Call for Papers | ACM WebSci’26
May 21-24, 2026 | TU Braunschweig | https://websci26.org/

Important Dates

  *   December 10, 2025: Paper submission
  *   February 4, 2026: Notification
  *   February 28, 2026: Camera-ready versions due
  *   May 26-29, 2026: Conference dates

About the Web Science Conference
Web Science is an interdisciplinary field dedicated to understanding the 
complex and multiple impacts of the Web on society and vice versa. The 
interdisciplinary field is well situated to address pressing issues of our time 
by incorporating various scientific approaches. We welcome quantitative, 
qualitative, and mixed methods research, including techniques from the social 
sciences and computer science. In addition, we are interested in work exploring 
Web-based data collection, research ethics, and emerging methods. We also 
encourage studies that combine analyses of Web data and other types of data 
(e.g., from surveys or interviews) to help better understand user behavior 
online and offline.

Theme for Web Science 2026:  Managing Risks in the Era of Generative AI - How 
20 Years of Web Science Research Can Help

Web content is influencing human experiences more than ever before. The rapid 
deployment of artificial intelligence (including large language models) has 
created new risks for humans in the digital environment. These risks include 
customly crafted misinformation at scale, realistic AI-generated harmful 
content and deepfakes, as well as fraudulent activities and scams becoming more 
effective thanks to AI. Trust and community have been eroded during this 
current era of the Web, and researching means to manage these risks on the Web 
is as essential as ever. The Web Science community has looked at this complex 
socio-technical system for 20 years, exploring its structure, dynamics, and 
impact on society. This year’s conference especially encourages contributions 
investigating the risks for society on the web in the presence of artificial 
intelligence. Additionally, we welcome papers on a wide range of topics at the 
heart of Web Science.

In 2026, we will also be able to allocate a limited amount of funding for 
student travel provided by SIGWEB and WebIST.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

Understanding the Web
Trends in globalization and fragmentation of the Web
The architecture, philosophy, and evolution of the Web
Automation and AI in all its manifestations relevant to the Web
The interrelationship between the structure of the web and social behavior
Critical analyses of the Web and Web technologies
The spread of large models on the web

Making the Web Inclusive
Issues of discrimination and fairness
Intersectionality and design justice in questions of marginalization and 
inequality
Ethical challenges of technologies, data, algorithms, platforms, and people on 
the Web
Safeguarding and governance of the Web, including anonymity, security, and trust
Inclusion, literacy, and the digital divide
Human-centered security and robustness on the Web

The Web and Everyday Life
Social machines, crowd computing, and collective intelligence
Web economics, social entrepreneurship, and innovation
Legal and policy issues, including rights and accountability for the AI industry
The creator economy: Humanities, arts, and culture on the Web
Politics and social activism on the Web
Relationships, organization, and social interaction on the Web
Online education and remote learning
Health and well-being online
Social presence in online professional event spaces
The Web as a source of news and information

Doing Web Science
Data curation, Web archives, and stewardship in Web Science
Temporal and spatial dimensions of the Web as a repository of information
Analysis and modeling of human and automatic behavior (e.g., bots)
Analysis of online social and information networks
Detecting, preventing, and predicting anomalies in Web data (e.g., fake 
content, spam)
Novel analysis techniques for Web and social network analysis
Recommendation engines and contextual adaptation for Web tasks
Web-based information retrieval and information generation
Supporting heterogeneity across modalities, sensors, and channels on the Web.
User modeling and personalization approaches on the Web.

Format of the submissions
Please upload your submissions via EasyChair: 
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=websci26
There are two submission formats:
Full paper should be between 6 and 10 pages (including references, appendices, 
etc.). Full papers typically report on mature and completed projects.
Short papers should be up to 5 pages (including references, appendices, etc.) 
and primarily report on high-quality ongoing work that is not mature enough for 
a full-length publication.

All papers should adopt the current ACM SIG Conference proceedings template 
(acmart.cls). Please submit papers as PDF files using the ACM template, either 
in Microsoft Word format (available at 
https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template under “Word Authors”) or 
with the ACM LaTeX template on the Overleaf platform, which is available at 
https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/association-for-computing-machinery-acm-sig-proceedings-template/bmvfhcdnxfty.
 In particular, please ensure that you are using the two-column version of the 
appropriate template.
All contributions will be judged by the Program Committee by at least three 
referees based on rigorous peer review standards for quality and fit for the 
conference. Additionally, each paper will be assigned to a Senior Program 
Committee member to ensure review quality.

