UbiComp / ISWC 2024

Publication Templates and Formatting

All UbiComp/ISWC Publications (ISWC Notes and Briefs, Workshops Proposals, Workshop Papers, Posters and Demos, Doctoral Colloquium, ISWC Design Exhibition, Student Competitions), except the IMWUT Papers submissions, are required to use the templates linked below and to follow the formatting and process described in this page. IMWUT papers are published separately and should follow the description available under the dedicated page here.

Please refer to the dedicated Call for Papers pages (when they become available) to learn about the content and length requirement for each of the following submissions:

  • ISWC Notes and Briefs
  • Workshop Proposals
  • Workshop Papers
  • Posters and Demos
  • ISWC Design Exhibitions
  • Doctoral Colloquium
  • Student Competitions

For all submissions to the above tracks please ensure to follow the formatting and templates described in this page.

Submission Templates

UbiComp/ISWC 2024 will use the ACM Primary Article Templates AND Publication Workflow for publication. This ACM page gives a rationale behind this choice.

  • We will be using The ACM Publication System (TAPS) process.
  • You can download the Word/LaTeX Primary Article templates here.
  • Submission: the correct template for submission is: double-column Word Submission Template or double-column LaTeX Template
  • Publication: the correct template for publication (i.e., after conditional acceptance) in the DL is: single-column Word Submission Template or double-column LaTeX template
  • Note that IMWUT papers are published separately and should follow the description available under the dedicated page here.

Quick Links

UbiComp/ISWC 2024 Proceedings Formats

For publication we will follow the workflow defined by the ACM with submission in double column for both Word and , so please read the instructions on the ACM page carefully. The ACM workflow requests authors to produce final publications (PDF and HTML5) by themselves using TAPS.

First, authors prepare their manuscript in the designated double-column format in PDF using LaTeX or Word. LaTeX users should use documentclass[sigconf]{acmart}. For an anonymous submission use documentclass[sigconf,anonymous]{acmart} to automatically replace the authors for “ANONYMOUS AUTHOR(S)”. The authors then submit the PDF and the source files via PCS.

Reviewers will review the papers in the double-column format. Please follow the instructions in the respective call for papers regarding page limits.

Upon conditional acceptance of an article, authors revise the manuscript and submit publication-ready source files to PCS.

Digital Accessibility

The UbiComp/ISWC conference committee is asking all authors to work on improving the accessibility of their submissions. Please see the Guide to an Accessible Submission for more details.

Preparing Your Submission

All authors should ensure they are using the latest version of the template available on the ACM Templates page.

LaTeX Authors

LaTeX source requires some preparation for final submission, please go through the ACM’s LaTeX best practices guidelines. Please ensure your source follows these requirements:

  • UbiComp/ISWC publications use the “acmart” template. This is specified in the document class command.
    • the correct template for submission is: double-column Word Submission Template or double-column LaTeX Template
    • LaTeX: Use the “acmart” template. For anonymous submission specify documentclass[sigconf,anonymous]{acmart}, for all others specify documentclass[sigconf]{acmart}).
    • Overleaf: Use the “ACM Conference Proceedings Primary Article Template”. For anonymous submission specify documentclass[sigconf,anonymous]{acmart}, for all others specify documentclass[sigconf]{acmart}).
  • All images are of appropriate quality (to be able to be converted into the required formats for HTML5 version).
  • UbiComp/ISWC publications use the “ACM-Reference-Format” numbered bibliography style.
  • Your LaTeX source must have a single “main” .tex file, although you can organize your project with a main .tex file that includes input from multiple .tex files.
  • Ensure that your source compiles without errors. Some editors, such as Overleaf, will tolerate errors and generate a PDF, but this is not permissible for the final publication. Please check the error log and correct all compilation errors before submitting your final source.
  • Ensure that your bibliography compiles. Accurate bibliographies are required for publication. If your bibliography has missing entries or other errors, your source will not be accepted for publication. Please check the warning log and correct all warnings and errors related to your bibliography before submitting your final source.
  • Ensure you check the list of approved packages for LaTeX documents. If you use a package not listed, please remove it early on as otherwise, it will not be possible to process your source files in TAPS. You can request to add packages to the approved list. You can contact acmtexsupport@aptaracorp.com if you have questions.
  • Provide descriptions (instructions available in the template) for all figures.
  • Authors are expected to select one or more descriptors (or “concepts”) from the ACM’s Computing Classification System and add them to their document. CCS is a taxonomy for the computing field. A list of CCS descriptors can be built for your article from https://dl.acm.org/ccs/ccs.cfm. Authors can select one or more descriptors and assign a priority to them. When a list of CCS descriptors has been built, that information must be added to your document. Select “view CCS TeX Code” and check the “Show the XML only” box, copy the XML and paste the code below the abstract.

