ACM Conference Publication Policy

Updated December 1, 2022

The following policies are specific to ACM sponsored conferences. (For policies specific to ICPS conferences, see ACM ICPS Conference Publication Policy.) 

ACM recognizes that editing a conference publication is a major task performed primarily by volunteers with the support of ACM staff and third party vendors (i.e. - submission systems, production vendors, plagiarism detection software, etc.). ACM seeks to provide conference program chairs, program committees, and reviewers with the support they need to effectively complete their tasks. In return, conference program chairs, program committees, and reviewers must be conscientious in managing the review process, and adhere to both conference-specific policies and general ACM Publications Policies.

Scope of Policy

This policy applies to all submitted, accepted, and published articles in ACM Publication venues.

Responsibilities and Requirements:

Editors and program chairs and committees can expect ACM to:

  • Provide assistance and advice on matters relating to the publication process, including but not limited to publication policies, rights management, production-related issues, the use of plagiarism detection software, handling allegations of publications-related misconduct, etc.
  • Provide an administrative and software infrastructure that supports tracking submissions and administration of publications
  • Provide training, documentation, and support needed to use manuscript tracking systems provided by ACM effectively
  • Work with appropriate vendors to implement the confidentiality requirements stated in this document in any manuscript tracking system provided to editors and program committees by ACM
  • Have clearly written policies and a commitment to advise conference organizers and/or assist in the investigation of alleged violations of such policies, and to hold violators of such policies accountable for their violations
  • Work with conference organizers to resolve conflicts between ACM publications policies and conference-specific policies
  • Listen and respond in a timely manner when help or information is requested
  • Recognize that editors and program chairs are responsible for editorial decision-making and the quality of the content
  • Recognize that the program committee chair(s) has final rights with regard to content
  • Recognize that the program committee chair(s) appoints program committee members
  • Recognize that the program committee chair(s) are responsible for investigating and making decisions related to publications-related violations for all submissions not yet published in the ACM Digital Library. In such cases, the ACM Publications Board and HQ staff may serve in an advisory capacity, but final decision-making rests with the conference leadership.
  • Recognize that a program committee chair can propose changes to the publication's charter and process for publications, provided such changes do not substantively create conflicts with existing ACM Publications Policies.
  • Specify the term of appointment for a program committee chair(s) of a publication. 
  • Have effective appointment and reappointment processes for publications

And ACM expects program chairs and committees to:

  • Inform the publisher in a timely manner of the status of all submissions
  • Understand and follow through on author rights, reviewer rights, and reader rights, and in particular to provide clear, timely, and impartial feedback
  • Clearly and accurately communicate ACM Publications policies to PC members, peer reviewers, and authors in instructions to PC members and peer reviewers, instructions for authors, and in Call for Papers, including any obligations that may differ from general ACM Publications Policy. 
  • Not implement any conference-specific policies that directly conflict with general ACM Publications Policies. For example, all ACM authors have the unrestricted and unlimited right to post pre-prints of their work to arXiv and other similar non-commercial sites and no ACM sponsored conference may reject submissions as a result of ACM authors posting their work to arXiv or other similar non-commercial sites.
  • Be an advocate for their ACM sponsored conferences and to represent the ACM well making all reasonable efforts to ensure the highest possible quality of the content selected for publication, taking specific steps to check for and prevent various types of publications-related misconduct (i.e. - plagiarism, computer-generated articles, fraudulent publication via paper mills and tortured phrase papers, pay-to-publish schemes, undeclared conflicts of interest, gift authorship, etc.). And when such misconduct is alleged, investigated, and proven, to hold those found guilty of these violations to account in a manner consistent with established ACM Publications Policy (see Penalties)
  • Manage the review process in a timely, confidential, and appropriate manner
  • Ensure that PC members and peer reviewers do not violate confidential peer review obligations, such as conducting bulk-downloads of submissions, unless explicitly permitted in writing by the SIG-managed conference as part of a formal PC bidding process conducted by the conference
  • Support, cooperate, and approve all reasonable requests by ACM staff to have access to data, peer review reports, access to the conference's submission and peer review system, and other information managed by conference leadership in connection with investigations into publications-related misconduct.
  • Responsibly cover all sides of important issues and not use the publication as a forum to further their own views, opinions, or personal or political agendas
  • Recognize that the program chair(s) has ultimate responsibility for editorial decision making and the quality of the content
  • Maintain a complete, confidential, and accurate archive of submission and peer review data, including a record of submissions, editorial decisions, copies of complete reviews and review reports, and editorial decision recommendations for a minimum of 5 years from the date of Publication
  • Use volunteers effectively and fairly
  • Cooperate with the publisher on its goals of supporting the membership of the ACM and the computing profession in general
  • Implement with quality and appropriateness the charter of the publication
  • Engage in the training and study necessary to appropriately use, and to correctly configure, the manuscript tracking systems provided by ACM.
 

