Home » Publication Ready Author Instructions

Publication Ready Author Instructions

Publication Ready Author Instructions

Golden Rules of preparing your final version of the paper:

* Read the complete instructions (website + PCS) – each year, some details change in the process!
* Start the process as early as possible to avoid missing deadlines due to unforeseen problems.
* In case of problems/doubt/unclear things: reach out to the publications chairs (publications@chi2027.acm.org) as early as possible and before the respective deadline passes! They cannot guarantee anything after deadlines, and your paper might be rejected late due to “technicalities” (e.g., not complying with the deadlines and instructions).
* Make sure your source files are compliant with the instructions (e.g., MS Word = Manuscript Validation, LaTeX = only TAPS-supported packages)
* Provide accessibility descriptions for all figures & tables (incl. appendix).
* Regularly check your spam folders for important emails.

Please read the following steps thoroughly to have a good chance of smooth progress from (conditional) acceptance to publication. For questions not answered below, please reach out to the Publication Chairs (Anke Reinschluessel, Max Pascher, Jie Cai, Jordan Deja, Arthur Fleig & Sukran Karaosmanoglu) via publications@chi2027.acm.org about all publication matters. Please note that the CHI 2027 Publication Chairs might reach out by using the following email: chi2027publications [at] gmail.com

Table of Contents

Overall Procedure

The chart below outlines the publication process, from initial submission to final acceptance notification. Please note that PCS, eRights and TAPS are three independent systems.

  1. Confirm author information in PCS (contact Publication chairs in case something needs to be updated)
  2. Complete eRights (send to the contact/submitting author’s primary affiliation’s email). The link to it comes from rightsreview@acm.org (subject: ACM Permission Release Form […])

Warning: The data submitted to eRights will replace all information included in the source file. Names, affiliations, and email addresses (this includes private emails in the email field) entered into eRights will be used on your final TAPS-processed paper. Do not remove affiliations or even authors!

  1. Prepare source file:
    • Add requested edits, do a final proofreading
    • Add eRights to source file (and CCS concepts, accessibility descriptions and keywords)
    • For LaTeX: change \documentclass[]{} to \documentclass[sigconf]{acmart}, remove the \received commands (to highlight links – which is recommended, please use \documentclass[sigconf,screen]{acmart})
    • For Word: attach template and follow the steps outlined below (see Additional Information for Word Authors)
  2. Upload the final source file (including accessibility descriptions) to TAPS as soon as possible (latest by the TAPS submission deadline)
    • The email for TAPS will be sent only to the corresponding author indicated in the ACM eRights form and will come from tapsadmin@aptaracorp.awsapps.com (subject: Notification to upload your paper to the ACM Pub Mgt Sys | […]).
  3. Add accessibility descriptions to your source and PCS (detailed instructions for accessibility are available in the Guide to an Accessible Submission.)
  4. Review TAPS-processed files carefully regarding any formatting issues or other issues (note: TAPS-processed file will have the author details & title from eRights!)
  5. Approve TAPS version and upload the TAPS-processed files to PCS

All authors should ensure they are using the latest version of the template available on the ACM Templates page. Note that authors using Microsoft Word must complete additional validation steps and should factor in extra time to complete this work (refer to Word Authors).

All authors must follow these guidelines:

  • Use a filename that does not contain spaces and special characters. Filenames should ONLY include upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, the dash “-” and underbar “_” characters. File names that contain a space “ “ will result in an error during processing. (The period between the filename and the file extension – “figure7.png” is fine.)
  • All images need to be of appropriate quality (for conversion into the required formats for the HTML5 version). We strongly recommend using vector graphics wherever possible.
  • Provide accessible descriptions (instructions available in the template) for all figures (including those in the Appendix).

Explanation of Deadlines

1. eRights completion Deadline: Authors complete eRights forms ➡️Authors need to finalise their eRights by this date to receive the TAPS link. No further changes to author order, title, and affiliations (incl. email addresses) are possible after this date.

