{"id":77,"date":"2025-07-30T10:52:45","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T08:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websci26.org\/?page_id=77"},"modified":"2026-02-25T19:19:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T18:19:13","slug":"call-for-papers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/websci26.org\/?page_id=77","title":{"rendered":"Call for Papers"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><b>Call for Papers &#8211; Web Science 2026<\/b><b>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/h1>\n<p><b>Important Dates<\/b><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><del datetime=\"2025-12-08T12:20:47+00:00\">December 10<\/del> <strong>December 17, 2025 Paper submission\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><del datetime=\"2025-12-08T14:43:26+00:00\">February 11<\/del> <strong>February 18<\/strong>, <strong>2026<\/strong> <strong>Notification<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">February 28, 2026 Camera-ready versions due\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">May 26-29, 2026 Conference dates<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><b>About the Web Science Conference<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Web Science is an interdisciplinary field dedicated to understanding the complex and multiple impacts of the Web on society and vice versa. The discipline is well situated to address pressing issues of our time by incorporating various scientific approaches. We welcome quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research, including techniques from the social sciences and computer science. In addition, we are interested in work exploring Web-based data collection and research ethics. We also encourage studies that combine analyses of Web data and other types of data (e.g., from surveys or interviews) to help better understand user behavior online and offline.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Theme for Web Science 2026:\u00a0 Managing Risks in the Era of Generative AI &#8211; How 20 Years of Web Science Research can Help<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Web content is influencing human experiences more than ever before in history. The rapid deployment of artificial intelligence (including large language models) has created new risks for humans in the digital environment. These risks include customly crafted misinformation at scale, realistic AI-generated harmful content and deepfakes, as well as fraudulent activities and scam becoming more effective thanks to AI. Trust and community have been eroded during this current era of the Web and researching means to manage these risks on the Web is as essential as ever. The Web Science community has looked at this complex socio-technical system for 20 years, exploring its structure, dynamics, and impact on society. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This year\u2019s conference especially encourages contributions investigating the risks for society on the web in the presence of artificial intelligence<\/span><\/i><b>. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, we welcome papers on a wide range of topics at the heart of Web Science.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2026, we will also be able to allocate a limited amount of funding for student travel provided by SIGWEB and WebIST. See <a href=\"https:\/\/websci26.org\/?page_id=506\">SIGWEB Fair Access Grant<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Possible topics include but are not limited to:<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Understanding the Web\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trends in globalization and fragmentation of the Web<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The architecture, philosophy, and evolution of the Web<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Automation and AI in all its manifestations relevant to the Web<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The interrelationship between the structure of the web and social behavior<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Critical analyses of the Web and Web technologies<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Spread of Large Models on the Web<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><b>Making the Web Inclusive\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Issues of discrimination and fairness<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Intersectionality and design justice in questions of marginalization and inequality<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ethical challenges of technologies, data, algorithms, platforms, and people on the Web<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Safeguarding and governance of the Web, including anonymity, security, and trust<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inclusion, literacy and the digital divide<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Human-centered security and robustness on the Web<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><b>The Web and Everyday Life<\/b><\/h2>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Social machines, crowd computing, and collective intelligence<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Web economics, social entrepreneurship, and innovation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Legal and policy issues, including rights and accountability for the AI industry<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The creator economy: Humanities, arts, and culture on the Web<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Politics and social activism on the Web<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Relationships, organization, and social interaction on the Web<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Online education and remote learning<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Health and well-being online<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Social presence in online professional event spaces<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Web as a source of news and information<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><b>Doing Web Science\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Data curation, Web archives and stewardship in Web Science<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Temporal and spatial dimensions of the Web as a repository of information<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Analysis and modeling of human and automatic behavior (e.g., bots)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Analysis of online social and information networks<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Detecting, preventing, and predicting anomalies in Web data (e.g., fake content, spam)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Novel analysis techniques for Web and social network analysis<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recommendation engines and contextual adaptation for Web tasks\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Web-based information retrieval and information generation\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Supporting heterogeneity across modalities, sensors, and channels on the Web.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">User modeling and personalization approaches on the Web.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><b>Format of the submissions<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Please upload your submissions via EasyChair:<br \/>\n<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/easychair.org\/conferences\/?conf=websci26\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/easychair.org\/conferences\/?conf=websci26<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are two submission formats:<\/span><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Full paper should be between 6 and 10 pages (inclusive of references, appendices, etc.). Full papers typically report on mature and completed projects.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Short papers should be up to 5 pages (inclusive of references, appendices, etc.). Short papers will primarily report on high-quality ongoing work not mature enough for a full-length publication.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All papers should adopt the current ACM SIG Conference proceedings template (acmart.cls). Please submit papers as PDF files using the ACM template, either in Microsoft Word format (available at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.acm.org\/publications\/proceedings-template\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.acm.org\/publications\/proceedings-template<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> under \u201cWord Authors\u201d) or with the ACM LaTeX template on the Overleaf platform which is available <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.overleaf.com\/latex\/templates\/association-for-computing-machinery-acm-sig-proceedings-template\/bmvfhcdnxfty\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.overleaf.com\/latex\/templates\/association-for-computing-machinery-acm-sig-proceedings-template\/bmvfhcdnxfty<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. In particular, please ensure that you are using the two-column version of the appropriate template.