Instructions for Submissions

Types of Submissions

• Papers. Refereed papers for publication in the Proceedings, up to six pages. These will be presented either as talks or as posters (to be decided by the program committee). The Marr Prize for the best student paper will be selected from these submissions.
• Symposia. Proposals for a complete 90-minute symposium on current research topics. Proposals should list speakers and moderator and present detailed justifications, including the qualifications of the moderator and the speakers, presented as a one-page summary of the topic (to be included in the Proceedings later on if accepted).
• Publication-based presentations. Current research talks by researchers with a track record of publishing on the topics of their proposed talks. Requires a one-page abstract, including an extensive list of the author's relevant publications. The abstract will be included in the Proceedings if accepted.
• Member poster abstracts. Members may submit a one-page abstract for a poster.  Only one such poster can be submitted per member.  Accepted posters will be presented at the conference. The abstract will be included in the Proceedings if accepted.

For tutorials and workshops, see the tutorial/workshop pages at http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/~rsun/cogsci2006

Deadlines

All submissions (except Member Posters) due: February 1, 2006 (end of the day)

Acceptance notifications: April 15, 2006

Final camera-ready copies due: May 15, 2006

Submissions of Member Poster abstracts due (in the final form; no further revisions possible): May 1, 2006 (end of the day)

Acceptance notifications for Member Poster abstracts: May 15, 2006

Final camera-ready copies of Member Poster abstracts due: May 30, 2006

Submission Formats:
All submissions must be in PDF (Adobe Acrobat) files.  These files must be readable by the standard Acrobat Reader and editable by people other than the author.  The details of the required format are described in the sample documents below.  For your convenience, there are files for Microsoft Word and LaTeX that you can use as  templates.  With a few exceptions (especially length) the formatting details are the same for all types of submissions.   Please do not edit the margins or font settings of these files.

• Template for papers: Microsoft Word, LaTeX template, LaTeX style file.
• Template for member posters, publication-based presentations, and symposia: Microsoft Word.

To see what these look like, here are PDF versions of the paper format and the poster format.  If you need instructions on converting files to PDF, please look here.

Page length: 

• Submitted papers can be up to six pages long.  Papers accepted for publication will appear in the proceedings, and will either be presented as a talk or as a poster at the conference. 
• Publication-based presentations and Symposia are exactly one page long. 
• Member poster abstracts are exactly one page long.

Please note: As an issue of fairness, submissions that are over these lengths will be rejected without review.  Similarly, submission files that are not readable or editable will be rejected without review. 

All submissions must be made electronically, via PDF (Adobe Acrobat) files.  The URL to use for submissions is

https://precisionconference.com/~cogsci/

See also the Call for Papers, at http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/~ rsun/cogsci2006/, for further details.

Frequently Asked Questions about submissions:

1. Q: Does appearing in the Cognitive Science Conference preclude the same work from appearing in a journal later on?
   
   A: This conference is not considered an archival publication, so the same work can indeed be submitted to a journal later on.  That said, the conference format does tend to force many details to be left out that would be expected in a journal article, and generally a conference paper that is expanded into a successful journal article includes at least 30% additional material.
    
2. Q: Can't I just email you my submission.
   
   A: We are unable to accept submissions via email  The web based submission system enables a distributed review system to be used, and lets you provide information that is valuable in helping to ensure that your paper gets the most accurate reviewing available. 
    
3. Q: Do I have to be a member of the Society to submit a paper?
   
   A: You do not have to be a member of the Society to submit a paper, regular poster, symposium, or publication-based presentation.  But if you submit in the category of member posters abstracts, you will have to become a member before the conference.   Membership in the Society has a number of other advantages.  You can find out more at https://www.cognitivesciencesociety.org/contact.html
   

   Note that: Non-members of the society who do intend to apply to become a member in order to submit a member poster abstract, have the opportunity to apply for membership through the electronic system. Obviously, the acceptance of the abstract will be conditioned by the acceptance of the application to become a member of the society.  

4. Q: I am a member of <particular scientific society>.  Does my organization have an official relationship with the Cognitive Science Society that will allow me to present a member poster, even though I am not a member of the Cognitive Science Society itself?
   
   A: Only members of the Cognitive Science Society itself may present member posters/abstracts.  So you would need to join the Society in order to present a member poster/abstract at the conference.  If this conference is interesting to you, you may want to seriously consider joining the Society. 

   Note that: Non-members of the society who do intend to apply to become a member in order to submit a member poster abstract, have the opportunity to apply for membership through the electronic system. Obviously, the acceptance of the abstract will be conditioned by the acceptance of the application to become a member of the society.  



5. Q: I tried to sign up on the submission/reviewing web site with my Cognitive Science Society ID (or my ID from submitting/reviewing last year) and it didn't recognize me.  What is going on?
   
   A: For security reasons, we use a separate login system on the conference web site than on the Society web site.  This means you'll have to set up an account at the conference web site.  It is a quick and relatively painless process.

   If you have previously set up an account on this system, your login information has been sent to you long ago. Please find the previous email that contained that information.

   In the event that you fail to find the previous email, try the following: (a) your login name is your email address; (b) for your password, click on "look it up" to retrieve your password.

   (Note that you may have multiple email addresses and/or email aliases, currently or in the past, but the system may know only one of them. So try them all, one by one).

   If all of the above failed, create a new account by clicking on that option at the login screen.
    

6. Q: I don't see a list of possible topics or areas on the web site.
   
   A:  We have not included such a list because they can have a somewhat restrictive effect on what people believe they can submit.  If you are not sure what kinds of topics are suitable for this conference, it may be useful to look at the proceedings of past conferences (or issues of the Society's journal, Cognitive Science).   On-line proceedings from several prior conferences are available here.
    
7. Q: What help is available for people whose native language is not English in polishing up the English of their papers?
   
   A: Check out various editing services: for example, International Science Editing (ISE) (www.internationalscienceediting.com), Asian Science Editing (ASE) (www.asiascienceediting.com), SPI Publisher Services (www.prof-editing.com), and so on. We are not responsible for the quality of their work. You will have to pay for their services yourself.


8. Q: When will decisions be announced?
   
   A: Ensuring that each submission received solid reviews takes considerable time. While we hope to have results announced by the deadline, we may have to take more time. We will let you know as soon as possible. Please do not email us.

Formats of Posters and Presentations

• Each poster must fit into a space that is four feet high by eight feet wide. 
• Paper presentations (including publication-based presentations) will be 15 minutes long, plus five minutes for questions.
• LCD projectors will be used for talks, with standard VGA connectors. You will need to bring your own notebook computer. If you want to bring a Macintosh, please be sure to bring the appropriate adapter.
• Oral and poster presentation guidelines: the oral presentation guidelines, and the poster presentation guidelines.