2. TAPS submission deadline: Authors uploaded their final source to TAPS & Authors have uploaded accessibility descriptions to PCS ➡️Authors must upload their final source including all accessibility descriptions to TAPS by this date, this means the source needs to be final (no changes to content anymore) so TAPS has enough (!) time to process your paper and fix any processing errors until the camera-ready deadline (given the high number of papers from CHI, this can take weeks!). Authors additionally need to add all accessibility descriptions (main text + appendix) to PCS. If required by the track (check the PCS final submission form): Authors further have uploaded the PDF indicating any final changes for the final acceptance to PCS.

3. Publication-Ready Deadline: Authors upload FINAL TAPS-approved version to PCS ➡️This is the “camera-ready deadline”; authors need to have fixed all issues on the TAPS-generated versions (PDF + HTML) approve the TAPS-generated version until this deadline, and upload the final version to PCS (including supplementary materials).

Step-by-step Procedure (includes LaTeX Instructions)

  1. Be happy about the acceptance, congratulations! 🥳

Within 24 hours of acceptance:

  1. Read the reviews if there are any changes requested.
  2. Read through the PCS final submission form.
  3. Check all authors’ PCS accounts (Account -> Change contact information, affiliations at the bottom) for (non-exhaustive list)
    • private emails in the affiliations,
    • typos in the emails or duplicate/identical email addresses shared by several authors,
    • Valid email addresses in affiliations (e.g., no missing ending like .com, .de, .edu, etc.)
    • correctness of your (and your co-authors) full name in the system,
    • any author name is in all caps and has them fix it (as it is not allowed)
    • whether you want this exact version of your affiliation on your final paper (no change/switch of complete affiliations allowed)
      • For Hong Kong-based institutions: check for the country (China vs. Hong Kong)
    • Check whether the second affiliation simply repeats the first affiliation (this is redundant and not necessary)
    • whether the contact author (= the author that created the submission in PCS) has the correct email to receive the eRights form in their chosen affiliation (the PCS account email is being ignored here!)
    • Have your co-author(s) do a sanity check of the affiliations
    • In case of any discrepancy: reach out to the publication chairs (publications@chi2027.acm.org) as soon as possible (latest before eRights deadline), as PCS will inform the eRights and needs to match eRights
    • If you want to add an affiliation – reach out to the publication chairs (publications@chi2027.acm.org) as soon as possible (before completing the eRights), as PCS will inform the eRights and needs to match eRights
  4. Check the layout of the authors’ complete affiliations (incl. e-mail addresses!) as entered in PCS (as they will be in eRights this way, including department names, secondary affiliations, e-mail addresses, etc) in your source code/LaTeX File – once the eRights form is completed, you can no longer make “cosmetic” affiliation changes.
    • For Word users – get a blank Overleaf template, change the code in line 47 to \documentclass[sigconf]{acmart} and just plug in title, names and affiliations incl. emails if you want to check how it will look in the final paper.

Until the eRights completion deadline:

  1. The ACM eRights email will come from: rightsreview@acm.org (subject: ACM Permission Release Form […])
    • If the submitting author from PCS did not receive the eRights link within 72 hours of the notification deadline, please reach out to the publications team.
  2. Check carefully whether the affiliations and associated emails (in the eMail field for each author) are what you expect and matches what you have in PCS
    • If you use a non-institutional email on the email field for your author information (see screenshot for eRights below), this information will end up publicly on the paper
  3. Check the title and names
    • for weird symbols
    • Accurate upper and lower case use
    • Whether the Middle Name initial is in the correct field
  4. Make sure the institutional email is correct (this will NOT be used for publication – only to associate your paper with an ACM member account and, in case it is APC-eligible, to access if and how much you have to pay, cf. eRights example below [link to glossary of systems – eRights])
  5. Complete eRights by reaching and clicking the button “finalize all data” (this will lead to you getting the link to TAPS) – this will replace information on title, authors and affiliations in your source file. If the link doesn’t arrive in a few days check your spam folder. If it isn’t there, contact the publication chairs.

