ACM Conference Publication Policy

Updated December 1, 2022

The following policies are specific to ACM sponsored conferences. (For policies specific to ICPS conferences, see ACM ICPS Conference Publication Policy.) 

ACM recognizes that editing a conference publication is a major task performed primarily by volunteers with the support of ACM staff and third party vendors (i.e. - submission systems, production vendors, plagiarism detection software, etc.). ACM seeks to provide conference program chairs, program committees, and reviewers with the support they need to effectively complete their tasks. In return, conference program chairs, program committees, and reviewers must be conscientious in managing the review process, and adhere to both conference-specific policies and general ACM Publications Policies.

Scope of Policy

This policy applies to all submitted, accepted, and published articles in ACM Publication venues.

Responsibilities and Requirements:

Editors and program chairs and committees can expect ACM to:

• Provide assistance and advice on matters relating to the publication process, including but not limited to publication policies, rights management, production-related issues, the use of plagiarism detection software, handling allegations of publications-related misconduct, etc.
• Provide an administrative and software infrastructure that supports tracking submissions and administration of publications
• Provide training, documentation, and support needed to use manuscript tracking systems provided by ACM effectively
• Work with appropriate vendors to implement the confidentiality requirements stated in this document in any manuscript tracking system provided to editors and program committees by ACM
• Have clearly written policies and a commitment to advise conference organizers and/or assist in the investigation of alleged violations of such policies, and to hold violators of such policies accountable for their violations
• Work with conference organizers to resolve conflicts between ACM publications policies and conference-specific policies
• Listen and respond in a timely manner when help or information is requested
• Recognize that editors and program chairs are responsible for editorial decision-making and the quality of the content
• Recognize that the program committee chair(s) has final rights with regard to content
• Recognize that the program committee chair(s) appoints program committee members
• Recognize that the program committee chair(s) are responsible for investigating and making decisions related to publications-related violations for all submissions not yet published in the ACM Digital Library. In such cases, the ACM Publications Board and HQ staff may serve in an advisory capacity, but final decision-making rests with the conference leadership.
• Recognize that a program committee chair can propose changes to the publication's charter and process for publications, provided such changes do not substantively create conflicts with existing ACM Publications Policies.
• Specify the term of appointment for a program committee chair(s) of a publication. 
• Have effective appointment and reappointment processes for publications

And ACM expects program chairs and committees to:

• Inform the publisher in a timely manner of the status of all submissions
• Understand and follow through on author rights, reviewer rights, and reader rights, and in particular to provide clear, timely, and impartial feedback
• Clearly and accurately communicate ACM Publications policies to PC members, peer reviewers, and authors in instructions to PC members and peer reviewers, instructions for authors, and in Call for Papers, including any obligations that may differ from general ACM Publications Policy. 
• Not implement any conference-specific policies that directly conflict with general ACM Publications Policies. For example, all ACM authors have the unrestricted and unlimited right to post pre-prints of their work to arXiv and other similar non-commercial sites and no ACM sponsored conference may reject submissions as a result of ACM authors posting their work to arXiv or other similar non-commercial sites.
• Be an advocate for their ACM sponsored conferences and to represent the ACM well making all reasonable efforts to ensure the highest possible quality of the content selected for publication, taking specific steps to check for and prevent various types of publications-related misconduct (i.e. - plagiarism, computer-generated articles, fraudulent publication via paper mills and tortured phrase papers, pay-to-publish schemes, undeclared conflicts of interest, gift authorship, etc.). And when such misconduct is alleged, investigated, and proven, to hold those found guilty of these violations to account in a manner consistent with established ACM Publications Policy (see Penalties)
• Manage the review process in a timely, confidential, and appropriate manner
• Ensure that PC members and peer reviewers do not violate confidential peer review obligations, such as conducting bulk-downloads of submissions, unless explicitly permitted in writing by the SIG-managed conference as part of a formal PC bidding process conducted by the conference
• Support, cooperate, and approve all reasonable requests by ACM staff to have access to data, peer review reports, access to the conference's submission and peer review system, and other information managed by conference leadership in connection with investigations into publications-related misconduct.
• Responsibly cover all sides of important issues and not use the publication as a forum to further their own views, opinions, or personal or political agendas
• Recognize that the program chair(s) has ultimate responsibility for editorial decision making and the quality of the content
• Maintain a complete, confidential, and accurate archive of submission and peer review data, including a record of submissions, editorial decisions, copies of complete reviews and review reports, and editorial decision recommendations for a minimum of 5 years from the date of Publication
• Use volunteers effectively and fairly
• Cooperate with the publisher on its goals of supporting the membership of the ACM and the computing profession in general
• Implement with quality and appropriateness the charter of the publication
• Engage in the training and study necessary to appropriately use, and to correctly configure, the manuscript tracking systems provided by ACM.