Short Papers
and Posters

The Short Papers & Posters Track encourages submissions that focus on a contribution that is succinct or ongoing. Submissions in this category are intended to allow presenters to share their latest results or get feedback on projects which may not otherwise be appropriate for the Full Papers or Journal Track. Short papers and posters are likely to have a more focused and concise research contribution to the field. For example, a submission on a novel system may not cover the entire system design but rather go into depth regarding a specific topic (e.g., how the system was evaluated with real users or how the formative work to create the system was conducted). 

Short Papers Description

COMPASS Short Papers would consider previously unpublished, concise and insightful submissions that make a specific, explicit contribution on its own, but unlike Full Papers, are not expected to provide full discussion or related work. While the length of short papers is flexible, they should be between 5000 and 8000 words without references. Short papers would benefit from short presentations and discussions during the conference.

All Short Paper submissions must be fully anonymized. Submissions will go through a double-blind peer-review process by members of the COMPASS Program Committee. Authors should not reveal their names or affiliations on the title page, text, or document metadata. Any references to the authors’ own prior work should be in the third person.

Poster Description

Poster, or Extended Abstract, submissions will provide a great opportunity to showcase already published research or preliminary-results, innovative and provocative ideas, early-stages of research, new concepts or methodologies etc. While the length of the Posters/Extended Abstract is flexible, they should be between 2000 and 3000 words without references. Poster submissions are similar to the Extended Abstract submission in other disciplines. 

Poster submissions should NOT be anonymous. Submissions will be juried by the COMPASS Short Papers and Poster Chairs.

Upon acceptance, a poster in A0 format should be prepared to communicate effectively and invite discussion during the conference.

Important Dates

• April 15th, 2023: System open for Submissions
• June 1st, 2023: Submission due for short papers and posters (23:59 AoE)
• June 30th, 2023: Notifications to the authors
• July 15th, 2023: Deadline for the camera-ready version of the accepted submissions
• August 16th-19th, 2023: ACM COMPASS 2023 Conference

Submission Format

Authors of short papers and posters should submit a description of their work in PDF format using the current ACM two-column conference format. Suitable LaTeX, Word, and Overleaf templates are available from the ACM Website (use “sigconf” proceedings template for LaTeX and the Interim Template for Word). ACM’s CCS concepts and keywords are not required for review but may be required if accepted and published by the ACM.

For LaTeX, the following should be used:

• Short Papers: documentclass[sigconf,natbib=true]{acmart}
• Posters: documentclass[sigconf,natbib=true]{acmart}

Short paper submissions must be anonymous. Both Short Papers and Posters should be submitted electronically via HotCRP:

Submissions that are not in the appropriate submission format will be desk rejected. In addition, we aim to ensure that all of the COMPASS content is made as accessible as possible to any and all persons; please refer to our guide to producing accessible documents for suggestions.

Accepted short papers will be archived in the ACM Digital Library. To accommodate the publishing traditions of different fields, authors of accepted short papers can ask that only a one-page abstract appears in the archival proceedings along with a URL pointing to the full submission. Authors should guarantee that the link to the full submission will be reliable for at least two years. This option is available to accommodate subsequent publication in journals that would not consider preliminary results that have been published in the proceedings of a conference.

Shadow PC Committee

COMPASS will once again offer the COMPASS Shadow committee which allows researchers without reviewing experience the opportunity to form part of a shadow committee that runs parallel to the actual committee. One of these members will also review your work and provide feedback to gain experience as reviewers but will not have any impact on the acceptance or rejection of your work. You can find out more about the shadow committee here.

Short Papers and Poster Chairs

For any queries, please, do not hesitate to contact us at short-papers@compass.acm.org

• Rehema Baguma, Makerere University, Uganda
• Nervo Verdezoto, Cardiff University, UK
• Sarina Till, Independent Institute of Education /University of Cape Town, South Africa