ecai-topic-selection

name	ecai-topic-selection
description	Use before writing to decide whether a project belongs at ECAI versus IJCAI, AAAI, AAMAS, KR, or a pure-ML venue, and whether it should go to the ECAI main track or the co-located PAIS applications track — using contribution shape, the model-swap test, the European/general-AI fit, and the calendar (including the joint IJCAI-ECAI 2026 cycle).

ECAI Topic Selection

Routing is the highest-leverage decision, made before writing. ECAI is EurAI's general-AI flagship — broad by design, spanning symbolic reasoning, KR, planning, search, multi-agent systems, ML, and applications. That breadth is a feature and a trap: many projects could go to ECAI, so the real question is whether ECAI is the best-matched home for your contribution and calendar, and whether it belongs in the main track or the co-located PAIS applications track.

Is it ECAI-shaped?

ECAI wants a contribution a general AI audience recognizes as advancing how systems reason, plan, learn, or decide — with evidence proportional to the claim (a proof, or a fair comparison). Apply two tests:

• Model-swap test. If you replaced the underlying model/solver with another, would a lasting AI lesson remain? If yes → a genuine AI contribution (ECAI-shaped). If no → likely a pure-ML paper wearing an AI title (route to an ML venue).
• General-audience test. Could a reviewer from a different AI subfield see why the contribution matters? ECAI's broad pool rewards work that travels beyond one niche.

ECAI vs the sibling flagships

If your contribution is...	Prefer	Because
Broad AI (symbolic + learning), European flagship, general audience	ECAI	EurAI's general-AI venue; breadth is the point
The same, but you want the international flagship / its calendar	IJCAI	In 2026 they are the same event (joint IJCAI-ECAI); in other years, different calendars/organizers
The same, but on the AAAI calendar / North-American flagship	AAAI	General AI too; different body, dates, template
Fundamentally about multi-agent interaction, mechanisms, negotiation	AAMAS	Dedicated MAS pool and reviewers
Pure knowledge representation / reasoning theory	KR	Specialist KR audience and depth
A benchmark-driven ML advance with no symbolic/decision lesson	NeurIPS/ICML	Pure-ML venues reward the leaderboard framing ECAI does not
A deployed, real-world AI application	ECAI → PAIS	PAIS is ECAI's prestigious-applications track

Because these venues overlap, decide by best-matched reviewer pool + calendar + community pull, not by prestige alone. A paper matched to a specialist pool (AAMAS/KR) can fare better there than in ECAI's broad pool.

The 2026 twist: ECAI is joint with IJCAI

For this cycle, ECAI 2026 = IJCAI-ECAI 2026 (Bremen, 15-21 Aug 2026). So "ECAI vs IJCAI" is not a choice in 2026 — it is one submission to the joint conference, following IJCAI's process, template (ijcai.sty), 7+2 page budget, and open-access IJCAI proceedings. The standalone-ECAI FAIA/ecai.cls/PAIS identity returns in a non-joint year. Confirm which regime your target edition is in before routing (ecai-submission, ecai-camera-ready).

Main track vs PAIS

Route to PAIS (Prestigious Applications of Intelligent Systems, co-located with a standalone ECAI) when the contribution is a credible real-world deployment whose value is the application, not a new general mechanism:

• Main track: the contribution is a new technique, guarantee, or understanding that generalizes.
• PAIS: the contribution is a system that works in the real world — the lesson is the deployment, the constraints handled, the impact demonstrated.

PAIS has its own call and page budget (ECAI 2024: 7+1) and rewards impact and real conditions over benchmark abstractions (ecai-experiments). Note PAIS is a standalone-ECAI fixture; verify whether an applied track exists in a joint IJCAI-ECAI year (special tracks like AI4Tech, AI & Robotics, AI & Health, AI & Social Good may serve that role — 待核实 per cycle).

Calendar-driven routing

• ECAI/IJCAI/AAAI run on different calendars (except the joint years). Route partly by which deadline your work will actually be ready for — a rushed ECAI submission with a gap has no revision round to save it (ecai-review-process).
• The two-deadline front (abstract, then paper) means you commit the title/abstract a week before the PDF; do not register an ECAI abstract you are not confident you can deliver.

Red flags that you are at the wrong venue

• The lesson evaporates under the model-swap test → ML venue.
• Only a specialist could care → AAMAS/KR.
• The value is a deployment, not a mechanism → PAIS.
• You are choosing ECAI over IJCAI in 2026 → they are the same event this year.

Output format

[Contribution shape] technique/guarantee / empirical understanding / multi-agent / KR theory / deployed system
[Model-swap test] AI lesson survives model swap? yes/no
[Venue] ECAI (main) / ECAI-PAIS / IJCAI / AAAI / AAMAS / KR / ML venue — with the deciding reason
[2026 regime] standalone ECAI or joint IJCAI-ECAI (same event as IJCAI this year)
[Calendar fit] ready for this deadline given no revision round? yes/no