Publishing Conference Articles in ACM Journals

ACM journals and transactions are designed to publish research results which are the gold standard for the profession, i.e., they are of high novelty and interest, technically sound, and well presented. Achieving this level of quality requires a review process that provides the time necessary for careful review by acknowledged experts in the field. In particular, this means selection of reviewers from the widest possible pool, and open-ended review cycles that ensure the most sound and polished result. Such a standard has been largely incompatible with conference review procedures which are sharply constrained by deadline. Because of this, it is the ACM Publications Board’s policy that conference proceedings should not simply be published as issues of ACM journals or transactions. The Board feels that to avoid confusion the brands "journal" and "transactions" must be reserved for venues with a review process which includes opportunity for a major revision and re-review by the same reviewers and is not limited by an event deadline.

The Board recognizes that many conferences publish research that is of top-quality, and hence encourages ACM Journal Editors-in-Chief and Conference Program Chairs to develop mutually beneficial methods to collaborate. Some examples that the Board finds particularly worthy are the following.

Conference-first Model: Best Conference Papers Invited for Journal Submission

Journal-First Model: Article Authors Invited for Conference Presentation

Journal-Integrated Model (i.e., the model used by TOG with SIGGRAPH)

Proceedings of the ACM on X

Logistics

Conference-first Model: Best Conference Papers Invited for Journal Submission

Journals may establish relationships with particular conferences to enable extended versions of the "best" few papers for the conference to be invited for submission for journal publication, possibly appearing in a special section of the journal dedicated to the conference. The journal paper should be an expanded version of the conference paper with, for example, more complete background, more detailed project descriptions, and additional results. This allows authors to present a more complete description of the work. ACM's Policy on Prior Publication and Simultaneous Submission provides additional guidance on submitting expanded versions of conference papers to journals.

Journal-First Model: Article Authors Invited for Conference Presentation

Conferences may establish relationships with journals to extend invitations to authors of recently published journal articles to present their results at the conference (without a separate publication in the proceedings). This affords authors the prestige of presentation at the conference while allowing the journal to maintain a refereeing process without fixed deadlines.

Journal-Integrated Model (i.e., the model used by TOG with SIGGRAPH)

  1. Requires certification by the journal’s EIC that the integrated process is as good as or exceeds the journal’s standards

  2. Requires two or more expert reviewers for acceptance

  3. Requires opportunity for author revision and re-review by same reviewers and post-event acceptance in the journal

Proceedings of the ACM on X

A new journal series with first issues planned for 2017. This is suitable for those ACM SIG-sponsored conferences that adapt their review processes to be comparable to those of journals. The series is being launched in recognition of the fact that conference-centric publishing disadvantages the CS community with respect to other scientific disciplines when competing with researchers from other disciplines for top science awards and career progression, and the fact that top ACM conferences have demonstrated high quality and high impact on the field.
The new series will adhere to the following principles:

  1. Clear documentation of review process and policy

  2. Minimum of two expert reviewers with written reviews

  3. Reviewers may be drawn from outside the conference Program Committee

  4. Minimum of two-cycle review with opportunity for major revisions reviewed by same reviewers

  5. Specific provisions for conflict-of-interest

It is recommended that attendance at the event not be mandatory for publication.

Logistics

  1. The production process will be as close to that of ACM sponsored conference production as possible; necessary copy-editing costs borne by author; typesetting costs minimal

  2. Use of ACM authoring templates will be required

  3. Costs will be paid by sponsoring SIG

  4. Online-only is default with media options available at additional cost

  5. OpenTOC, OpenSurround, and SIG DL revenue apply to PACM’s journal issues

Submitting and Investigating Potential Violations of this Policy

See Policy on Submitting and Investigating Claims

Confidentiality Policy

See Confidentiality Policy

Communicating Results of Investigations

See Policy on Communicating Results of Investigations

Appealing Violation Decisions

See Appealing Policy Violation Decisions

Contact ACM

The ACM Director of Publications should be contacted for any:

  • Questions about the interpretation of this policy
  • Questions about appeals of decisions
  • Requests for deviations from, or extensions to, this policy
  • Reporting of egregious behavior related to this policy, including purposeful evasion of the policy or false reporting

Mailing address:
ACM Director of Publications
Association for Computing Machinery
1601 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10019-7434
Phone: +1-212-626-0659
Or via email:
[email protected]

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