Call for Papers
Call for Papers
Author Kit (use of these teamplates is required)
A submission link to EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=socs23
Heuristic search and other forms of combinatorial search and optimization are a very active areas of research in artificial intelligence, robotics, planning, discrete optimization and other areas of computer science and operations research. The International Symposium on Combinatorial Search (SoCS) is meant to bring researchers in such areas together to exchange their ideas and cross-fertilize the field.
SoCS serves researchers and submissions in all fields that use combinatorial search, including artificial intelligence, planning, robotics, constraint programming, meta-reasoning, operations research, navigation and bioinformatics. We especially invite submissions presenting real-world applications of heuristic search.
Papers exploring the boundaries between combinatorial search and planning & scheduling research are particularly welcome, given the co-location with ICAPS 2023
Topics of interest:
Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:
Adversarial search
Analysis of search algorithms
Automated synthesis of lower bounds
Bounding and pruning techniques
Combinatorial optimization
Combinatorial puzzles
Continuous problem solving
Constraint search
External-memory and parallel search
Incremental and active learning in search
Deep learning in heuristics and search
Machine learning for or in search algorithms
Metareasoning and search
Methodology and critiques of current practice
Model-based search
Portfolios of search algorithms
Problem compilation
Problem solving using search
Random vs. systematic search strategy selection
Real-life applications
Real-time search
Reinforcement learning and search
Search in goal-directed problem solving
Search space discretization for continuous state-space problems
Search-based diagnosis
Search in boolean satisfiability
Search in machine learning and big data analytics
Search methods in robotics
Self-configuring and self-tuning algorithms
Symmetry handling
Time, memory, and solution quality trade-offs
Types of submissions:
We encourage researchers to submit three categories of papers to the symposium:
Technical papers. Original long (up to 8 pages plus up to one page of references) and short (up to 4 pages plus up to one page of references) papers are the standard category. We welcome technical papers that report substantial original research in search or in related areas that are not under review in other archival conferences or journals.
Position papers. In addition to the main technical track, we encourage authors to submit original long (up to 8 pages plus up to one page of references) and short (up to 4 pages plus up to one page of references) position papers discussing ideas and concepts related to heuristic and combinatorial search. Examples of position papers could include thoughtful critiques or bold new perspectives of the field, historical perspectives and analysis, technical discussions of various implementation techniques, methodological contributions, and insightful reports on new and demanding applications.
Extended abstracts. To foster the exchange of ideas at SoCS, we encourage authors to submit extended abstracts (up to 2 pages including references) of original work, work-in-progress, or work which has appeared in or is under review at other venues such as AAAI/ICAPS/IJCAI. Most archival conferences do not consider a 2-page extended abstract as preventing submission of a full-length technical paper giving full details on the same work.
All accepted papers will be included in the proceedings. Extended abstracts will likely be allocated poster presentation.
Submission instructions
Submitted technical and position papers must be original, and not submitted concurrently to a journal or another conference. Double-blind reviewing will be provided, so submitted papers must omit author names and affiliations. Extended abstracts representing previously-published work do not need to omit authors; concurrently-submitted work should omit authors. Papers must use the latest template, and must be submitted as PDF.
The paper submission is a two-step process. First, the paper abstract needs to be registered in EasyChair by the Paper abstract submission deadline. Then, the full paper in PDF is due by the Paper submission deadline. Remember, without registering your abstract on time, you will not be allowed to submit the paper later.
Submissions may be accompanied by supplementary material (video, appendices) which must also be anonymized. Reviewers will not be required to consult such material - submitted paper should stand on their own. Omission of supplementary material will not disadvantage a submission during review.
SoCS will not accept any technical or position paper which, at the time of submission, is under review for or has already been published or accepted for publication in a journal or another conference. Authors are also required not to submit their technical or position papers elsewhere during SoCS' s review period. These restrictions apply only to journals and conferences, not to workshops and similar specialized presentations with a limited audience and without archival proceedings. Authors will be required to confirm that their submissions conform to these requirements at the time of submission.
Proceedings
The proceedings of SoCS 2023 will be published by AAAI Press (indexed in DBLP and Scopus). Authors are expected to make a reasonable effort to address reviewers’ comments prior to the submission of the camera ready paper. Where such expectations have been flouted, actions may be taken to preserve the quality of the conference and the expectations of conference attendees.
In order for a paper to be published in the proceedings, at least one author must register for the conference. It is also expected that at least one of the authors will attend the conference to present their work.