After eRights completion deadline:

  1. No changes to title, affiliations, or author names are possible anymore
  2. You receive the TAPS link from: tapsadmin@aptaracorp.awsapps.com (subject: Notification to upload your paper to the ACM Pub Mgt Sys | […])
    • If the corresponding author indicated in eRights has not received the TAPS upload link within 48 hours of completing the eRights (aka clicking “finalize all data”), please reach out to the publications team
    • On the TAPS upload dashboard (see screenshot below) click the “CHECK PAPER DETAILS” to verify TAPS got the correct author information from ACM.

Until the TAPS submission deadline (preparing TAPS source):

  1. Add all changes requested by reviewers to your source file
  2. Make sure the format of your paper strictly adheres to the ACM Format.
    • For LaTeX:
      • Use version acmart v2.18 or newer.
      • Add the copyright details from eRights before \begin{document}
      • If you use umlauts or other unicode characters, please do not forget to add \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
      • Remove the \received[]{} commands
  3. Do a thorough proof-reading (preferably have multiple co-authors proof-read)
  4. Check the following (non-exhaustive list):
    • Is your work correctly de-anonymized (e.g., no anonymized institutions anymore of where your research was done)?
    • Did you remove all change-track markers?
    • Did you add the CCS Concepts?
    • Did you add the Additional Keywords and Phrases?
    • Did you add your acknowledgements (e.g., Funding)?
      • The sections at the end of the paper should be ordered as follows: first acknowledgements, then references, and last appendices.
    • Are your references okay (format, DOI, etc)?
    • LaTeX: If you want to highlight a corresponding author or shared first authorship, use \authornote{} and \authornotemark[] (and check later whether TAPS correctly compiled it)
    • Information in running heads (LaTeX):
      • Authors: Use the complete list of authors as long as it fits on one line in the running heads. In other words, first try to use the full author information. If it is longer than one line, initial the given names (and use the command \shortauthors to declare the short version of the author list), if still longer than one line, use only surnames, and only as a last resort, use et al. after the first author.
      • Title: The title should not use more than one line in the running heads (starting on page 3). If the title is too long to fit on one line, please use the beginning of the title (delete from the end), followed by ellipsis (“…”) (specifying the shorter title using brackets as option argument for the \title command). Please note that a short title that concisely describes the contribution is always a good idea.
    • For LaTeX: Did you wrap all your URLs in footnotes etc. in \url{}?
    • Text, tables, and figures (also headings, program code, and formulas) must not run into the margins outside the text area and between the columns.
    • Did you add all required accessibility descriptions to your source files and PCS (incl. all figures in the appendix)? – Remember: captions ≠ descriptions ➡️ Detailed instructions for accessibility are available in the Guide to an Accessible Submission.
    • Did you remove all non-supported LaTeX packages? (this is the source of most TAPS issues!) TAPS supported LaTeX packages ➡️ https://authors.acm.org/proceedings/production-information/accepted-latex-packages
    • The LaTeX package subfig interferes with the layout of captions. If this package is used, use \usepackage{subfig}, which disables the additional caption formatting.
    • Captions: Tables should have their caption above. Figures and listings should have the caption below.
    • If possible: avoid any self-defined commands
    • Figures:
      • Are all diagrams embedded in vector graphics? (if not possible, use a high-resolution bitmap format of at least 300 dpi; do not use JPG, but a lossless format like PNG or GIF; JPG is ok for photos)
      • If you’re using PDF figures created with Figma, check that they render correctly in different PDF viewers (Apple Preview can cause issues).
    • Is all third-party material appropriately attributed (mention author, copyright holder, and origin)?
  5. Prepare the final source
    • Ignore all details in your source about the title and authors, TAPS will replace these parts with your eRights information.
    • LaTeX:
      • The LaTeX source must have a single “main” .tex file, although the project can be organized using a main .tex file that includes input from multiple .tex files. Remove all template sample files and any other .tex files that include a document class.
      • Ensure that the source compiles without errors. Some editors, such as Overleaf, will tolerate errors and generate a PDF, but this is not permissible for the final publication. Check the error log and correct all compilation errors before submitting the source.
      • Ensure that the bibliography compiles. Accurate bibliographies are required for publication. If it has missing entries or other errors, the source will not be accepted. Check the warning log, correct all errors, and address warnings as needed. Add DOIs wherever possible.
    • Word – see below “Additional Information for Word Authors”
  6. Upload your complete and finalised source file to TAPS as soon as possible (latest by the TAPS submission deadline)
  7. Hope for the best – meaning, that your source file won’t create processing errors on TAPS – if it does yes:
    • check for any processing errors on the Dashboard that you might be able to fix without TAPS support.
    • wait patiently until TAPS reaches out.
    • Regularly check the dashboard as emails might get lost.
  8. If you notice minor issues with the formatting (typos, wrong bold font, etc) in your proof:
    • For errors in the PDF:
      • Download the TAPS-processed source files
      • Fix the issues in the TAPS source files and reupload your source via the dashboard.
    • For errors ONLY in the HTML (PDF is fine)
      • Contact the TAPS support via the dashboard you used for uploading

