Call For Papers
ICTIR 2026 invites submissions with substantial and original research on innovative and foundational contributions to the field of Information Retrieval. The conference provides a forum for the presentation and discussion of research related to the foundational aspects of Information Retrieval, especially methods and results that others can build upon and use in their own work. We especially welcome original research on the theoretical aspects of Information Retrieval, topics from neighboring fields with a strong and clear connection to Information Retrieval, and novel approaches and methods for developing, improving, and evaluating models of relevance, ranking, representation, and information needs. While IR research traditionally relies heavily on rigorous experimentation, ICTIR does not see this as a must.
ICTIR allows two types of submissions: regular submissions, and SIGIR Revise-and-Resubmit (SIGIR-RR) submissions.
SIGIR-RR submissions are for revised manuscripts of papers that were submitted to but not accepted by the SIGIR 2026 conference full and short paper tracks. Papers originally submitted to other tracks can also be revised and resubmitted, but will be considered as regular submissions and not SIGIR-RR submissions. The SIGIR-RR option is not required, and any paper rejected by any track of SIGIR can be submitted to ICTIR as a regular submission.
Authors can use the SIGIR-RR option to address the issues raised in the SIGIR 2026 reviews and revise their paper accordingly. In addition to the revised paper, the authors must: (1) attach the original anonymized submission file to SIGIR 2026; and (2) explain how the issues raised by the SIGIR reviewers have been addressed in the revised paper. The explanation should consist of 1–3 pages, with no style or formatting requirements, and should include the SIGIR track and paper ID and quote the relevant parts of the reviews to provide context.
All papers must describe original work that has not been previously published, not accepted for publication elsewhere, and not simultaneously submitted or currently under review in another journal or conference (including any archival workshops at SIGIR 2026). We welcome a wide variety of paper types, including perspective papers, provided the work is consistent with our focus on innovative concepts and theories.
We encourage authors to follow this brief checklist to strengthen an IR paper.
Submissions to ICTIR may be 2–9 pages long, with an optional appendix, and will be evaluated based on the merits of their contents relative to their length, not on the number of pages. If there is an appendix, it is up to the reviewers whether they consider it or even look at it. The paper must be self-contained and understandable without reading the appendix, if any. The appendix will not be included in the published paper.
Submissions to ICTIR 2026 should adhere to the general SIGIR 2026 submission policies, including policies on in-person attendance, required reviewing, the use of AI, and ACM Open Access. By submitting your article to an ACM Publication, you are acknowledging that you and your co-authors are subject to all ACM Publications Policies, including ACM's new Publications Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects. Alleged violations of this policy or any ACM Publications Policy will be investigated by ACM and may result in a full retraction of your paper, in addition to other potential penalties, as per ACM Publications Policy.
Please ensure that you and your co-authors obtain an ORCID ID, so that if your paper is accepted you can complete the publishing process. ACM has been involved in ORCID from the start, and has committed to collect ORCID IDs from all authors, in order to improve author discoverability, ensure proper attribution, and contribute to ongoing community efforts around name normalization.
No changes to paper authorship details will be permitted after the submission deadline, or in connection with final versions of papers.
Submissions should be 2–9 pages in length in ACM SIGIR style, excluding the references and an optional appendix. Submissions must be anonymous, see the additional comments in the next paragraph.
Submissions must be in English, in PDF format, and be between 2 and at most 9 pages in length (including figures, tables, proofs, acknowledgments, and any content except references and optional appendices), with unrestricted space for references, in the current ACM two-column conference format. Suitable LaTeX, Word, and Overleaf templates are available from the ACM Website (use the "sigconf" proceedings template for LaTeX and the Interim Template for Word).
ACM's CCS concepts and keywords are required for review.
For LaTeX, the following should be used when submitting the paper:
\documentclass[sigconf,natbib=true,anonymous=true,review]{acmart}
Submissions should be submitted electronically via OpenReview. Note that it can take up to one day to create an OpenReview account, meaning that you should not leave this to the last minute.
Submission link: https://openreview.net/group?id=ACM.org/SIGIR/ICTIR/2026/Conference.
After paper decisions, reviews, and meta-reviews of accepted papers will be made public. Authors of rejected papers have the option to make the reviews public as well. Reviewer identities will remain anonymous.
ICTIR will employ a lightweight double-blind reviewing process.
On the one hand, a submission should not reveal the identity of the authors in any obvious way. In particular, the authors' names, affiliations, or email addresses should not appear anywhere in the submission. Any reference to the authors' own related work should be in the third person (that is, don't say "our" when referring to such work). If sharing some code, make sure it is anonymous — for example, by using Anonymous GitHub and making sure to remove author names in it.
On the other hand, nothing should be done in the name of anonymity that weakens the submission or makes the job of reviewing the paper more difficult. Important references should be neither omitted nor anonymized.
Authors may also post drafts of their papers on the web, submit them to arXiv, or give talks about them.
The purpose of double-blind reviewing is to help PC members reach an initial judgment about the paper without bias, not to make it impossible for them to identify the authors if they were to try.
At least one author of an accepted paper must register and present the work at ICTIR 2026. ICTIR 2026 will be a whole day and take place on 25 July, the day after SIGIR 2026 concludes.
All accepted papers will be presented as posters. In addition, a selection of papers will be invited for oral presentation, with that selection made on the basis of likely interest to the anticipated audience and to span a variety of topics, and not as a measure of paper importance. All accepted papers rank equally in terms of importance, regardless of length or presentation format. The decision on the presentation format of each accepted paper will be sent by email after the notification.
| Paper submission deadline: | April 16, 2026 | ||
| Notification of acceptance: | May 31, 2026 | ||
| Accommodation request deadline: | June 3, 2026 (11:59pm Melbourne time) | ||
| Camera-ready deadline: | June 14, 2026 | ||
| Presenting author registration required: | June 14, 2026 (11:59pm Melbourne time) | ||
| Conference date: | July 25, 2026 |
The official publication date is when the proceedings are made available in the ACM Digital Library. This date may be up to two weeks before the first day of the conference. The official publication date may affect the deadline for any patent filings related to published work.
ACM has recently introduced a new publishing model that applies to all 2026 ACM Conferences.
Starting January 1, 2026, ACM will fully transition to Open Access. All ACM publications, including those from ACM-sponsored conferences, will be 100% Open Access. Authors will have two primary options for publishing Open Access articles with ACM: the ACM Open institutional model or by paying Article Processing Charges (APCs). With over 2,600 institutions already part of ACM Open, the majority of ACM-sponsored conference papers will not require APCs from authors or conferences (currently, around 76%).
Authors from institutions not participating in ACM Open will need to pay an APC to publish their papers, unless they qualify for a financial waiver. To find out whether an APC applies to your article, please consult the list of participating institutions in ACM Open and review the Policy on Discretionary Waivers. Keep in mind that waivers are rare and are granted based on specific criteria set by ACM.
Understanding that this change could present financial challenges, ACM has approved a temporary subsidy for 2026 to ease the transition and allow more time for institutions to join ACM Open. The subsidy will offer:
This represents a 65% discount, funded directly by ACM. Authors are encouraged to help advocate for their institutions to join ACM Open during this transition period.
This temporary subsidized pricing will apply to all conferences scheduled for 2026.