icdt-submission

name

icdt-submission

description

Use when auditing an ICDT (International Conference on Database Theory) regular-paper submission for Microsoft CMT readiness, covering the two-step abstract-then-paper deadline in the correct submission cycle, the lipics-v2021 15-page limit excluding references, the clearly-marked appendix read at the PC's discretion, anonymous submission since 2024, the complete-proofs / full-version expectation, and which submission problems are unfixable after the AoE cutoff.

ICDT Submission

Run this audit before uploading to Microsoft CMT for the International Conference on Database Theory. ICDT is a pure database-theory venue: reviewers read for a precise theorem, a correct proof, and a genuine advance in the foundations of data management, and they publish the result open access in LIPIcs (Schloss Dagstuhl). Every number below was read on 2026-07-09 from the ICDT 2026/2027 calls at databasetheory.org via search renderings (see resources/official-source-map.md); treat them as a one-cycle snapshot and reopen the live call first.

Pick the right cycle first

ICDT runs two submission cycles per year, and choosing the cycle is the first decision, not a detail:

• Cycle 1 closes in the (northern) spring and offers a revision option — a first decision can be Accept, Revise-and-resubmit, or Reject.
• Cycle 2 closes in the (northern) autumn; a paper rejected in Cycle 1 may not be resubmitted to Cycle 2 unless the reviewers explicitly invited it. Do not treat the two cycles as a free second attempt.

For ICDT 2027 (Lille), Cycle 1 papers were due 10 March 2026 and Cycle 2 papers 10 September 2026 (AoE); confirm the live dates. If your proof might still move, the earlier cycle's revision round is worth more than a later raw submission.

The two-step deadline

Each cycle separates an abstract deadline from the paper deadline, both AoE and about a week apart (ICDT 2027 Cycle 1: abstracts 3 March 2026, papers 10 March 2026):

• Register the abstract with the real title and abstract — it drives PC bidding and conflict handling. A placeholder abstract worsens your reviewer match.
• Miss the abstract deadline and CMT will not accept the PDF later.

Format and page budget

• lipics-v2021 LIPIcs document class, unmodified. This is the Dagstuhl LaTeX style, not acmart and not IEEEtran — do not carry a PODS/SIGMOD acmart habit across.
• At most 15 pages excluding references. References do not count against the 15; nothing else escapes it except the appendix below.
• A clearly marked appendix is allowed but read at the PC's discretion. The main 15 pages must contain everything needed to assess the contribution; the appendix holds the full proofs a referee may check. Online/external appendices are not allowed — everything reviewed lives in the single submitted PDF.

Complete proofs and the full version

ICDT expects complete, checkable proofs. A theorem stated without a proof a referee can verify is the classic desk-level weakness at a theory venue:

• Put proof sketches and the main argument in the body; put the full details in the marked appendix so the paper is self-contained within one PDF.
• Maintain a full version (typically on arXiv) that will carry the complete proofs after review; reference it in the camera-ready, not in an anonymized submission if the link deanonymizes you.

Anonymous-submission sweep (since 2024)

ICDT regular papers are anonymous: the PDF must not reveal authorship.

# Mechanical pass on the submission PDF
pdfinfo paper.pdf | grep -Ei 'author|creator|producer'
pdftotext paper.pdf - | grep -nEi 'acknowledg|grant|funded by|our (previous|earlier) (work|paper)|\bwe .* in \[[0-9]+\]' | head

• Remove author names, affiliations, and acknowledgments to funding sources and collaborators.
• Cite your own prior work in the third person ("Building on the construction of [17]…"), not "our earlier paper [17]."
• If you post a full version, do not let an arXiv link or an identifying system name reintroduce your identity into the anonymous PDF.
• Note the exception: the Database Theory in Action short-paper track is not anonymous — the anonymity rule is for the regular research track.

Desk-risk triage

Finding at audit time	Severity	Real fix
Body over 15 pages (excl. refs)	Format-reject-grade	Move detail to the marked appendix; tighten the body — refs do not absorb it
Class altered (margins, font, \vspace hacks)	Named format ground	Recompile clean lipics-v2021; recover space by editing, not by shrinking
A theorem with no verifiable proof anywhere in the PDF	Fatal at a theory venue	Add the full proof to the appendix before upload
Author identity leaks (names, acks, "our tool")	Anonymity violation	Re-anonymize; scrub PDF metadata; neutralize self-citations
Abstract not registered by the earlier deadline	No paper slot exists	Nothing fixes this post-AoE — calendar it now
Resubmitting a Cycle-1 reject into Cycle 2 uninvited	Against the cross-cycle rule	Do not; only resubmit if reviewers invited it
Same result under review at PODS/a journal	Concurrent-submission exposure	Withdraw one; check the current dual-submission wording

Final-week order of operations

1. Freeze the theorem statements early; the exposition can churn, the results cannot.
2. Register the abstract in the correct cycle before the earlier deadline.
3. Confirm every claimed theorem has a complete proof in the body or the marked appendix.
4. Run the anonymity sweep on the final PDF, including self-citation phrasing.
5. Fill every CMT field — subject areas that match your result, conflicts for each coauthor's institution and recent collaborators — a day early.
6. Re-download the uploaded PDF and read it cold to confirm it is the file you meant.

Reverify each cycle

• The cycle dates, which cycle you are targeting, and the revision-window length.
• The page limit and the required LIPIcs class revision.
• The anonymous-submission wording and any generative-AI disclosure rule (待核实).
• Whether the Database Theory in Action track runs and its separate rules.

Output format

[ICDT submission status] ready / blocked / needs work
[Cycle] 1 (revision-eligible) / 2 (no uninvited carry), abstract+paper registered? yes/no
[Format] pages used (body/refs), lipics-v2021 compliance, appendix marked?
[Proofs] every theorem has a checkable proof in-PDF? yes/no
[Anonymity] clean / leaks: <where>
[Fix queue] <ordered, with dates before the AoE cutoff>