After the TAPS submission deadline:

  1. No changes to the content of the paper are allowed

Until the PCS publication-ready deadline:

  1. Respond to any messages by TAPS in case of processing errors
  2. When you receive the proofs by TAPS please check the following in all formats (html, pdf) (non-exhaustive list):
    • Do all hyperlinks (web links, links to figures/tables/sections) work in all formats (html, pdf)?
    • Are your references okay in all formats (html, pdf)?
    • Are the colours correct on your tables etc. in all formats (html, pdf)?
    • Are figures displaying correctly in all formats (html, pdf)?
    • Are all sections in the paper that should be/are in your source?
    • Is the formatting of everything correct (italics, bold, colours, etc.)
    • If anything is not correct, either fix it in the source file from TAPS and re-upload or reach out to TAPS to help you fix it.
    • (Based on experience: Be overly thorough, as you want your paper to be complete)
  3. Give the proof to co-authors to check.
  4. Download the document’s source file generated by TAPS (this is only possible before you approve the version)
  5. Last: ONLY approve of the TAPS version when you are 100 % confident that this exact version of your paper can be published.
    • After approving, TAPS is adding the accessibility features to the PDFs, so there is no way back.
  6. Upload all necessary files to PCS:
    • Document’s source file (required)
    • Final PDF from TAPS (required)
    • Video Figure (optional: please see track-specific instructions on their individual pages)
      • Include a video figure with titles and captions. The maximum length of the video figure is 5 minutes.
      • Refer to Technical Requirements and Guidelines for Videos at CHI for details. Note that video figures are not presentation videos which are mandatory for all authors and have another deadline for submission.
    • Supplementary material (optional: please see track-specific instructions on their individual pages)
      • Optional materials can include survey material, source code, data, images, additional videos, slides, etc. This information will be used to determine ACM Artifact Review and Badging.
      • Provide a README.md with explanations for ZIP files.
      • Supplementary Materials will only appear in the ACM DL.
  7. Done 👏

Additional Information for Word Authors

After downloading the ACM Master Article Template for Microsoft Word, authors need to follow the instructions to attach the ACM Template to their .docx file. More information and best practices for using Microsoft Word to prepare an article can be found in our video walkthrough. The basic steps are:

  • Attach the template to the submission file.
  • Apply the appropriate style to each element of Head, Body, and Reference. For this, refer to Table 1 (in the original Submission Template file or the list below).
  • From the Template ribbon, run Crosslinking to auto-hyperlink all citations.
  • Press the “ACM Template” button and run “Manuscript Validation.” Authors must run the “Manuscript Validation” macro and achieve validation before uploading the Word document to TAPS.

