| name | stoc-camera-ready |
| description | Use when converting a STOC (ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing) acceptance into publishable form — the ACM proceedings version, de-anonymization, rights forms, the CFP-level expectation that the full paper with proofs goes public on arXiv or ECCC by the camera-ready deadline, and TheoryFest talk preparation. |
STOC Camera-Ready
Anchor cycle: STOC 2026 required camera-ready copies by March 31, 2026 (AoE)
for the conference in Salt Lake City, June 22–26, 2026, with proceedings in the
ACM Digital Library (58th proceedings: dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/3798129;
checked 2026-07-08). Two deliverables leave your hands in this phase, and they are
not the same document.
Deliverable A: the proceedings version
- Reformat from the loose 11-point submission format into the ACM proceedings
template the acceptance email specifies; exact class file, page allowance, and
the production vendor's upload flow are per-cycle instructions (待核实 from the
acceptance packet, not from this file).
- De-anonymize deliberately: author block with canonical name spellings and ORCID,
restored acknowledgements and grant numbers, self-citations back in first person
where that reads naturally.
- Complete the ACM rights form before final upload; the copyright block the form
generates must be pasted into the paper, and the title/author list in the form
must match the PDF character for character.
- Expect the proceedings version to remain an extended abstract: theorem
statements, overview, and selected proofs. It is the citable record, not the
complete mathematical record.
Deliverable B: the public full version
The STOC 2026 CFP stated the expectation that authors of accepted papers make
their full papers, with proofs, publicly available on arXiv, ECCC, or a similar
preprint service by the camera-ready deadline. Treat this as a hard milestone
with its own checklist:
- The full version must contain every proof the extended abstract defers, under
the same theorem numbering or with an explicit correspondence table.
- Title should match the proceedings title (a "(full version)" annotation is
fine); the abstract page should cite the proceedings version once the DOI
exists.
- ECCC suits complexity papers seeking community review; arXiv
cs.DS/cs.CC
etc. is the default. Cross-listing is common and harmless.
latexmk -pdf full-version.tex
tar czf stoc-full.tar.gz full-version.tex \
macros.tex refs.bib sections/ figures/
Keeping the two versions coherent
| Check | Proceedings version | Full version |
|---|
| Theorem statements | Must match full version verbatim | Master copy |
| Proofs | Sketches + pointers allowed | Complete, no deferred steps |
| Bug found after acceptance | Fix if production window allows; else note | Fix and replace; arXiv versions are revisable |
| Long-term citations | DOI of record | Where the community actually reads the math |
| Numbering | May compress; include mapping if so | Canonical |
The failure mode this table exists to prevent: a proceedings version whose
Theorem 3 is the full version's Theorem 5, silently — every later citation and
every reader cross-checking proofs pays for it.
Conference obligations
- STOC 2026 ran inside a five/six-day TheoryFest program (talks, workshops,
posters, invited events; the extra Saturday hosted a "Can AI do Theory?"
workshop). Expect a short talk slot; theory talks succeed on one theorem, one
proof idea, one picture — rehearse to the slot length announced with the
program.
- Registration and physical-presentation requirements for accepted papers were
not verifiable from the CFP excerpts at check time: 待核实 in the acceptance
email before booking decisions.
- Award eligibility is automatic: the PC may designate up to four STOC Best
Papers, and the Danny Lewin Best Student Paper Award applies when all
authors were full-time students at submission (
sigact.org/prizes).
Sequence from acceptance email to conference
- Read the acceptance packet the same day; extract the production vendor's
instructions, the exact template, and every form deadline into a checklist.
- Triage the corrections file (
stoc-workflow): reviewer-caught issues and
post-submission bug fixes go into both versions now, cosmetic improvements
into the full version only.
- Rebuild the paper in the ACM template early — two-column ACM format holds
far less than the loose submission format, and the compression decisions
(which proofs stay in the proceedings version) take real editorial time.
- Freeze theorem numbering across both documents before either is finalized.
- Submit the ACM rights form, paste the generated block, upload, and then
post the full version — in that order, so the arXiv abstract can cite the
final title.
- Book the talk rehearsal after the program schedule lands.
Post-publication hygiene
- Update the arXiv/ECCC record with the DOI once the ACM DL entry is live.
- If a journal version follows (JACM, SICOMP, TheoretiCS and TALG are the usual
homes), note that SIGACT's prior-publication policy runs one way: the journal
version extending a STOC extended abstract is standard practice, expected by
editors, and should say "a preliminary version appeared in STOC 2026."
- Archive the exact submitted, accepted, and camera-ready sources; Test of Time
and prize committees read the proceedings version decades later.
Failure modes seen at this stage
- The proceedings version compiled from stale submitted sources while all
fixes went to the full version — the published record now carries known
bugs (
stoc-reproducibility's drift vignette, realized in production).
- Rights-form metadata typed from memory, so the DL entry spells an author
differently from every other paper they have written.
- The arXiv posting deferred "until after the conference," quietly breaking
the CFP's camera-ready expectation and leaving five months where the
community cites a proofless extended abstract.
- A talk built as a proof walkthrough; twenty minutes of lemma dependencies
loses even the specialists. One theorem, one idea, one picture.
Output format
[Camera-ready state] not started / ACM version in progress / full version live / both done
[Version-coherence check] <numbering, statements, proof coverage>
[Rights/forms] <ACM form status, copyright block pasted?>
[Full-version location] arXiv/ECCC id or 待核实
[Talk prep] <slot length, one-theorem story chosen?>
