CALL FOR PAPERS AND PARTICIPATION
SoCS 2014 is the seventh installment of the International Symposium on Combinatorial Search. Heuristic search and other forms of combinatorial search are currently very active areas of research in artificial intelligence, planning, robotics, constraint programming, operations research, bioinformatics, and other areas of computer science. SoCS is meant to bring researchers from these areas together to exchange their ideas and cross-fertilize the field.
Topics of Interest
Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:
- Analysis of search algorithms
- Automated synthesis of lower bounds
- Bounding and pruning techniques
- Combinatorial puzzles
- Continuous problem solving
- External-memory and parallel search
- Incremental and active learning in search
- Meta-reasoning and search
- Methodology and critiques of current practice
- Model-based search
- Random vs. systematic search strategy selection
- Portfolios of search algorithms
- Real-time search
- Search focus in goal-directed problem solving
- Search space discretization for continuous state-space problems
- Self-configuring and self-tuning algorithms
- Symmetry handling
- Time, memory, and solution quality trade-offs
- Search in Big Data
- Constraint search
Special Scope This Year: Big Data Search
Previous SoCS events have provided a special focus on graph search engineering (2013), grid-based path planning (2012), search in robotics (2011), and automated planning (2010). This year, SoCS specifically invites submissions from researchers in the big data community and related areas that work on large-sized problems and other combinatorial search problems that fit the scope of SoCS.
In the past, a large part of the audience of SoCS has had an AI background, and SoCS has traditionally collocated with the AAAI and IJCAI conferences. In 2014, SoCS will be collocated with the ECAI'14 conference
Paper Submission
We encourage researchers to submit two categories of papers to the symposium: original papers and recently published papers from other venues.
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Original papers: we welcome technical papers that report
on substantial original research as well as position papers discussing
ideas and concepts related to search. Examples of position papers could
include thoughtful critiques of the field, historical perspectives and
analysis, technical discussions of various implementation techniques,
methodological contributions, and insightful reports on new and demanding
applications.
Please read the section "Requirements for Original Papers" for formatting and submission requirements for original papers.
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Previously published papers: in order to foster the
exchange of ideas at SoCS, we encourage authors to submit papers
describing new research which has been reported in other venues in the
last year. Papers that have been accepted for publication at another
venue but are not yet officially published can also be submitted in this
category. Papers that are currently under review cannot be submitted.
Papers in this category are not republished in the SoCS proceedings.
However, an extended abstract can be published if the authors desire this.
Please read the section "Requirements for Previously Published Papers" for formatting and submission requirements for previously published papers.
Papers related to the special scope of this year's symposium are welcome in both categories.
SoCS papers should be submitted to EasyChair.
All submissions must be formatted in AAAI style .
SoCS 2014 is held in cooperation with AAAI and has formal archival proceedings published by AAAI Press.
Requirements for Original Papers
Original papers will be carefully peer-reviewed by at least three reviewers. SoCS 2014 will follow a double-blind review process for original papers, and hence authors of original papers are required to omit author information from their submissions and anonymize obvious self-references. Non-anonymous submissions may be rejected without review.
Original papers can be submitted as full papers or research abstracts:
- Full papers may be up to 8 pages in length, plus an additional page for references only.
- Research abstracts may be up to 2 pages in length
including references. They should report on ongoing but already mature
work.
Publication of a research abstract in the SoCS 2014 proceedings generally allows publishing a full paper on the same line of research at SoCS 2015 or other venues.
If the work cannot be thoroughly evaluated on the basis of the abstract alone, authors may attach a longer version (up to 8 pages plus 1 page for references), which will be considered by the reviewers but not included in the SoCS proceedings. Such an attachment must also be anonymized. In this case, upload the research abstract as the "paper" and the longer version for the reviewers as the "attachment" in EasyChair.
Requirements for Previously Published Papers
Previously published papers will undergo a light reviewing process in order to ensure that they are of interest to the SoCS community and that the optional extended abstract (see below) meets the required quality standards. Because they are already published, these papers cannot be submitted anonymously.
Previously published papers are submitted via the conference's EasyChair submission site just like original papers. Please fill in the original title and a complete and meaningful abstract. The abstract should mention the venue at which the paper was previously published if this is not obvious from the paper itself.
Previously published papers may be submitted with or without an original extended abstract. Extended abstracts may be up to 2 pages in length including references. We emphasize that this is an upper limit. A minimal abstract of less than one column is perfectly acceptable.
In EasyChair, please submit the extended abstract as the "paper" and the originally published paper as the "attachment". If you do not wish to publish an extended abstract, please upload this dummy PDF file as the "paper" because EasyChair does not allow uploading an attachment without a paper.
If the paper is accepted for presentation at the symposium, the extended abstract (if one was submitted) will be included in the SoCS 2014 proceedings. The paper itself will not be reprinted in the proceedings.
Travel Support for Students
SoCS is a student-friendly event. We strongly encourage students to attend.
Students who have a submission accepted for the SoCS program can apply for travel support by contacting the conference chairs. Details about the application process will be sent to all authors by email.
A Special Offer from AAAI
SoCS is pleased to acknowledge its cooperation with the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). Of special interest to conference attendees is an introductory membership offer from AAAI, which provides a complimentary 1-year online membership to conference participants who are new to AAAI. Please send a message to membership14@aaai.org for further details.
Dates and Location
SoCS will be collocated with the ECAI'14 conference and will take place in the Hotel NH Prague, Prague, Czech Republic. The symposium will start with welcome drink and dinner on the evening of August 15 and will finish in the late afternoon of August 17.
The participants will be given instructions how to get to the ECAI venue, but no transport will be organized (there is a direct connection by subway).Important Dates
| Abstract submission deadline: | May 10, 2014, 11:59PM UTC-12 |
| Paper submission deadline: | May 15, 2014, 11:59PM UTC-12 |
| Notification: | June 17, 2014 |
| Early registration deadline: | June 22, 2014 |
| Camera-ready papers due: | June 30, 2014 |
| Late registration deadline: | July 30, 2014 |
| SoCS conference: | August 15-17, 2014 (technical program: August 16-17) |
Conference Chairs:
Stefan Edelkamp,
University of Bremen, Germany
Roman Bartak,
Charles University, Czech Republic