WebSci-2026 review is double-blind. Therefore, please anonymize your 
submission: do not put the author(s )' names or affiliation(s) at the start of 
the paper, and do not include funding or other acknowledgments in papers 
submitted for review. References to the authors’ own prior relevant work should 
be included, but should not specify that this is the authors’ own work. It is 
up to the authors’ discretion how much to further modify the body of the paper 
to preserve anonymity. The requirement for anonymity does not extend outside 
the review process, e.g., the authors can decide how widely to distribute their 
papers over the Internet. Even in cases where the author’s identity is known to 
a reviewer, the double-blind process will serve as a symbolic reminder of the 
importance of evaluating the submitted work on its own merits without regard to 
the author’s reputation.

Authors who wish to opt out of publication proceedings will be given this 
option upon acceptance. This will encourage the participation of researchers 
from the social sciences who prefer to publish their work as journal articles. 
All authors of accepted papers (including those who opt out of proceedings) are 
expected to present their work at the conference.

ACM Publication Policies
1. By submitting your article to an ACM Publication, you acknowledge that you 
and your co-authors are subject to all ACM Publications Policies, including 
ACM’s new Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and 
Subjects<https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/research-involving-human-participants-and-subjects>.
 Alleged violations of this policy or any ACM Publications Policy will be 
investigated by ACM and may result in a full retraction of your paper, in 
addition to other potential penalties, as per ACM Publications Policy.

2. Please ensure that you and your co-authors obtain an ORCID 
ID<https://orcid.org/register> to complete the publishing process for your 
accepted paper.  ACM has been involved in ORCID from the start, and we have 
recently made a commitment to collect ORCID IDs from all of our published 
authors<https://authors.acm.org/author-resources/orcid-faqs>.  The collection 
process started in 2022 and will be a requirement. We are committed to 
improving author discoverability, ensuring proper attribution, and contributing 
to ongoing community efforts around name normalization; your ORCID ID will help 
in these efforts.

3. For guidelines on the use of generative AI tools, please refer to 
https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/frequently-asked-questions

Important update on ACM's new open access publishing model for 2026 ACM 
Conferences!

Starting January 1, 2026, ACM will fully transition to Open Access. All ACM 
publications, including those from ACM-sponsored conferences, will be 100% Open 
Access (https://www.acm.org/publications/openaccess).

Authors will have two primary options for publishing Open Access articles with 
ACM: the ACM Open institutional model or by paying Article Processing Charges 
(APCs). With over 1,800 institutions already part of ACM Open, the majority of 
ACM-sponsored conference papers will not require APCs from authors or 
conferences (currently, around 70-75%).

Authors from institutions not participating in ACM Open must pay an APC to 
publish their papers, unless they qualify for a financial or discretionary 
waiver. To find out whether an APC applies to your article, please consult the 
list of participating 
institutions<https://libraries.acm.org/acmopen/open-participants> in ACM Open 
and review the APC Waivers and Discounts 
Policy<https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/policy-on-open-access-apc-waivers-and-discounts>.
 Remember that waivers are rare and are granted based on specific criteria set 
by ACM.

Understanding that this change could present financial challenges, ACM has 
approved a temporary subsidy for 2026 to ease the transition and allow more 
time for institutions to join ACM Open. The subsidy will offer:
$250 APC for ACM/SIG members
$350 for non-members

This represents a 65% discount<https://www.acm.org/publications/openaccess>, 
funded directly by ACM. Authors are encouraged to help advocate for their 
institutions to join ACM Open during this transition period.
You can find an FAQ here: 
<https://www.acm.org/publications/open-access-model-for-acm-and-sig-sponsored-conferences-frequently-asked-questions>
 Open Access Model for ACM and SIG Sponsored Conferences: Frequently Asked 
Questions<https://www.acm.org/publications/open-access-model-for-acm-and-sig-sponsored-conferences-frequently-asked-questions>,
 and more information here: <https://www.acm.org/publications/openaccess> Open 
Access Publication & ACM<https://www.acm.org/publications/openaccess>

Program Committee Chairs:
Gianluca Demartini (The University of Queensland, Australia)
Stefan Dietze (Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf & GESIS, Germany)
Jen Golbeck (University of Maryland, USA)
For any questions and queries regarding the paper submission, please contact 
the chairs at [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>.

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