Conference Formatting Requirements

Comprehensive formatting requirements and submission guidelines for major academic conferences across disciplines.

Last Updated: 2024

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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/

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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/

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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/

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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/

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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/

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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

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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: acmart with 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/

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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/

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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/

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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/

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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/

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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

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IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)

Formatting: Same as ICRA (IEEE robotics template)

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International Conference on Computer-Aided Design (ICCAD)

Formatting Requirements:

• Page Limit: 8 pages
• Format: Two-column
• LaTeX Class: IEEE template
• Citations: IEEE style

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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)

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Multidisciplinary

AAAS Annual Meeting

Conference Type: Broad scientific conference
Formatting: Varies by symposium (typically extended abstracts)

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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

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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:

1. De-anonymize: Add author names, affiliations
2. Add acknowledgments: Funding, contributions
3. Copyright: Add conference copyright notice
4. Formatting: Follow camera-ready specific guidelines
5. Page limit: May allow 1-2 extra pages (check guidelines)
6. 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

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Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Wrong style file: Using outdated conference style file
2. Page limit violation: Figures/tables pushing over limit
3. Font size manipulation: Changing fonts to fit more content
4. Margin adjustments: Modifying margins to gain space
5. De-anonymization: Accidentally revealing identity in blind review
6. Missing references: Not citing relevant prior work
7. Low-quality figures: Pixelated or illegible figures
8. Inconsistent formatting: Different sections using different styles

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Getting Official Templates

Where to Find Official Templates:

1. Conference website: "Call for Papers" or "Author Instructions"
2. GitHub: Many conferences host templates on GitHub
3. Overleaf: Many official templates available on Overleaf
4. 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

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Notes

1. Annual updates: Conference requirements change; always check current year's CFP
2. 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)
3. Timezone: Pay attention to deadline timezone (often AOE - Anywhere on Earth)
4. Rebuttal: Many conferences have author response/rebuttal periods
5. Dual submission: Check conference policy on concurrent submissions
6. 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)