
SIGKDD (Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining)
Conference Type: Top data mining conference
Frequency: Annual (August)
Formatting Requirements:
- Page Limit:
- Research Track: 9 pages (excluding references)
- Applied Data Science: 9 pages
- Format: Two-column
- LaTeX Class:
acmart(sigconf format) - Font: ACM template default
- Anonymization: Required (double-blind)
- Citations: ACM numbered style
- Supplementary: Code and data encouraged
LaTeX Template: assets/journals/kdd_article.tex
Website: https://kdd.org/
EMNLP (Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing)
Conference Type: Top NLP conference
Frequency: Annual (November/December)
Formatting Requirements:
- Page Limit:
- Long papers: 8 pages (+ unlimited references and appendix)
- Short papers: 4 pages (+ unlimited references)
- Format: Two-column
- Font: Times New Roman, 11pt
- Anonymization: Required (double-blind)
- Do not include author names or affiliations
- Self-citations should be anonymized
- Paper size: US Letter or A4
- Citations: Named style similar to ACL
- LaTeX Template: ACL/EMNLP official style
- Supplementary: Appendix unlimited, code encouraged
LaTeX Template: assets/journals/emnlp_article.tex
Website: https://www.emnlp.org/
ACL (Association for Computational Linguistics)
Conference Type: Premier NLP conference
Frequency: Annual (July)
Formatting Requirements:
- Page Limit: 8 pages (long), 4 pages (short), excluding references
- Format: Two-column
- Font: Times, 11pt
- Anonymization: Required
- LaTeX Template: ACL official style (acl.sty)
LaTeX Template: assets/journals/acl_article.tex
USENIX Security Symposium
Conference Type: Top security conference
Frequency: Annual (August)
Formatting Requirements:
- Page Limit:
- Papers: No strict limit (typically 15-20 pages including everything)
- Well-written, concise papers preferred
- Format: Two-column
- Font: Times, 10pt
- Anonymization: Required (double-blind)
- LaTeX Template: USENIX official template
- Citations: Numbered
- Paper size: US Letter
LaTeX Template: assets/journals/usenix_article.tex
Website: https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity
SIGIR (Information Retrieval)
Conference Type: Top information retrieval conference
Frequency: Annual (July)
Formatting Requirements:
- Page Limit:
- Full papers: 10 pages (excluding references)
- Short papers: 4 pages (excluding references)
- Format: Single-column ACM format
- LaTeX Class:
acmart(sigconf) - Anonymization: Required
- Citations: ACM style
LaTeX Template: assets/journals/sigir_article.tex
Biology & Bioinformatics
ISMB (Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology)
Conference Type: Premier computational biology conference
Frequency: Annual (July)
Formatting Requirements:
- Publication: Proceedings published in Bioinformatics journal
- Page Limit:
- Typically 7-8 pages including figures and references
- Format: Two-column
- Font: Times, 10pt
- Citations: Numbered (Oxford style similar to Bioinformatics journal)
- LaTeX Template: Oxford Bioinformatics template
- Anonymization: Not required (single-blind)
- Figures: High resolution, color acceptable
- Supplementary: Encouraged for additional data/methods
LaTeX Template: assets/journals/ismb_article.tex
Website: https://www.iscb.org/ismb
RECOMB (Research in Computational Molecular Biology)
Conference Type: Top computational biology conference
Frequency: Annual (April/May)
Formatting Requirements:
- Publication: Proceedings published as Springer LNCS (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)
- Page Limit:
- Extended abstracts: 12-15 pages (including references)
- Format: Single-column
- Font: Based on Springer LNCS template
- LaTeX Class:
llncs(Springer) - Citations: Numbered or author-year
- Anonymization: Required (double-blind)
- Supplementary: Appendix can be submitted
LaTeX Template: assets/journals/recomb_article.tex
Website: https://www.recomb.org/
PSB (Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing)
Conference Type: Biomedical informatics conference
Frequency: Annual (January)
Formatting Requirements:
- Page Limit: 12 pages including figures and references
- Format: Single-column
- Font: Times, 11pt
- Margins: 1 inch all sides
- Citations: Numbered
- Anonymization: Not required
- Figures: Embedded in text
- LaTeX Template: PSB official template
LaTeX Template: assets/journals/psb_article.tex
Website: https://psb.stanford.edu/
Engineering
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Formatting Requirements:
- Page Limit: 8 pages (including figures and references)
- Format: Two-column
- Font: Times, 10pt
- LaTeX Class: IEEEtran
- Citations: IEEE style [1]
- Anonymization: Required for initial submission
- Video: Optional video submissions encouraged
LaTeX Template: assets/journals/icra_article.tex
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