If the validation process is successful, then upload the files to TAPS.

If validation does not work after following the steps above, contact confsupport@aptaracorp.com and publications@chi2027.acm.org.

Only the styles available in the Word template are to be used. Please see https://www.acm.org/binaries/content/assets/publications/taps/acm_submission_template.docx Table 1 for all available styles. Word authors should follow these instructions:

  • Ensure that ALL content in the Word document is styled with the correct styles as listed in Table 1 (above and provided in the template).
  • Text (with links) should be in black, not blue, and not underlined.
  • Use numbered style for the bibliography.
  • If a single figure contains multiple images, these must be inserted as a single image.
  • All images are of appropriate quality and must be followed by a caption.
  • Remove all blank lines.
  • Apply one or more descriptors (or “concepts”) from the ACM’s Computing Classification System (CCS) and add them to the document. CCS is a taxonomy for the computing field. Authors can build a list of CCS descriptors on https://dl.acm.org/ccs/ccs.cfm. In Microsoft Word, adding CCS concepts to the document is a three-step process:
    • Select the formatted list of concept(s) from the CCS web interface and paste it into the document. Style with the “CCSDescription” tag. For example, “Computer systems organization~Real-time operating systems”
    • Mac users: Select “View CCS TeX Code” and check the “Show the XML only” box, copy the XML and paste into the Word document in the following location (Mac):
      • Select “Properties” from the “File” menu
      • Select the “Summary” tab
      • Paste the XML into the “Comments” area
    • Windows users: Select “View CCS TeX Code” and check the “Show the XML only” box, copy the XML and paste into the Word document in the following location (Windows):
      • Select “Properties” from the “File” menu
      • Select “Advanced Properties”
      • Select the “Summary” tab
      • Paste the XML into the “Comments” area

Glossary of systems (incl. annotated screenshots):

Please be aware that those three systems are largely independent, and information between them just flows one time and one way in the direction of PCS -> ACM eRights -> TAPS. After the information is forwarded once across all systems, any updates need to be made manually by the publication chairs.

PCS:

You used PCS for your submission. The PCS ID is in the ID column (e.g., in the screenshot below 8882):

Always add that to your communication with the publication chairs (including which track you submitted to).

eRights:

The system by ACM that will give you the DOI, handles the rights process (e.g., open access etc.) and where the author and title data for your published version of the paper will come from. The publication chairs will transfer your paper’s data from PCS to this system after acceptance. Please note the annotations (for email, institutional email, and state/province) in the screenshot below to ensure you fill in the right details in the right places. Please note that removing an affiliation is strictly prohibited, and adding an affiliation must happen via PCS, so all systems are in sync.

TAPS:

The system that will process your source file into the final to-be-published versions (PDF and HTML) of your paper. Gets activated as soon as eRights are complete and will use the eRights metadata for your final paper (i.e., submission title, authors + affiliations incl. emails).

Upload page:

Approval page on TAPS:

Green Open Access

All SIGCHI authors are encouraged to archive their work in a “green open access” repository in line with ACM’s Green Open Access Policy. This could be the author’s own homepage, an institutional repository, a repository mandated by your funder, or a non-commercial repository such as arXiv. Notably:

  • The archive version (PDF) must be created by the authors. Authors are not allowed to archive the final version (PDF) created by the ACM TAPS process.
  • Include the DOI, which is generated after completing the eRights form.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I want to change the metadata of my paper (e.g., author list, author order, author name, email), what can I do?
A: In general, we do not allow for such changes after the initial submission deadline. Author order requests will be handled on a case-by-case basis until the eRights deadline. Removing or adding authors is not allowed; in that case, the paper needs to be withdrawn.

