ACM Primary Article Template

New Workflow for ACM Publications

ACM is changing the archive format of its publications to separate content from presentation in the new Digital Library, enhance accessibility, and improve the flexibility and resiliency of our publications. This approach requires a new workflow that utilizes a simplified “review” format and a “final submission” format. The “final submission” is submitted to ACM's new production platform where authors will be able review PDF and HTML output formats before publication.

The original approach using the 2017 Primary Article Template for Microsoft Word was proven unsuitable and ACM has discontinued using that template. This new workflow, which was developed with volunteers in the author and SIG communities, will eliminate painpoints authors had reported. The new workflow is currently being live tested by select conferences before a wider release later in 2019.

Attention Conference Organizers: If your event would like to use the new workflow, template, and production system prior to the formal release, please contact Craig Rodkin ([email protected]) for additional information.

PACM Journal authors please obtain the ACM Small template from the journal template webpage
 

Word Authors

Interim Template

All conferences use this template unless directed otherwise. Consult your conference submission page for further details.

Until the wider release of the New Workflow for ACM Publications, we ask Microsoft Word users to please use these interim templates which provides the final layout for ACM articles, but do not have any of the functionality built in to capture accessibility and metadata tagging. Please download the interim word template here: Interim layout.docx and interim sample pdf (Please disregard any embedded instructions in the Interim layout during this transition phase.). Please review your conference submission page for further details.

Feel free to contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions. (last updated: February 28, 2019.)
 

New Workflow for ACM Publications

For TAPS and specified conferences only! Consult your conference submission page for further details.

Authors using the new Microsoft Word ACM Primary Article Template to submit content for peer review should use the review submission format provided at https://www.acm.org/publications/taps/word-template-workflow. The complete workflow and final submission format are currently being live tested by select conferences before wider release late 2019.

If you would like to review the new Microsoft Word ACM Primary Article Template template and workflow, please review the documentation at https://www.acm.org/publications/taps/word-template-workflow.

Feel free to contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions. (last updated: February 28, 2019.)
 

LaTex Authors

acmart.cls, the official ACM Primary article template for LaTeX, consolidates 8 individual ACM journal and ACM proceedings templates. The [primary] template is available in the following formats*: (last update June 4, 2024)

Before using the ACM LaTeX article template, everyone should read the TeX User Guide which comprises the first section of the document; authors who plan to use their own packages should read the longer TeX Implementation Guide which follows.

To ensure 100% compatibility, please check the approved list of LaTeX packages to be used with the Primary Article Template before creating your document. The approved LaTeX packages page also provides information on how to submit additional LaTeX packages for review and adoption.

This new consolidated template package replaces all previous independent class files and packages and provides a single up-to-date LATEX package with optional calls. The package uses only free TEX packages and fonts included in TEXLive, MikTEX and other popular TEX distributions. The new ACM templates use a new font set (libertine) which will need to be installed on your machine before using the templates. Please download and install the libertine font set before writing your paper. Fonts used in the template cannot be substituted; margin adjustments are not allowed.

 

The new LATEX package incorporates updated versions of the following ACM templates:

  • ACM Journals: ACM Small, ACM Large, ACM and TOG (also for SIGGRAPH authors publishing in TOG)
  • ACM proceedings templates: ACM Standard and SIGPLAN

NOTE: Journal templates All journal use acmsmall with the following exceptions:

  • acmlarge - Large single column format, used for DGOV, DTRAP, HEALTH, IMWUT, JOCCH, TAP
  • acmtog   - Large double column format, used for TOG

NOTE: Most proceedings authors (including ICPS authors) will use the "sigconf" proceedings template. If you are unsure which template variant to use, please request clarification from your event or publication contact.

LaTeX Collaborative Authoring Tool on Overleaf Platform

ACM has partnered with Overleaf, a free cloud-based, collaborative authoring tool, to provide an ACM LaTeX authoring template.

