Submitting a Paper

Submitting a paper to a conference can feel daunting — especially if it is your first time. This guide walks you through every step of the process in Confychair, from finding a conference to receiving your submission confirmation. Take it one step at a time.

1. Finding a Conference

Go to www.confychair.org and browse the conference directory. You can filter by topic, date, or region to find conferences relevant to your work.

Most of the time, the conference organizer will share a direct link to the conference page with you — via email, a mailing list, or a poster. Either way works.

The conference public page shows everything you need before deciding to submit:

Call for Papers (CFP) — the themes, scope, and topics the conference is looking for
Submission deadline — the date and time (in the conference's local timezone) by which your paper must be submitted
Submission guidelines — page limits, formatting requirements, accepted file formats
Topics list — the subject areas covered by the conference

Conference public page showing the CFP section, submission deadline, and topics list

The conference public page. Register first to access the submission form.

2. Before You Submit

A little preparation goes a long way. Before you start filling in the form, make sure you have the following ready:

A Confychair account — if you do not have one yet, register at confychair.org/register. Registration is free and only takes a minute.
Your paper file — check the conference page for the required file format (PDF or DOCX, depending on the conference), page limit, and any anonymization requirements (some conferences require you to remove author names from the file for blind review).
Co-author information — for every co-author, you will need:
- Salutation (optional — e.g. Dr., Prof.)
- First name and last name
- Suffix (optional — e.g. PhD, Jr.)
- Institutional affiliation
- Affiliation details (optional — e.g. faculty, department, lab)
- Email address
- Country

Tip: Gather all co-author details before starting the form. Having everything ready will make the process much smoother.

3. Starting a Submission

You must be a registered conference member with the Author role (or any role with the SUBMIT_PAPERS permission) before you can submit. If you have not registered yet, do that first — see Registering for a Conference.

Once registered and logged in, open the conference and look for the "New Submission" button in the left sidebar. Click it to open the submission form.

If the submission deadline has passed, the form opens but shows a warning and is disabled. The organizer can override this with a force-open — if you believe you should still be able to submit, contact them directly.

4. Filling the Submission Form

The submission form is divided into numbered sections. A progress bar at the top shows how many sections are complete. Work through them in order — the submit button enables only when all sections are complete and you check the confirmation checkbox at the bottom.

The full submission form showing the numbered sections, progress bar, and submit button

The submission form. The progress bar turns fully amber when all sections are complete.

Section 1 — Paper Details

Title — Enter the full title of your paper exactly as it appears in the document.

Abstract — Paste your abstract as plain text. A word count is shown next to the field label. A progress bar below the textarea turns red when you exceed the conference's word limit, and the form will not let you submit.

Keywords — Type a keyword and press Enter or comma to add it. You can also paste a comma-separated list (e.g. machine learning, NLP, deep learning) to add multiple keywords at once. At least one keyword is required.

Note: The abstract word limit is set by the conference organizer and varies per conference. Check the conference guidelines for the exact limit.

Section 2 — Research Topics

Select all topics from the conference's predefined list that are relevant to your paper. You must select at least one. If your paper spans multiple topics, select all that apply — this helps the organizer assign the right reviewers.

Topics appear as selectable cards. Selected topics are highlighted.

Section 3 — Authors

This section lists everyone who contributed to the paper.

Your own entry is pre-filled based on your Confychair profile and your registration data for this conference. Review it and update any fields if needed.
Click "Add Author" for each additional author.
For each author, fill in: salutation (optional), first name, last name, suffix (optional), email, affiliation, affiliation details (optional), and country.
Mark exactly one author as the Corresponding Author — click the star icon on the author card to set them. The corresponding author receives official communications from the conference.
Use the up/down arrows on each author card to reorder authors. The order here is the order that will appear in the program.
The form validates that:
- All author emails are unique (no duplicates)
- You (the submitter) are listed as one of the authors — your account email must appear in the author list
- At least one author is marked as corresponding

Note: After a submission is submitted (not a draft), the email field for existing authors is locked. Email addresses cannot be changed once submitted to maintain co-author verification integrity. You can still add new co-authors.

Note: Co-authors will receive an automated email to verify their contribution and confirm their affiliation once the submission is complete.

Section 4 — AI & Ethical Declarations

This section has two items:

AI usage checkbox — Check this if you used Generative AI tools (such as ChatGPT) for drafting, rewriting, or generating content. If checked, a text field appears where you must describe how AI was used (e.g. "ChatGPT was used to improve the grammar and flow of the English translation").
Organizer AI consent — You must check this box to acknowledge that the organizer may use AI tools for similarity checking, reviewer assignment assistance, or content summarization. This box is required and the form cannot be submitted without it.

Section 5 — Paper File

This section appears after the AI declarations and is always present for direct-submission conferences. For abstract-first conferences, it only appears after your abstract has been accepted (see Section 6 below).

Click the file dropzone or drag and drop your paper file. The accepted formats (PDF or DOCX) are shown on the dropzone. After selecting a file, the form shows the file name and size.

5. Submitting

At the bottom of the form, check the "I confirm all information is correct" checkbox. This is required before the submit button becomes active.

A small summary card appears showing the number of authors, topics, and keywords you have entered.

A validation checklist appears if any required items are still incomplete:

Title, Abstract & Keywords
At least 1 topic selected
Author info complete
Unique author emails
Submitter must be an author
Corresponding author assigned
AI & Ethical Declarations complete
Paper file uploaded (when applicable)

Once all items are complete and you have checked the confirmation box, click the submit button. The button label changes based on your context:

Context	Button label
New submission with abstract only	Submit Abstract
New submission with paper file	Submit Paper
Editing — metadata only changed	Update Metadata
Editing — metadata and file changed	Update Metadata & File

After clicking, Confychair will:

Assign your submission a submission number (e.g. SUB-42).
Redirect you to your submission detail page with your submission number and a status summary.
Send a confirmation email to you and all listed co-authors.

Keep your submission number — you will need it if you contact the organizers with questions.

6. Abstract-First Conferences (2-Stage Submission)

Some conferences use a two-stage process:

Stage 1 — Abstract submission: Submit your title, abstract, keywords, topics, authors, and AI declarations by the abstract deadline. You do not need a full paper file yet. The form shows an informational notice: "This conference uses abstract-first review. Upload your full paper after your abstract has been accepted."
Stage 2 — Full paper submission: After the organizer reviews and accepts your abstract, the submission form becomes available for you to upload your full paper.

If the conference uses this process, the submission form will clearly indicate which stage is currently open, and you will see separate abstract and paper deadlines on the "My Submissions" page.

Note: Being invited to submit a full paper after the abstract stage does not guarantee acceptance — the full paper still goes through peer review.

7. Editing After Submission

You can update your submission — including replacing the paper file — as long as it is in an editable status. Click the action button in the status banner or navigate to the edit page directly.

See Tracking Your Submission — Editing for the full editing reference, including which statuses allow editing and what happens when you submit a revision.

8. Submission Confirmation

After a successful submission, you are redirected to your submission detail page. The page shows:

Your submission number (e.g. SUB-42)
A status banner indicating the current stage
A progress stepper showing where you are in the review pipeline
Your paper details (title, abstract, keywords, topics)
Your author list
Revision history

Submission detail page showing submission number, status banner, stepper, and paper details tabs

Your submission detail page. The status banner and stepper update as the conference progresses.

A confirmation email is also sent to you and all co-authors. If you do not receive the email within a few minutes, check your spam folder and make sure the email address on your account is correct.

You're done! Now you can track your submission's progress — see Tracking Your Submission for what happens next.