Word Authors

After downloading the correct ACM Master Article Template for Microsoft Word (Submission Template, Publication Template) you need to follow the instructions to attach the Primary ACM Article Template to your submission file.

  • Attach the template from the downloaded location to your submission file.
  • Apply appropriate style to each element of Head, Body, and Reference. For this, please check Table 1 in the original Submission Template file, which contains a list of the styles you should apply.
  • Run Crosslinking to auto hyperlink all citations from the Template ribbon.

You can see some best practices for using Word to prepare your document in our video walkthrough. Word authors should follow these instructions.

  • Use a filename that does not contain spaces and special characters.
  • Please ensure that ALL content in your Word document is styled with the correct styles as listed in the table provided in the template.
  • Use numbered style for the bibliography.
  • There are some common issues that can delay the processing of your publication. Please check for the following in your final version:
    • Ensure elements such as the title, headings, authors, acknowledgements, reference heading, and individual references are styled as described in the template.
    • If a single figure contains multiple images, these must be inserted as a single image.
    • All images/figures are of appropriate quality (to be able to be converted in required formats for HTML version) and must be followed by a caption.
    • Provide alt text (instructions available in the template) for all figures.
    • Remove all blank lines.

ACM’s Computing Classification System (CCS) is a taxonomy for the computing field. Authors are expected to select one or more descriptors (or “concepts”) from the CCS and add them to your document.

A list of CCS descriptors can be built for your article from https://dl.acm.org/ccs/ccs.cfm. Authors can select one or more descriptors and assign a priority to them. When a list of CCS descriptors has been built, that information must be added to your document. In Microsoft Word, adding CCS concepts to your document is a two-step process:

  • Select the formatted list of concept(s) from the Web interface – here’s an example:
    • Computer systems organization~Real-time operating systems
    • Paste it into your document, and style with the “CCSDescription” tag.
  • Select “view CCS TeX Code” and check the “Show the XML only” box, copy the XML and paste into your Word document in the following location (Mac):
    • Select “Properties” from the “File” menu
    • Select the “Summary” tab
    • Paste the XML into the “Comments” area
  • Select “view CCS TeX Code” and check the “Show the XML only” box, copy the XML and paste into your Word document in the following location (Windows):
    • Select “Properties” from the “File” menu
    • Select “Advanced Properties”
    • Select the “Summary” tab
    • Paste the XML into the “Comments” area

It is important to perform both parts of this task – inserting the formatted list into the body of your Word document and applying the appropriate style, AND inserting the XML representation of your selected CCS concepts into the metadata of your Word document.

Contact

If you have any questions or concerns with regards to publication templates, please contact the Publication chairs publication-2024@ubicomp.org.

Additional Information on the Publication Workflow

A key motivation behind the new ACM publication workflow is to support multi-format representations (here is an example). To that end, ACM decided to move to a new publishing culture that separates content from presentation. Another motivation is to reduce the manual work and resulting costs of editors to detect and fix problems in manuscripts for production. TAPS and the new template automate many tasks that have been done manually in the past. Below, we provide additional details caused by the change. Answers to frequently asked questions can be found at the bottom.

To be better prepared, we strongly encourage authors to test the template early and familiarize themselves with it. From the learning of the last few years, we recommend using the LaTeX template as it yields far fewer issues which then require time-consuming debugging. If you have any questions or suggestions, please send them to the publication chairs. We are happy to provide you with help and support.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What’s the motivation for this change?

A: There are multiple motivations for us to adopt TAPS and the new templates associated with them. First, it allows us to create documents that are mobile adaptive and more accessible overall. Second, it helps our work become more discoverable in the ACM Digital Library. Third, it brings us into alignment with other ACM SIGs and conferences, allowing staff to focus on one, improved process. Fourth, it removes some dependencies and costly manual processes we have had in terms of making papers ready for publication.