  • Overleaf is a collaborative platform: Authors can easily invite colleagues to collaborate on their document. 
  • Authors can write using 'Rich Text mode' or regular 'Source Mode.' This is useful for cross-disciplinary collaboration in the cases where some authors prefer to write in LaTeX while others might prefer a word processing format. 
  • The platform automatically compiles the document while an author writes, so the author can see what the finished file will look like in real time.  
  • The template allows authors to submit manuscripts easily to ACM from within the Overleaf platform.

The ACM LaTeX template on Overleaf platform is available to all ACM authors  at https://www.overleaf.com/gallery/tagged/acm-official#.WOuOk2e1taQ

The new templates enable you to import required indexing concepts for your article from the ACM Computing Classification System (CCS) using an indexing support tool found in the ACM Digital Library (DL) which generates the necessary TeX code once you have selected your terms (and generates XML for Word documents).

It is important to provide the proper indexing information from the ACM Computing Classification System (CCS). Accurate semantic tagging provides a reader with quick content reference; facilitates the DL search for related literature; enables several DL topic functions such as aggregated SIG and journal coverage areas; and helps ACM promote your work in other online resources.

SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT REFERENCE FORMATS

Reference linking and citation counts are facilitated by use of standard reference formats. Please adhere to the in-text citation style and reference format guidelines that we use for ACM publications. If you do not, your paper may be returned to you for proper formatting.

Note: For BibTeX examples see: http://www.acm.org/publications/authors/bibtex-formatting

ACM Accessibility Recommendations for Publishing in Color

The most accessible approach would be to ensure that your article is still readable when printed in greyscale. The most notable reasons for this are:

  1. The most common type of inherited Color Vision Deficiency (CVD) is red-green (in which similar-brightness colors that only differ in their amounts of red or green are often confused), and it affects up to 8% of males and 0.5% of females of Northern European descent.
  2. The most common type of acquired Color Vision Deficiency (CVD) is blue-yellow (including mild cases for many older adults).
  3. Most printing is in Black & White.
  4. Situational impairments (e.g., bright sunlight shining on a mobile screen) tend to reduce the entire color gamut, reducing color discriminability.

NOTE: It is NOT safe to encode information using only variations in color (i.e., only differences in hue and/or saturation), as there is bound to be someone affected!

To ensure that you are using the most accessible colors, ACM recommends that you choose sets of colors to help ensure suitable variations in Black & White using either of the following tools:

  1. ColourBrewer: http://colorbrewer2.org/
  2. ACE: The Accessible Colour Evaluator: http://daprlab.com/ace/ for designing WCAG 2.0 compliant palettes.

LANGUAGE SERVICES

ACM has partnered with International Science Editing (ISE) to provide language editing services to ACM authors. ISE offers a comprehensive range of services for authors including standard and premium English language editing, as well as illustration and translation services, and also has significant outreach in China. Editing is available for both Word and LaTeX files. As an ACM author, you will receive a generous discount on ISE editing services.

To take advantage of this partnership, visit http://acm.internationalscienceediting.com/. (Editing services are at author expense and do not guarantee publication of a manuscript.)

TECHNICAL SUPPORT for Microsoft Word and LaTeX Authors

If you have LaTeX-specific questions please review the User and Implementation Guide first.

ACM is happy to provide authors working with LATEX class and Microsoft Word files technical help. Please direct your technical query to: [email protected] for both LaTeX and Microsoft Word inquiries.

All email queries will be responded to within 24 hours.

 

Document Last Revised: January 15, 2021 by Craig Rodkin and Bernadette Shade

Information for Authors

New Word Template for ACM Authors

Working with volunteers from both the SIG and journal communities, ACM has developed a new, easy-to-use Word authoring template and workflow which will allow authors to concentrate on their content rather than focus on print output formatting, as well as reduce the time needed to prepare the text for submission.

Information for Authors

TAPS Author Workflow

In the final step in the new ACM production workflow, authors will submit their validated paper to ACM's publishing system (TAPS). The publishing system produces and distributes the traditional PDF output as well as ACM's new responsive HTML5 design.