Double Submission Policy for Conferences

ACL Policy

Papers presented at an ACL conference must represent new work that has not been previously published. It is the responsiblity of the author to inform the program chair of any potential problem with respect to this requirement, as noted in the following guidelines.

• Papers that have appeared at a conference with published proceedings constitute previously published work.
• Papers that overlap other papers that have appeared at a conference with published proceedings must contain significant new results. Authors must include on the title page a list of any previous papers that the current paper overlaps or extends, and must identify the significant new results contained in the new submission. The program co-chairs have the final decision about what constitutes significant new results.
• Papers that have appeared at a workshop do not constitute previously published work, as long as the paper submitted to ACL is an extension of the workshop paper. Extensions might include new results, more in-depth analysis, evaluation that was not part of the workshop paper, or further experiments. Authors must include on the title page a list of any previous workshop papers that the current paper extends, and must identify how the current submission extends the previous workshop papers. The program co-chairs have the final decision about whether the ACL submission represents an extension of the workshop papers.

Papers being submitted both to ACL and another conference or workshop must note this on the title page. (This includes submissions that are extensions of papers currently being submitted to a workshop.) A paper to be presented at ACL must be withdrawn from other conferences and workshops.

Implementation of ACL Policy

Papers being submitted both to ACL and another conference or workshop must:

1. Note on the title page the other conference or workshop to which they are being submitted. (This includes submissions that are extensions of papers currently being submitted to a workshop.)
2. State on the title page that if the paper is accepted for ACL, then the paper will be withdrawn from other conferences and workshops.

Authors are expected to adhere to the ACL policy on double submission of papers.  However, double submissions that do not follow this policy have been problematic at recent conferences.  For ACL-05, the program chairs consulted with the program chairs of other major conferences (such as IJCAI) to determine when authors had submitted to multiple conferences.  The submissions were checked, and papers that were multiply submitted (ie., not substantially different) and accepted by more than one conference were rejected from one or both of the conferences.