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All contributions will be judged by the Program Committee upon rigorous peer review standards for quality and fit for the conference, by at least three referees. Additionally, each paper will be assigned to a Senior Program Committee member to ensure review quality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WebSci-2026 review is double-blind. Therefore, please anonymize your submission: do not put the author(s) names or affiliation(s) at the start of the paper, and do not include funding or other acknowledgments in papers submitted for review. References to authors\u2019 own prior relevant work should be included, but should not specify that this is the authors\u2019 own work. It is up to the authors\u2019 discretion how much to further modify the body of the paper to preserve anonymity. The requirement for anonymity does not extend outside the review process, e.g. the authors can decide how widely to distribute their papers over the Internet. Even in cases where the author\u2019s identity is known to a reviewer, the double-blind process will serve as a symbolic reminder of the importance of evaluating the submitted work on its own merits without regard to the authors\u2019 reputation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For authors who wish to opt-out of publication proceedings, this option will be made available upon acceptance. This will encourage the participation of researchers from the social sciences that prefer to publish their work as journal articles. All authors of accepted papers (including those who opt out of proceedings) are expected to present their work at the conference.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Camera-Ready Copies<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The camera-ready copies follow the same formatting standards that are in place for submissions, except for the page limits: accepted <strong>full papers<\/strong> can be <strong>between 8 and 12 pages long (incl. references, appendices, etc.)<\/strong> and accepted <strong>short papers<\/strong> can be up to <strong>6 pages long (incl. references, appendices, etc.)<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>ACM Publication Policies\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> By submitting your article to an ACM Publication, you are hereby acknowledging that you and your co-authors are subject to all <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.acm.org\/publications\/policies\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ACM Publications Policies<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, including ACM\u2019s new <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.acm.org\/publications\/policies\/research-involving-human-participants-and-subjects\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Publications Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Alleged violations of this policy or any ACM Publications Policy will be investigated by ACM and may result in a full retraction of your paper, in addition to other potential penalties, as per ACM Publications Policy.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Please ensure that you and your co-authors <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/orcid.org\/register\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">obtain an ORCID ID<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, so you can complete the publishing process for your accepted paper.\u00a0 ACM has been involved in ORCID from the start, and we have recently made a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/authors.acm.org\/author-resources\/orcid-faqs\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">commitment to collect ORCID IDs from all of our published authors<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0 The collection process has started and will roll out as a requirement throughout 2022.\u00a0 We are committed to improve author discoverability, ensure proper attribution and contribute to ongoing community efforts around name normalization; your ORCID ID will help in these efforts.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> For guidelines on the use of generative AI tools, please, refer to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.acm.org\/publications\/policies\/frequently-asked-questions\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.acm.org\/publications\/policies\/frequently-asked-questions<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><b>Important update on ACMs new open access publishing model for 2026 ACM Conferences!<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Starting January 1, 2026, ACM will fully transition to Open Access. All ACM publications, including those from ACM-sponsored conferences, will be 100% Open Access (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.acm.org\/publications\/openaccess\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.acm.org\/publications\/openaccess<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Authors will have two primary options for publishing Open Access articles with ACM: the ACM Open institutional model or by paying Article Processing Charges (APCs). With over 1,800 institutions already part of ACM Open, the majority of ACM-sponsored conference papers will not require APCs from authors or conferences (currently, around 70-75%).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Authors from institutions not participating in ACM Open will need to pay an APC to publish their papers, unless they qualify for a financial or discretionary waiver. To find out whether an APC applies to your article, please consult the list of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/libraries.acm.org\/acmopen\/open-participants\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">participating institutions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in ACM Open and review the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.acm.org\/publications\/policies\/policy-on-open-access-apc-waivers-and-discounts\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">APC Waivers and Discounts Policy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Keep in mind that waivers are rare and are granted based on specific criteria set by ACM.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Understanding that this change could present financial challenges, ACM has approved a temporary subsidy for 2026 to ease the transition and allow more time for institutions to join ACM Open. The subsidy will offer:<\/span><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$250 APC for ACM\/SIG members<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$350 for non-members<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This represents a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.acm.org\/publications\/openaccess\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">65% discount<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, funded directly by ACM. Authors are encouraged to help advocate for their institutions to join ACM Open during this transition period.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can find an FAQ here:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.acm.org\/publications\/open-access-model-for-acm-and-sig-sponsored-conferences-frequently-asked-questions\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Open Access Model for ACM and SIG Sponsored Conferences: Frequently Asked Questions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and more information here:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.acm.org\/publications\/openaccess\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Open Access Publication &amp; ACM<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Program Committee Chairs:<\/b><\/h2>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gianlucademartini.net\/\">Gianluca Demartini<\/a> (The University of Queensland, Australia)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.diid.hhu.de\/mitglieder\/forschende\/stefan-dietze\">Stefan Dietze<\/a> (Heinrich-Heine-University D\u00fcsseldorf &amp; GESIS, Germany)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jengolbeck.com\/index.html\">Jen Golbeck<\/a> (University of Maryland, USA)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Call for Papers &#8211; Web Science 2026\u00a0\u00a0 Important Dates December 10 December 17, 2025 Paper submission\u00a0 February 11 February 18, 2026 Notification February 28, 2026 Camera-ready versions due\u00a0 May 26-29, 2026 Conference dates About the Web Science Conference Web Science is an interdisciplinary field dedicated to understanding the complex and multiple impacts of the Web &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-77","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","latest_post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/websci26.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/77","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/websci26.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/websci26.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/websci26.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/websci26.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/websci26.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/77\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":734,"href":"https:\/\/websci26.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/77\/revisions\/734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/websci26.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}