SIGGRAPH 2021 Call for submissions

The call for submissions for SIGGRAPH 2021 is now publicly available (link). I encourage you to go over it to be familiar with its content. In particular, I would like to emphasize two main updates: (1) the prepublication policy and (2) the review questionnaire (link).

(1) The submission policy allows publishing submitted papers on sites like arXiv and clarifies how authors can talk of their work during the review process. Compared to previous years, I removed the language that discouraged authors from using arXiv. The policy is now similar to that of other venues like CVPR. I have copied the relevant section at the end of this email. During the review period, I will remind the reviewers about the new policy and I will work with you so that it is uniformly applied. Please, also help spread the word about the new policy and encourage your colleagues to submit to SIGGRAPH. The restriction on arXiv was often cited as a reason not to submit to SIGGRAPH.

(2) The questionnaire updates are about being open to diverse types of contribution and having a common set of reasonable expectations. These guidelines mostly repeat content that has been in the submission policy and in the reviewer instructions for several years. By making them visible in the review form itself, I hope that they will be applied more uniformly.

Blatant violations of anonymity are not acceptable. However, we also recognize that prepublications and talks have become part of the scientific discourse, and SIGGRAPH allows these means of communication. Specifically, before the final acceptance decision is made:

• Authors must not discuss the research described in submitted SIGGRAPH papers with the media. Media includes editors/journalists/writers/interviewers of newspapers, radio, television, magazines, as well as public relations and media arms of companies, universities, and other research institutions.

• After submitting to SIGGRAPH, authors may archive the submission without mentioning SIGGRAPH as an institutional tech report or on arXiv or a similar service.

• Authors must not make any posts to social media or elsewhere that can be linked to a specific SIGGRAPH submission (e.g., mentioning the title of the submission or details and content and saying that it is a SIGGRAPH submission).

• Authors may talk about their work in a presentation without saying it is submitted to SIGGRAPH.

• Authors may mention their submission(s) as under review at SIGGRAPH as part of the written materials submitted for job and funding applications. Authors may talk about the research involved in their submission in talks given for these purposes as well, without mentioning SIGGRAPH.