Call for Papers Deadline Extension!

The Twenty-Seventh Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming CP 2021 will be held online (will take place in Montpellier, France) from October 25 to 29, 2021.

The CP conference series concerns all aspects of computing with constraints, including: theory, algorithms, environments, languages, models, systems, and applications. It welcomes submissions that advance the state of the art for the underlying technologies as well as papers that explore the role of constraint programming within other disciplines such as, for instance: operation research, machine learning and verification.

The CP 2021 programme will include presentations of high-quality scientific papers and tutorials on both theory and applications. Invited talks will describe important topics relevant to the field. The CP programme also welcomes workshops for discussing in-progress work and provides support to students through its doctoral program, which includes a dedicated one day doctoral conference, mentorship by experienced researchers and more.

Tracks

The conference features a main /Technical Track/, and /Thematic/ tracks:

  • Application
  • CP and Machine Learning
  • CP and Operations Research
  • Testing and Verification

Papers are submitted directly to one of the five tracks. Submissions that reach beyond classic constraint programming concepts are encouraged and welcomed alongside papers on constraint solving, NP-hard problem solving and optimization in general. Any underlying computational technique operating on a declarative constraint model are also welcome. Papers in specialized tracks will be reviewed by experts in that area.

Important dates (Extension)

The submission deadlines are pushed back by one week

The new deadlines are AoE. Dates are intended as anywhere on Earth.

  • May 14, 2021 May 21, 2021 Abstract Submission
  • May 21, 2021 May 30, 2021 Full Paper Submission
  • June 21, 2021July 10 Author Response Due
  • July 12, 2021July 28, 2021 Final Notification
  • July 26, 2021August 06, 2021 Camera-ready

Submissions Instructions

Paper submission is via EasyChair (CP 2021). Each submission should be directed to the suitable track.

Length and format

*Noteworthy*: CP21 is switching from Springer to LIPIcs for its proceedings. It is therefore crucial for authors to follows the guidelines provided below and not start from an old style file that is appropriate for Springer only.. In order to open the conference more widely (e.g., for OR persons), two types of submissions are expected this year:

The submissions should be submitted in the form of a PDF file following LIPIcs guidelines. The site linked above has examples and the necessary style files. Please read the directions attentively as specific LaTeX packages are prohibited or restricted.

To open the conference more widely (e.g., for OR persons), two types of submissions are expected this year:

  • full papers: they can use up to 15 pages (references not included) but shorter submissions are also welcome. Submissions exceeding the page limits or improperly formatted will be rejected without review.
  • short papers: they can use a maximum of 8 pages (reference excluded) and cover early results or results that can be adequately reported in just 8 pages. Short papers must nonetheless meet all the expected quality criteria of a full paper.
All papers should attract a wide audience and will be allocated time for presentation during the conference.

Anonymous Submission

To facilitate reviewing management, authors who intend to submit a paper to CP should submit a very short description of the contents and contribution of the final submission, with a maximum of 150 words, by May 21th, 2021.

The paper submission must be done before May 30th, 2021. All papers will go through a double blind reviewing process, meaning that authors and reviewers are anonymous to each other. For this reason, submitted full papers should not contain author names, affiliations, or links to identifying web sites. References should be cited in such a way as not to reveal the authorship of the paper.

Multiple Submission

A given paper must be submitted to exactly one track. When it looks necessary, the Program Chair may move a submission to another, more suitable track.

At the final submission deadline, any paper submission that appeared in, is accepted for, or is under review for another peer-reviewed conference or journal must be promptly withdrawn from CP.

Submissions that have appeared at workshops or other meetings of lower status than a conference or only in highly shortened form (e.g., abstracts) can be submitted as papers.

Proceedings

Accepted papers (in all tracks) will appear in conference proceedings published by LIPIcs. The proceedings will be available at the time of the conference.

Authors of outstanding accepted papers will be offered two publication options: (a) publication in the conference proceedings; (b) publication of an abstract in the conference proceedings, an online version of the paper submitted to the conference and an invitation to submit an extended paper after the conference and to be fast-tracked with the journal. Note that Constraint is still a Springer journal with its own formatting guidelines.

Pandemic considerations

Given that, at the date of this writing, the pandemic is still raging worldwide it is important to realize that the dates above may be slightly adjusted (pushed back) as circumstances dictate. Please, check the conference site regularly to remain aware of any extension being added.

We do hope that the conference itself will be held in person, but this remains difficult to predict at this stage. In all cases, it is clear that the community values the availability of video recording of talks and CP21 will adhere to that practice. Authors of accepted papers will be expected to produce a recording of their talk ahead of time which will be shared via the CP Conference YouTube channel. Precise directions will be shared with authors with the issuance of acceptance notifications.

Other Informations

Questions about the paper submission process may be addressed to the Program Chair Laurent Michel.