Formatting: Same as ICRA (IEEE robotics template)
International Conference on Computer-Aided Design (ICCAD)
Formatting Requirements:
- Page Limit: 8 pages
- Format: Two-column
- LaTeX Class: IEEE template
- Citations: IEEE style
Design Automation Conference (DAC)
Formatting Requirements:
- Page Limit: 6 pages
- Format: Two-column
- Font: Times, 10pt
- LaTeX Class: ACM or IEEE template (check yearly guidelines)
Multidisciplinary
AAAS Annual Meeting
Conference Type: Broad scientific conference
Formatting: Varies by symposium (typically extended abstracts)
Quick Reference Table
| Conference | Pages | Format | Blind | Citations | Template |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NeurIPS | 8 + refs | Two-col | Double | [1] | neurips_article.tex |
| ICML | 8 + refs | Two-col | Double | [1] | icml_article.tex |
| ICLR | 8 + refs | Two-col | Double | [1] | iclr_article.tex |
| CVPR | 8 + refs | Two-col | Double | [1] | cvpr_article.tex |
| AAAI | 7 + refs | Two-col | Double | Various | aaai_article.tex |
| CHI | 10 + refs | Single-col | Double | ACM | chi_article.tex |
| SIGKDD | 9 + refs | Two-col | Double | ACM [1] | kdd_article.tex |
| EMNLP | 8 + refs | Two-col | Double | Named | emnlp_article.tex |
| ISMB | 7-8 pages | Two-col | Single | [1] | ismb_article.tex |
| RECOMB | 12-15 pages | Single-col | Double | Springer | recomb_article.tex |
General Conference Submission Guidelines
Anonymization Best Practices (Double-Blind Review)
Remove:
- Author names, affiliations, emails from title page
- Acknowledgments section
- Funding information that reveals identity
- Any "our previous work" citations that make identity obvious
Anonymize:
- Self-citations: "Smith et al. [5]" → "Anonymous et al. [5]" or "Prior work [5]"
- Institution-specific details: "our university" → "a large research university"
- Dataset names if they reveal identity
Keep Anonymous:
- Code repositories (use anonymous GitHub for review)
- Supplementary materials
- Any URLs or links
Supplementary Materials
Common Inclusions:
- Source code (GitHub repository, zip file)
- Additional experimental results
- Proofs and derivations
- Extended related work
- Dataset descriptions
- Video demonstrations
- Interactive demos
Best Practices:
- Keep supplementary well-organized
- Reference supplementary clearly from main paper
- Ensure supplementary is anonymized for blind review
- Check file size limits (typically 50-100 MB)
Camera-Ready Preparation
After acceptance:
- De-anonymize: Add author names, affiliations
- Add acknowledgments: Funding, contributions
- Copyright: Add conference copyright notice
- Formatting: Follow camera-ready specific guidelines
- Page limit: May allow 1-2 extra pages (check guidelines)
- PDF/A compliance: Some conferences require PDF/A format
Accessibility Considerations
For All Conferences:
- Use colorblind-safe color palettes
- Ensure sufficient contrast
- Provide alt text for figures (where supported)
- Use clear, readable fonts
- Avoid solely color-based distinctions
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Wrong style file: Using outdated conference style file
- Page limit violation: Figures/tables pushing over limit
- Font size manipulation: Changing fonts to fit more content
- Margin adjustments: Modifying margins to gain space
- De-anonymization: Accidentally revealing identity in blind review
- Missing references: Not citing relevant prior work
- Low-quality figures: Pixelated or illegible figures
- Inconsistent formatting: Different sections using different styles
Getting Official Templates
Where to Find Official Templates:
- Conference website: "Call for Papers" or "Author Instructions"
- GitHub: Many conferences host templates on GitHub
- Overleaf: Many official templates available on Overleaf
- CTAN: LaTeX class files often on CTAN repository
Template Naming:
- Conferences often update templates yearly
- Use the correct year's template (e.g.,
neurips_2024.sty) - Check for "camera-ready" vs. "submission" versions
Notes
- Annual updates: Conference requirements change; always check current year's CFP
- Deadline types:
- Abstract deadline (often 1 week before paper deadline)
- Paper deadline (firm, no extensions typically)
- Supplementary deadline (may be a few days after paper)
- Timezone: Pay attention to deadline timezone (often AOE - Anywhere on Earth)
- Rebuttal: Many conferences have author response/rebuttal periods
- Dual submission: Check conference policy on concurrent submissions
- Poster/Oral: Acceptance often comes with presentation format
Conference Tiers (Informal)
Machine Learning:
- Tier 1: NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR
- Tier 2: AAAI, IJCAI, UAI
Computer Vision:
- Tier 1: CVPR, ICCV, ECCV
Natural Language Processing:
- Tier 1: ACL, EMNLP, NAACL
Bioinformatics:
- Tier 1: RECOMB, ISMB
- Tier 2: PSB, WABI
(Tiers are informal and field-dependent; not official rankings)