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Use the current instructions for your specific conference, track, and review stage as the authority: templates, page limits, file requirements, and anonymity rules vary. Before submitting, check both the rendered paper and any hidden or linked material, then verify the exact file you upload.
1. Find the rules that apply to this submission
Start with the conference’s current call for papers and submission instructions for your track. Do not assume last year’s policy still applies, or that a general publisher template overrides the event’s instructions. Confirm:
- Whether review is single-blind or double-blind, and whether anonymization is required or optional.
- Whether the rules change between submission and a later review stage.
- The required template, page or word limit, file type, and required sections.
- Whether references, appendices, and supplementary files count toward limits or have separate requirements.
- How the submission form handles author and title information.
Conference-specific instructions can differ even within the same publisher. For example, IEEE VIS 2025 referenced TVCG formatting and described double-blind submission as an option in some situations, while ACM Multimedia 2025 specified an ACM template and an anonymous LaTeX option for tracks requiring anonymity. Follow the current instructions for your event rather than transferring either example to another conference.
2. Check the paper against its required template
Use the template named by the conference, not one chosen because it looks similar. ACM’s general manuscript template, for instance, includes instructions within the document; a conference may specify additional requirements. ACM and IEEE formatting rules are not interchangeable, and a journal template applies only if the conference says it does.
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Compare the exported paper with the official requirements. Check the page count and any stated rules for columns, margins, fonts, spacing, title and abstract placement, section structure, figures, tables, references, and appendices. Make sure the template’s instructional text has been removed and that required sections are present.
3. Run the venue’s checker, then verify its results
If the conference or submission system provides a formatting checker, use the one it names. Treat its output as a diagnostic, not a compliance decision: automated checks can miss problems or report false positives. An IPSN 2014 submission page explicitly cautioned that its heuristic checker could produce false positives and described its results as a hint. That is an example of a limitation, not evidence about any current checker. Read the current tool’s documentation and confirm warnings against the event’s actual rules.
If no checker is provided, compare the rendered PDF manually with the requirements. In either case, open the PDF: a source file or checker result cannot show every layout problem in the final rendering.
4. Make a separate anonymity pass when required
For double-blind review, inspect visible content and hidden details. Search the manuscript, then review each rendered page, including headers, footers, footnotes, figure labels, and captions. Look for:
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- Purpose: Offers practical strategies to help academics overcome barriers to writing and increase productivity.
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- Author names, affiliations, email addresses, and institution names.
- Acknowledgments, grant numbers, funder details, or other clues that identify the research group.
- Descriptions that reveal a specific lab, institution, or study site when those details are not allowed.
- Identifying marks in figures, screenshots, photographs, or other images.
- Information in supplemental files and external links that could reveal ownership.
The potential leak points depend on the venue. CHI 2025’s guidance discusses metadata, acknowledgments, funders, detailed study descriptions, and supplementary links. HRI’s checklist also calls out identifying marks in images and supplemental materials. Preserve useful scientific context unless the conference’s policy requires changing it: IEEE VIS 2025 notes that anonymity can compromise clarity in some cases.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.5. Handle self-citations, metadata, and linked files according to policy
Do not automatically delete references to your own work. Some venue guidance says to retain relevant citations while writing about that work in the third person rather than identifying it as yours. For example, the IEEE Secure Development 2025 FAQ and HRI’s checklist recommend third-person wording. The target conference’s instructions determine the correct treatment; do not assume that one venue’s approach applies everywhere.
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If anonymity is required, check document properties and exported PDF metadata for author-identifying information if the venue requires it to be removed. Open each supplemental file and review each external link as a reviewer might. A link can expose ownership through the service or account behind it; CHI 2025 warns about this risk in its policy. Apply the same review-mode rules to attachments and linked material as to the paper itself.
Quick Recap
6. Inspect the exact file and submission record you will send
- Export the final PDF after making all formatting and anonymity changes.
- Open that PDF and check page count, layout, text legibility, figures, references, and any altered or removed identifying details.
- Confirm that the PDF, source file, and any supplements meet the required file and review-mode rules.
- Attach the correct file to the correct track, then check the submission form’s title and author fields against its separate instructions.
- Save a clean final copy. If you edit or re-export after this check, inspect the new file again before submitting.
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