| name | icdt-related-work |
| description | Use when positioning an ICDT (International Conference on Database Theory) paper against the database-theory literature — covering the ICDT/PODS lineage, finite model theory and complexity, delta-first positioning against the nearest prior theorem, honest treatment of overlapping bounds, and keeping self-citations anonymous under the since-2024 rule. |
ICDT Related Work
Position the paper against the exact prior theorems it advances. At ICDT the related-work
section is where a referee checks whether your result is genuinely new or a re-proof of something in
the ICDT/PODS canon, so vague "much work has been done" prose is a liability. Every neighboring
result should be named, its bound stated, and your delta made precise.
Cover the database-theory lanes
A database-theory paper usually sits in one or more of these literatures; name the relevant ones and
the closest results in each:
- Query languages and expressiveness — CQs/UCQs, Datalog and its fragments, FO, regular path
queries, and the separations between them.
- Complexity of query evaluation — combined/data/query complexity, dichotomies, parameterized
and fine-grained bounds.
- Finite model theory — locality, games, zero-one laws, descriptive complexity as it applies to
databases.
- Constraints and reasoning — TGDs/EGDs, the chase, decidability of implication and query
answering under constraints.
- Consistent query answering and inconsistency — repairs, certain answers, complexity of CQA.
- Provenance and semiring semantics — annotated relations, provenance polynomials.
- Data integration and exchange — schema mappings, certain answers, the theory behind ETL.
Delta-first positioning
State your advance against the nearest theorem, not against a field:
"For [class], [Author, ICDT/PODS year] established a [complexity] upper bound but left the lower
bound open; we close it, showing the problem is [class]-complete, and extend the result to
[broader class]."
- Name the closest prior bound and say precisely how yours differs — tighter, broader, a matching
lower bound, a new model, a removed assumption.
- If a prior result subsumes a special case of yours, say so and explain what your generality
buys.
- If two lines of work appear to conflict with yours (e.g., a claimed hardness vs your
tractability), reconcile them — usually a difference in the model or complexity measure — rather
than ignoring one.
Honesty about overlapping and concurrent results
- Concurrent work at the other flagship: if a PODS or arXiv result overlaps, cite it and
delineate the independent contribution; the database-theory community is small and referees know
the concurrent papers.
- Journal versions: distinguish a conference result from its extended journal version when both
exist; attribute the bound to the right one.
- Do not inflate novelty by omitting the nearest neighbor — a referee who knows the omitted paper
reads the omission as either ignorance or evasion.
Anonymous self-citation (since 2024)
ICDT regular submissions are anonymous, so your own prior theorems need third-person handling:
- Write "Building on the chase-based construction of [17]…", never "our earlier ICDT paper [17]."
- Do not let a self-citation pattern (citing one author cluster heavily, in the first person)
de-anonymize you.
- If your result critically depends on an unpublished companion paper, cite it anonymously
("[Anon]") per the current call's wording rather than naming yourself — confirm the exact
mechanism in the live CfP.
What not to do
- Related work as a bibliography dump — a paragraph of citations with no bound stated proves
nothing about your delta.
- Positioning against systems papers only — an ICDT contribution is positioned against theorems;
cite EDBT/SIGMOD work for motivation, not for the technical delta.
- Claiming an open problem is open without checking the recent ICDT/PODS programs — it may have
been closed last cycle.
Output format
[Lanes covered] <which database-theory literatures the paper touches>
[Nearest prior] <closest theorem, its bound, its venue/year>
[Delta] <tighter | broader | matching lower bound | new model | removed assumption>
[Concurrent] <overlapping PODS/arXiv results cited and delineated? yes/no>
[Anonymity] self-citations third-person and non-identifying? yes/no
[Fix queue] <ordered edits>
