Technical Papers
Call for Technical Papers
The ASSETS conference is the premier forum for presenting research on the design, evaluation, use, and education related to computing for people with disabilities and older adults. We invite high-quality original submissions on topics relevant to computing and accessibility.
Submissions should present significant contributions to design, systems, tools, scientific understanding, methodology, or social issues. Relevant topics include (but are not limited to) new enabling technologies, studies of how technologies are used by people with disabilities, explorations of barriers to access, and evaluations of accessibility education methods. We recommend that papers with a technical contribution be validated through research activities with representative users when possible. However, we acknowledge that accessibility-focused projects may begin with in-depth formative work with representative users or may be based on prior research with representative users. As such, key contributions of a single paper may be primarily technical.
Important Dates
All deadlines are 11:59 P.M. Anywhere on Earth (UTC -12:00).
- Wednesday, April 22, 2026 – submission deadline
- Wednesday, June 3, 2026 – initial reviews sent to authors, rebuttal phase opens
- Wednesday, June 10, 2026 – rebuttal phase closes
- Wednesday, June 24, 2026 – acceptance decisions sent to authors
- Wednesday, July 22, 2026 – camera-ready deadline
Submission Guidelines
Paper Format and Length
ASSETS uses the ACM Publication System (TAPS) process to generate final multi-format representations of accepted papers.
The correct template for submission is: single-column Word Submission Template and single-column LaTeX (using "manuscript" style available in the template). You may also choose to use Overleaf.
The length of most accepted technical papers will be 7,500 to 10,000 words (4,000 to 5,000 for short technical papers); note that references do not count towards these word counts. A good rule of thumb is that the length of your paper should be commensurate with its contribution.
Accessible Submissions
Your PDF submission must be accessible. It may take several hours to make your PDF file accessible (adding alt tags, etc.), so be sure to leave enough time before the submission deadline to do so. Please refer to the instructions on creating an accessible ACM conference paper on how to accomplish this.
It is expected that papers will be made accessible both at the time of review and for the final submission. Paper submissions that are not accessible will be desk-rejected. If you have questions about making your paper accessible, please contact the Accessibility Chairs at access-assets26@acm.org.
Anonymous Submissions
ASSETS will utilize a fully anonymous review process for Technical Papers. Authors must anonymize their paper submissions, all supplemental materials, and video figures. All author names, affiliations, and contact information should be removed. You should not anonymize references to your prior work (these are needed as part of the review process). Instead, you should refer to all prior work in the third person. While it may not be possible to remove all clues to who the authors are, we expect authors to do their best. Authors with difficulty applying this anonymization policy to their research are encouraged to contact the technical program chairs for additional guidance.
Although submissions are anonymous, please ensure that you and your co-authors obtain an ORCID ID so you can complete the publishing process for your accepted paper.
Review Process
Submissions that do not meet formatting or accessibility guidelines, are not properly anonymized, are out of the topical scope of the conference, or are otherwise deemed non-competitive by the program chairs may be rejected without review. Otherwise, submissions will be peer-reviewed by an international panel.
Authors will have an opportunity to submit a "Rebuttal" after receiving the reviews, prior to the final acceptance decisions. The window of time for this rebuttal period is about a week, so authors should plan accordingly. Please read the important dates section above.
Accepted papers will be presented at the ASSETS 2026 conference. More details about the presentation will be released closer to the conference.
Submissions MUST contain substantial original, unpublished material. Please refer to the ACM policy on plagiarism. Writing Guidelines are available to help authors choose appropriate language for writing about technology and people with disabilities.
Short vs. Long Papers
Short papers are meant to capture more focused and concise research contributions compared to long papers. Short papers, like long papers, are rigorously peer-reviewed, archival publications. Short papers are not works-in-progress, incomplete work, etc. (Works-in-progress should be submitted to the Posters and Demos track).
Short paper submissions use the same template as full-length technical papers but should be limited to 4,000 to 5,000 words, not including references. Accepted short papers will appear in the main conference proceedings, and will be presented at the conference. Short papers must adhere to the same anonymity and accessibility standards as full papers, and may also include accompanying video figures (read the previous section on Optional Accessible Video Figures as Supplementary Material), particularly if they introduce a novel system or interaction technique.
How to submit
The submission deadline is Wednesday, April 22, 2026, 11:59 P.M. Anywhere on Earth (UTC -12:00). Please submit via the ASSETS 2026 technical paper track on Precision Conference(PCS).
Author PCS Account Details
ACM continues to update the publication process. Currently, paper metadata will be pulled directly from your personal PCS account. This means that it is crucial for you and all of your co-authors to update the contact information so that names, affiliations, AND primary email addresses are stylized exactly in the way that you all would want to see them in the ACM digital library and on your paper. For example, if you use a personal email address (xyz123@hotmail.com) as your primary contact email in PCS then this email will appear on your paper. Please check your author information and make the necessary changes.
Publishing with ACM Digital Library
The official publication date is when the proceedings are made available in the ACM Digital Library. This date may be up to two weeks prior to the first day of your conference. The official publication date affects the deadline for any patent filings related to published work. (For those rare conferences whose proceedings are published in the ACM Digital Library after the conference is over, the official publication date remains the first day of the conference.)
ACM Open Access Publishing
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. 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 will need to 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 in ACM Open and review the APC Waivers and Discounts Policy. Keep in mind 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, funded directly by ACM. Authors are encouraged to help advocate for their institutions to join ACM Open during this transition period. This temporary subsidized pricing will apply to all conferences scheduled for 2026.
Further Information
By submitting your article to an ACM Publication, you are hereby acknowledging that you and your co-authors are subject to all ACM Publications Policies, including ACM's new Publications Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects. Alleged violations of this policy or any ACM Publications Policy will be investigated by the ACM and may result in a full retraction of your paper, in addition to other potential penalties, as per ACM Publications Policy.
For further information or any questions regarding technical paper submissions, please contact the Technical Program Chairs, Stacy Branham, Minming Fan, Jenny Waycott, and Foad Hamidi, at tpc-assets26@acm.org.