Q: What was the decision-making process?

A: ACM has been working on transitioning to this new workflow for several years, following industry standards in publishing. Other SIGCHI conferences have been successfully transitioning to this workflow. The Organizing Committee then decided to follow it for UniComp/ISWC. Following the experience of other conferences from previous years, we have decided to follow this new workflow with the authors producing the final publication (version of record) PDF and HTML5 using TAPS.

Q: It is really important for me to have full control over the final layout and the WYSIWYG feature of Word is critical. Will I lose such control in the new workflow?

A: No, authors do not lose control over the final layout. The proofs generated by TAPS still need to be validated by the authors and, once the proofs have been generated, authors can choose to retract and resubmit if they choose to make changes to the layout. For authors who have their paper accepted, they will be able to upload both source and a PDF to TAPS which will be added to the ACM DL as supplementary material.

Q: Can I see my Word publication-ready paper in the same format that appears in the final publication?

A: No. The single-column Word format has been optimized for the TAPS workflow and has been used successfully in many ACM conferences. We are trying to move away from maintaining rogue formats and to make publication workflow consistent across many ACM venues. TAPS relies on ACM templates, which do not include a double-column Word template. For the sake of consistency across submissions, all Word authors submit their final camera-ready paper in the single-column format.

Q: What figure size shall I use in the single-column submission?

A: In general, authors should put figures in the single-column submission in a size equal to the size to appear in the final double-column publication version to avoid re-creating figures for the final double-column version. Column-wide (0.5-page width) figures in the final publication should appear as 0.5-page-width figures in the submission, leaving 0.5-page blank space. Page-wide (1-page width) figures in the final publication should appear as 1-page-width figures in the submission. However, authors are free to choose different figure layouts/sizes for initial single-column submission and final double-column submission in order to improve readability (e.g., the horizontal arrangement of sub-figures for single-column and vertical arrangement of sub-figures for double-column format).

Q: Will this have as many problems as previous template changes?

A: ACM has been working on moving to new templates since 2019. Previous template changes have had problems, and/or cost significant money to fix. While there will likely be some friction as we change a major process, everyone involved has learned lessons from these early challenges. As always, your punlication chairs are ready to help you in case you run into problems.

Q: In the publication-ready form, is it really true that Word users submit single-column source files and LaTeX users submit double-column source files (“sigconf” style)? It seems to be contradictory.

A: Yes it is true. The TAPS system takes a single-column Word source and double-column LaTeX source and then generates a double-column PDF and single-column HTML5 in both cases.

Q: Can you please explain how to configure Overleaf?

A:

  1. Go to the “Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) – Official Primary Article Templates” in Overleaf
  2. Since UbiComp/ISWC is a conference, click on the ACM Conference Proceedings Primary Template.
  3. Delete the following files:
    1. sample-lualatex.tex
    2. sample-sigconf.tex
    3. sample-xelatex.tex
    4. sample-franklin.png
    5. acmart.pdf
  4. Go to the file sample-authordraft.tex
    1. As an option, you can use the “anonymous” style: documentclass[sigconf,anonymous]{acmart}
      1. The anonymous option replaces the authors section for “ANONYMOUS AUTHOR(S)”. In case of blind submission, please remember that your submission must be anonymized whether you use this style or not.
  5. There are other files that you may delete or replace later:
    1. sample-base.bib: this is a sample bibliography. You can create your own bib file and use it for your references.
    2. sample-franklin.png: this is a sample png image. You will delete and replace it later with your proper figures.

Now you are ready to begin. You can rename your files if you want.
Any of your questions have not been answered yet? Please, contact the publication chairs

CONTACT

publication-2024@ubicomp.org

UbiComp / ISWC

Past Conferences

The ACM international joint conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp) is the result of a merger of the two most renowned conferences in the field: Pervasive and UbiComp. While it retains the name of the latter in recognition of the visionary work of Mark Weiser, its long name reflects the dual history of the new event.

The ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computing (ISWC) discusses novel results in all aspects of wearable computing, and has been colocated with UbiComp and Pervasive since 2013.

A complete list of UbiComp, Pervasive, and ISWC past conferences is provided below.

View all