Q: What do I do if I do not get a response email from TAPS after submitting?
A: If you have not received a notification email after 24 hours, first check your spam folder, and then contact confsupport@aptaracorp.com and publications@chi2027.acm.org.

Q: TAPS did not provide me with my final PDF in time. What should I do?
A: Reach out to publications@chi2027.acm.org before the deadline — we will make sure that you have the time needed to review your final version.

Q: TAPS support is not responding. What can I do?
A: Reach out to publications@chi2027.acm.org so we can follow up on your problem and also know about your situation.

Q: My final PDF or HTML is showing metadata (e.g., author name, email, title) that I was not expecting; what can I do?
A: This requires the Publication Chairs to help you out, please reach out to publications@chi2027.acm.org. Remember, the metadata are coming from PCS/eRights that is why we asked you to check those details.

Q: Does my final PDF have to contain author names and affiliations?
A: Yes, they have to be identical to the information you provided during submission time in PCS.

Q: Should the version in TAPS be the version where revisions are highlighted?
A: No, this should be the final version you want to see in the ACM DL.

Q: Does TAPS generate a PDF with changes highlighted?
A: No, if you want a PDF with changes highlighted you need to generate this yourself.

Q: Can I upload a different PDF file to PCS?
A: No, the PDF file in PCS must be the TAPS-generated PDF. Non-matching PDFs will be automatically rejected and overwritten with the TAPS-generated PDF.

Q: What do I do if I want to reupload my paper to TAPS after I have approved it?
A: Reach out to publications@chi2027.acm.org.

Q: What do I do if my paper title has changed?
A: If the change is minor (e.g., correcting a typo), reach out to publications@chi2027.acm.org. If the title has changed during R&R, reach out to your AC via PCS to obtain permission and then contact publications@chi2027.acm.org.

Q: What do I do if any information of the displayed authors is wrong (PDF or HTML)?
A: Reach out to publications@chi2027.acm.org.

Q: TAPS does not allow me to upload a new version. What can I do?
A: Reach out to publications@chi2027.acm.org.

Q: Do I need to upload my Supplementary Material to TAPS?
A: No, only upload to PCS for inclusion in the ACM DL.

Q: Do I need to upload my video figures to TAPS?
A: No, only upload video figures to PCS for inclusion in the ACM DL and YouTube.

Q: Can I upload more than 10MB per ZIP?
A: Yes, but this massively delays your processing; thus, we ask you to keep your ZIP files under 10MB.

Q: Am I required to manually add accessibility to my PDF?
A: No. This year, an external provider (aka TAPS) will complete the accessibility tagging. However, you need to provide accessible figure and table descriptions in your document source and on PCS.

Q: Which LaTeX packages are accepted to be used?
A: Please refer to https://www.acm.org/publications/taps/accepted-latex-packages.

Q: Do I need to clear and anonymize my document source files (Word or LaTeX) when doing the final upload to PCS?
A: No, your source files are likely to never be looked at. It provides us (Chairs only) with the ability to recompile your PDF in case we can not reach you.

Q: Do I need to include my final PDF and/or supplementary materials in the ZIP I need to upload to TAPS?
A: No, CHI 2027 ignores all additional files uploaded to TAPS. Please only upload your extra files to PCS.

Q: Does CHI have an embargo on the publications?
A: No, there is no embargo; you are allowed to publish the paper within your selected copyright limitations.

Need help?

Reach out to the Publication Chairs (Anke Reinschluessel, Max Pascher, Jie Cai, Jordan Deja, Arthur Fleig & Sukran Karaosmanoglu) via publications@chi2027.acm.org

For technical support (e.g., with the Word templates) with TAPS, please contact confsupport@aptaracorp.com and please put the publication chairs in CC.

Further helpful resources

These resources might help you when preparing the camera-ready version – please be aware those are external links, which are not monitored or curated by CHI: