SIGPLAN Republication Policy


ACM’s republication policy for journals is given in sections 6.2.2 and 6.2.3 of the conference manual http://www.acm.org/sig_volunteer_info/conference_manual/6-2-2REP.HTM. Revisions of conference papers may later appear in journal papers if the editor determines there is significant additional benefit from doing so.

The SIGPLAN policy extends ACM’s policy as follows:

  • Prior Journal Publication. Papers that have appeared in a journal, or may appear in a journal before a conference or workshop, may not be submitted to the conference or workshop. If a paper is simultaneously submitted to a conference and a journal, the author must bring this fact to the attention of both the editor and program chair.
  • Simultaneous Submissions. If two or more papers are substantially the same, then they may not be simultaneously submitted to more than one journal, conference, or workshop. Papers that have received a major or minor revision decision, or similar, are considered to be still under submission unless they have been withdrawn by the authors. Authors should bring simultaneously submitted related papers to the attention of all relevant program chairs. If the program chairs deem the related papers to be simultaneous duplicate submissions, the authors should be asked to withdraw all but one of the submissions. If the degree of similarity is unclear, the program committees should evaluate the submissions on the assumption that all other simultaneous related submissions will be accepted.
  • Prior Publication of Closely Related Work. If a closely related paper was previously accepted at a conference or a workshop with proceedings of any kind, the original paper must be cited, its relationship to the current paper explained, and the program chair must be explicitly informed. The second paper will be judged on the additional value of its publication in the new venue. Such value might come from the wider audience for the new venue or from subjecting the work to a higher standard of review. Program committees should consider factors such as the following in deciding whether to publish the second paper:
    • The call for papers for the first venue clearly states that publication in the venue is not intended to preclude later publication.
    • The original proceedings are not easily accessible to the SIGPLAN community.
    • The first venue targeted a geographically limited audience.

We foresee no circumstances under which an unrevised conference paper will be accepted to a second conference.

Program Chair Discretion.
Program chairs may immediately reject papers that they judge to be in violation of this policy.

Requests to authors
If you are ever in doubt about a particular case, please either discuss it in advance with the program chair(s), or inform the program chair(s) at the time of submission. Failure to do so risks automatic rejection of all submissions.

It is best practice for any paper to describe its relation to earlier versions. Cite the related appearances or submissions, and describe their relationship to the current paper. You might say that the papers are substantially the same, or you might note how previous papers differ from the current one.

Please send any questions to the SIGPLAN Chair.

See Also