Call for Papers

Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science (ITCS) 2025

The 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science (ITCS) conference will take place in person at Columbia University from January 7 - January 10, 2025.

ITCS seeks to promote research with innovative or bold agendas, which could be conceptual, technical, or methodological, and whose message will advance and inspire the greater theory community. The program committee welcomes papers introducing a new concept, model or understanding; opening a new line of inquiry within traditional or interdisciplinary areas; introducing new mathematical techniques and methodologies, or new applications of known techniques; putting forth a bold, even if preliminary, vision or line of attack; or unearthing novel or surprising connections between different topics.

Important Dates

• Abstract submission deadline: September 3, 2024
• Submission deadline: September 5, 2024
• Notification to authors: November 2, 2024
• Conference dates: January 7-January 10, 2025

Submission Instructions

Authors should register and submit their paper via the hotcrp submission site by the strict deadlines.

• The font size should be at least 11 point and the paper should be single column.
• Beyond these, there are no specific formatting requirements.
• Authors are required to submit a COI (Conflict of Interest) declaration upon submission.

Review Process

The conference will employ a lightweight double-blind reviewing process.

• Submissions should not reveal the identity of the authors in any way. Author and institution information will be uploaded separately on the submission site.
• This process is intended to help PC members and external reviewers come to a judgment without unconscious bias.
• Important references should not be omitted or anonymized.
• Authors are encouraged to disseminate their ideas or draft versions of their paper as they normally would, including posting papers to arXiv/ECCC/IACR.

Paper Content & Style

• Authors should strive to make their paper accessible not only to experts in their subarea, but also to the theory community at large.
• The submission should include clear proofs of all central claims.
• It is strongly recommended that the paper contain, within the first 10 pages, a concise and clear presentation of the merits of the paper, including a discussion of its significance, innovations, and place within (or outside) of our field's scope and literature.
• The committee will put a premium on writing that conveys clearly, in as simple and straightforward a manner as possible, what the paper accomplishes.

PC Member Submissions

Submissions authored by program committee members (with the exception of the PC chair) are allowed. Utmost care will be taken to avoid COIs with PC submissions, ensuring that such submissions receive no unfair advantage, and that the reviews and discussion remain confidential from the authors.

Confidentiality

All submissions will be treated as confidential and will only be disclosed to the committee and their chosen sub-referees. The program committee may consult with journal editors and program chairs of other conferences about controversial issues such as parallel submissions.

Prior, Simultaneous, and Subsequent Submissions

• Results published/presented/submitted at another archival conference will not be considered for ITCS.
• Simultaneous submission to ITCS and to a journal is allowed.
• Papers accepted to ITCS should not be submitted to any other archival conferences.

Online Posting

Authors are encouraged to post full versions of their submissions in a freely accessible online repository such as the arXiv, the ECCC, or the Cryptology ePrint archive. It is generally expected that authors of accepted papers will make full versions of their papers, with proofs, available before the conference begins.

Conference Presentation

• All talks are expected to be in person.
• Talks in the conference will not be recorded. Instead, authors of each paper will be asked to upload a 20-25 minute talk, which will be posted online.

Graduating Bits

Participants nearing graduation (on either side) will be given an opportunity to present (in 2-3 minutes) their results, research, plans, personality, and so on during the "Graduating bits" session. Details on how to participate will be provided closer to the conference date.

Awards

The committee may award a "best student paper" award.

Code of Conduct

ITCS is committed to an inclusive conference experience, respectful of all participants, and free from any discrimination or harassment. All ITCS attendees are expected to behave accordingly. If you experience or witness discrimination, harassment, or other unethical behavior at the conference, we encourage you to seek advice by contacting SafeToC advocates (http://safetoc.org/index.php/toc-advisors/).

Proceedings

The accepted papers will be published by LIPIcs in the electronic proceedings of the conference. Authors of accepted papers can ask the PC chair to have only a one-page abstract of the paper appear in the proceedings, along with a URL pointing to the PDF of the full paper on an online archive.