Call for Research Track Papers

The International Semantic Web Conference is the premier venue for presenting fundamental research, innovative technology, and applications concerning semantics, data, and the Web.

In this track of ISWC 2019, we are looking for novel and significant research contributions addressing theoretical, analytical and empirical aspects of the Semantic Web. While we welcome work that relates to the W3C Semantic Web recommendations (e.g., RDF, OWL, SPARQL, etc.), we also encourage contributions to research at the intersection of Semantic Web and other scientific disciplines. Submissions to the research track should describe original, significant, and replicable research on the Semantic Web. All papers must include  method evaluations that are rigorous, repeatable and reproducible. This will be one of the key paper reviewing criteria. We also strongly encourage papers that provide links to the data sets, source code, queries used to evaluate their approach, and/or live deployments.

All papers will be assessed by a program committee. Each paper will be reviewed by at least four committee members, including one senior member. The review criteria used are outlined below.

Before submitting, authors are asked to consult the calls of the other tracks featured at ISWC 2019 and to choose the track that best suits their contribution. The submission of the same work to multiple tracks is not allowed and may result in a rejection of the work across all tracks without a review.

Topics of Interest

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Database, information retrieval, information extraction, natural language processing and artificial intelligence techniques for the Semantic Web
• Knowledge representation and reasoning on the Web
• Knowledge graphs and deep semantics
• Machine learning and data mining methods for the Semantic Web
• Data mining and knowledge discovery in Linked data and ontologies
• Robust and scalable management of semantics and data on the Web and in Linked Data
• Processing and storage of semantic data on the blockchain
• Methods to investigate and catalogue semantic primitives used in ontology definitions
• Enabling access to ontologies and knowledge bases by rendering the knowledge in different modalities, e.g. as natural language text, explanatory video, interactive elements, etc.
• Languages, tools, and methodologies for representing and managing semantics and data on the Web
• Programming the Semantic Web
• Architectures and algorithms for extreme volume, heterogeneity, dynamicity, and decentralization of Semantic Web data
• Cleaning, quality assurance, and provenance of Semantic Web data, services, and processes
• Ontology-based data access and integration/exchange on the Web
• Ontology engineering and ontology patterns for the Web
• Ontology modularity, mapping, merging, and alignment for the Web
• Search, query, integration, and analysis on the Semantic Web
• Supporting multi-linguality in the Semantic Web
• Question answering over Linked Data and ontologies
• Information visualization and exploratory analysis methods for Semantic Web data
• Semantic social network mining, analysis, representation, and management
• Crowdsourcing semantics; methods, dynamics, and challenges
• Geospatial semantics and data on the Web
• Data streams and the Internet of Things
• Semantic technologies for mobile platforms
• Trust, privacy, and security on the Semantic Web
• Semantic Web and Linked Data for cloud environments
• Access control and privacy in semantic data

Reviews and Review Criteria

Papers in this track will be reviewed according to the following criteria:

• Originality
• Novelty
• Relevance and impact of the research contributions
• Soundness
• Rigour and reproducibility of the evaluation of the work
• Clarity and quality of presentation
• Grounding in the literature

Authors will have the opportunity to submit a rebuttal to the reviews to clarify questions posed by program committee members.

Submission

• Pre-submission of abstracts is a strict requirement. All papers and abstracts have to be submitted electronically via EasyChair.
• All research submissions must be in English, and no longer than 16 pages (including references). Papers that exceed this limit will be rejected without review.
• Submissions must be either in PDF or in HTML, formatted in the style of the Springer Publications format for Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS). For
  details on the LNCS style, see Springer’s Author Instructions. For HTML submission guidance, please see the HTML submission guide.
• ISWC 2019 papers submitted to the research track will be subject to double blind peer review and must conform to the instructions (detailed below) for double-blind review.
• We encourage embedding metadata in the PDF/HTML to provide a machine readable link from the paper to the resource.
• Authors of accepted papers will be required to provide semantic annotations for the abstract of their submission, which will be made available on the conference Web site. Details will be provided at the time of acceptance.
• Accepted papers will be distributed to conference attendees and also published by Springer in the printed conference proceedings, as part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science series. At least one author of each accepted paper must register for the conference and present the paper there.
• Students will be able to apply for travel support to attend the conference. Further details will appear on the ISWC’2019 web site.

Blind Review Instructions

Reviewing for ISWC 2019 is blind to the identities of the authors. Both authors and reviewers are expected to make every effort to honour the double-blind reviewing process. Authors should ensure that the submission can be evaluated without it being obvious who wrote the paper, and reviewers should not undertake any investigation that might lead to the revealing of authors’ identity.

To help with the double-blind reviewing process please ensure the following when submitting to ISWC 2019:

* The first page, on which the paper body begins, should include the title and abstract but not names or affiliations of the authors.

* Remove any identifying information, including author names, from file names and ensure document properties are also anonymised.

* The references should include all published literature relevant to the paper. When referring to one’s own work, use the third person, rather than the first person. For example, say “Previously, Foo (2006) showed that…,” rather than “In our previous work (Foo 2006) we showed that…”

* Try to avoid including any information that would identify the authors or their affiliations. Such information may be added to the final camera-ready version for publication.

* Remove references to funding sources. Such information may be added to the final camera-ready version for publication.

* Do not include acknowledgments. Such information may be added to the final camera-ready version for publication.

Supplemental Material

The length of the main submission is strictly limited as indicated in the call for papers. However, authors may choose to also submit supplemental material as indicated below:

* OPTION 1. As a second zipped folder uploaded via the Easychair system; note that the total size of the submission (paper+supplemental materials) must not exceed 100MB.

* OPTION 2. As an anonymised link to supplemental material included in the paper. This option may be used, in particular, in case the total size of the submission (paper+supplemental materials) exceeds 100MB.

Examples of supplemental material are proofs of theorems that are stated in the main paper, video demonstrations, data concerning experimental evaluations, source code, and so on. Note that submissions may reference the supplemental material, but should be self-contained. Indeed, while providing supplemental material can help the reviewers to evaluate your paper, reviewers are instructed to make their evaluations based on the main submission, and are not obligated to consult the supplemental material. Therefore, make sure that your submission stands on its own without them. If proofs or other supplement matter are an important part of the contribution, their essential elements should be included in the main paper. Please be very careful not to violate the blind review requirements in the supplemental material.

Supplemental material submitted at the time of submission for review will not be published or posted if the paper is accepted for publication. Adequate references to the supplemental material may be added to the final camera-ready version for publication.

Prior Publication and Multiple Submissions

ISWC 2019 will not accept research papers that, at the time of submission, are under review for or have already been published in or accepted for publication in a journal or another conference.

The conference organisers may share information on submissions with other venues to ensure that this rule is not violated.

Important Dates

All deadlines are midnight Hawaii time (GMT-10).

Program Chairs

Contact: iswc2019-program@inria.fr

Chiara Ghidini, Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Italy
Olaf Hartig, Linköping University, Sweden