Call For Papers - FOCS 2025

The 66th Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS 2025) will be held in Sydney, Australia, from December 14-17, 2025. The symposium is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Mathematical Foundations of Computing.

Overview

FOCS 2025 seeks papers presenting new and original research on the theory of computation. For information about previous conferences, please visit the FOCS Conference Archive.

Topics of Interest

Typical but not exclusive topics of interest include:

• Algorithmic coding theory
• Algebraic computation
• Algorithmic graph theory
• Algorithmic game theory
• Algorithms and data structures
• Analysis of Boolean functions
• Approximation algorithms
• Average-case complexity
• Computational applications of logic, combinatorics
• Computational complexity
• Communication complexity
• Circuit complexity
• Combinatorial optimization
• Computational game theory
• Computational geometry
• Computational learning theory
• Continuous optimization
• Cryptography
• Foundations of machine learning
• Online algorithms
• Optimization
• Parallel and distributed algorithms
• Parameterized algorithms
• Randomized algorithms
• Sublinear algorithms
• Streaming algorithms
• Quantum computing
• Pseudorandomness and derandomization
• Foundations of fairness and privacy
• Theoretical aspects of areas such as networks, information retrieval, computational biology, and databases.

Papers that broaden the reach of the theory of computing, or raise important problems that can benefit from theoretical investigation and analysis, are encouraged.

Important Dates

• Submission deadline: April 3, 2025 at 8PM ET
• Paper notification: July 8, 2025
• Workshop proposal deadline: TBC
• Early registration deadline: November 21, 2025
• Conference dates: December 14–17, 2025

Submission Format

• Full submissions should contain the abstract and the complete paper. The abstract should summarize the paper’s contributions.
• There is no page limit, but authors are encouraged to use the "full version" of their paper.
• The submission should contain, within the initial ten pages following the title page, a clear presentation of the merits of the paper, including a discussion of its importance within the context of prior work and a description of the key technical and conceptual ideas used to achieve its main claims.
• The submission should be addressed to a broad spectrum of theoretical computer science researchers.
• Proofs must be provided which can enable the main mathematical claims of the paper to be fully verified.
• Material other than the abstract, references, and the first ten pages will be read at the committee’s discretion.
• Authors are encouraged to put the references at the very end of the submission.
• Submissions should be typeset using 11-point or larger fonts, in a single-column, single-space format with ample spacing throughout and 1-inch margins all around, on letter-size (8 1/2 x 11 inch) paper.
• Submissions deviating significantly from these guidelines risk rejection without consideration of their merits.

Double-Blind Reviewing

FOCS 2025 will use double-blind reviewing. Submissions should not reveal the identity of the authors in any way. In particular:

• Authors’ names, affiliations, and email addresses should not appear at the beginning or in the body of the submission.
• Authors should not include obvious references that reveal their own identity.
• References to their own related work should be in the third person (e.g., "We build on the work of…" instead of "We build on our previous work…").
• Important references should not be omitted or anonymized.
• Authors may post drafts of their papers on the web, submit them to arXiv, and give talks on their research ideas.
• If any of the authors is a PC member, this should be indicated in the submission form.

Submission Instructions

• Authors are required to submit their papers electronically, in PDF format (without security restrictions on copying or printing).
• Please submit using this link: https://focs25.hotcrp.com/
• The submission process includes a declaration of conflicts of interest to help manage the double-blind review process.
• Authors are encouraged to make full versions of their submissions freely accessible in an online repository such as the arXiv, ECCC, or the Cryptology ePrint archive. It is expected that authors of accepted papers will make their full papers, with proofs, publicly available by the camera-ready deadline.

Prior and Simultaneous Submission

• The conference will follow SIGACT’s policy on prior publication and simultaneous submissions.
• Work that has been previously published or is scheduled for publication prior to December 2025 will not be considered.
• Simultaneous submission of the same abstract to FOCS 2025 and another conference with published proceedings or journal is not allowed.

Awards

• Machtey Award: Will be given to the best paper or papers written solely by one or more students. An abstract is eligible if all authors are full-time students at the time of submission.
• All submissions are eligible for the Best Paper award.

Presentation of Accepted Papers

One author of each accepted paper will be expected to present the work at the conference. Authors are expected to contact the program chair before submission if insufficient travel funds, family circumstances, or external travel restrictions could prevent them from attending the conference.

Program Committee

The extensive Program Committee comprises leading researchers in the field of theoretical computer science. (Full list available on the conference website.)