USENIX ATC '20 Call for Papers

The 2020 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (USENIX ATC '20) will take place on July 15–17, 2020.
Sponsored by USENIX, the Advanced Computing Systems Association.

Important Dates

  • Submission deadline: Wednesday, January 15, 2020, 11:59 pm EST (Note: no abstract registration)
  • Beginning of authors' response period: Monday, April 6, 2020
  • Authors' response due: Wednesday, April 8, 2020, 12:00 pm EDT
  • Notification to authors: Friday, April 24, 2020, 11:59 pm EDT
  • Final paper files due: Thursday, June 4, 2020

Conference Organizers

Program Co-Chairs

Ada Gavrilovska, Georgia Institute of Technology
Erez Zadok, Stony Brook University

Program Committee Leaders

Aruna Balasubramanian, Stony Brook University
Donald Porter, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Liuba Shrira, Brandeis University
Swaminathan Sundararaman, Pyxeda AI
Vasily Tarasov, IBM Research-Almaden

Program Committee

Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi, VMware Research and University of California, Irvine
Rachit Agarwal, Cornell University
Nitin Agrawal, ThoughtSpot
Irfan Ahmad, Magnition
Gustavo Alonso, ETH Zurich
Deniz Altinbuken, Google
George Amvrosiadis, Carnegie Mellon University
Andrea Arpaci-Dusseau, University of Wisconsin—Madison
Behnaz Arzani, Microsoft Research
Mona Attariyan, Google
Anirudh Badam, Microsoft Research
Saurabh Bagchi, Purdue University
Antonio Barbalace, University of Edinburgh
Ran Ben Basat, Harvard University
Orna Agmon Ben-Yehuda, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology
Pramod Bhatotia, University of Edinburgh
Ken Birman, Cornell University
Sergey Blagodurov, AMD Research
Herbert Bos, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
James Bottomley, IBM Research
Kevin Butler, University of Florida
Yinzhi Cao, Johns Hopkins University
Zhen Cao, Google
Feng Chen, Louisiana State University
Ming Chen, Google
Young-ri Choi, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Guilherme Cox, Nvidia
Heming Cui, The University of Hong Kong (HKU)
Dilma Da Silva, Texas A&M University
Alex Daglis, Georgia Institute of Technology
David Devescery, Georgia Institute of Technology
Abhinav Duggal, Dell EMC
Michael Ferdman, Stony Brook University
Pedro Fonseca, Purdue University
Moshe Gabel, University of Toronto
Manya Ghobadi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Jana Giceva, Imperial College London
Ashvin Goel, University of Toronto
Xiaohui (Helen) Gu, North Carolina State University
Vishakha Gupta-Cledat, ApertureData
Andreas Haeberlen, University of Pennsylvania
Dongsu Han, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Danny Harnik, IBM Research—Haifa
Tim Harris, Amazon
Eshcar Hillel, Yahoo Research
Michio Honda, University of Edinburgh
Yu Hua, Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Jian  Huang, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Trent Jaeger, The Pennsylvania State University
Bill Jannen, Williams College
Junchen Jiang, University of Chicago
Changhee Jung, Purdue University
Sudarsun Kannan, Rutgers University
Baris Kasikci, University of Michigan
Idit Keidar, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology
Ana  Klimovic, Google Brain
Michael Kozuch, Intel Labs
Orran Krieger, Boston University
Mohan Kumar Kumar, Facebook
Youngjin Kwon, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Julia Lawall, Inria/LIP6
Philip Levis, Stanford University
Felix Lin, Purdue University
Heiner Litz, University of California, Santa Cruz
Vincent Liu, University of Pennsylvania
Brandon Lucia, Carnegie Mellon University
Xiaosong Ma, Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), HBKU, Qatar
Peter Macko, NetApp
Harsha V. Madhyastha, University of Michigan
Carlos Maltzahn, University of California, Santa Cruz
Alexander Merritt, Intel
Michael Mesnier, Intel Labs
Changwoo Min, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Shuai Mu, Stony Brook University
Gilles Muller, Inria
Kiran-Kumar Muniswamy-Reddy, Oracle
Srinivasan Narayanamurthy, NetApp
Ravi Netravali, University of California, Los Angeles
Radhika Niranjan Mysore, VMware Research
Roberto Palmieri, Lehigh University
Aurojit Panda, New York University
Gabriel  Parmer, George Washington University
Raju Rangaswami, Florida International University
Oriana Riva, Microsoft Research
Amitabha Roy, Google
Larry Rudolph, Two Sigma
Jack Sampson, The Pennsylvania State University
Mahadev Satyanarayanan, Carnegie Mellon University
Jiri Schindler, Tranquil Data
Malte Schwarzkopf, Brown University
Russell Sears, Apple
Siddhartha Sen, Microsoft Research
Philip Shilane, Dell EMC
Mark Silberstein, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology
Richard Spillane, VMware Research
Scott Stoller, Stony Brook University
Patrick Stuedi, LinkedIn
Lalith Suresh, VMware Research
Amy Tai, VMware Research
Eno Thereska, Amazon
Theodore Ts'o, Google
Alexey Tumanov, Georgia Institute of Technology
Keval Vora, Simon Fraser University
Ric Wheeler, Facebook
Avani Wildani, Emory University
Emmett Witchel, The University of Texas at Austin
Yue Yang, Micron Technology
Ming Zhao, Arizona State University
Lin Zhong, Rice University
Noa Zilberman, University of Oxford

External Review Committee

Raja Appuswamy, EURECOM, Sophia Antipolis
Muli Ben-Yehuda, LightBits Labs
Angela Demke Brown, University of Toronto
Sindhu Ghanta, Pyxeda Inc.
Gernot Heiser, UNSW Sydney
Paul E. McKenney, IBM Linux Technology Center
Ethan Miller, University of California, Santa Cruz, and Pure Storage
Dalit Naor, IBM Research—Haifa
Youjip Won, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Gala Yadgar, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology

Submissions Co-Chairs

Ketan Bhardwaj, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dongyoon Lee, Stony Brook University

Overview

The 2020 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (USENIX ATC '20) seeks original, high-quality submissions that improve and further the knowledge of computing systems, with an emphasis on implementations and experimental results. We are interested in systems of all scales, from small embedded mobile devices to data centers and clouds. The scope of USENIX ATC covers all practical aspects related to systems software, including but not limited to: operating systems; runtime systems; parallel and distributed systems; storage; networking; security and privacy; virtualization; software-hardware interactions; performance evaluation and workload characterization; reliability, availability, and scalability; energy/power management; bug-finding, tracing, analyzing, and troubleshooting.

We welcome experience submissions that clearly articulate lessons learned, as well as submissions that refute prior published results. We value submissions more highly if they are accompanied by clearly defined artifacts not previously available, including traces, original data, source code, or tools developed as part of the submitted work. We particularly encourage new ideas and approaches.

Submitting

A good submission will typically: motivate a significant problem; propose a practical solution or approach that makes sense; demonstrate the pros and cons of the latter using sound experimental and statistical evaluation methods; disclose what has, and has not, been implemented; articulate the new contributions beyond previous work; and refrain from over-claiming, focusing the abstract and introduction sections primarily on the difference between the new proposal and what is already available. Submissions will be judged on relevance, novelty, technical merit, and clarity.

Submissions are expected to avoid committing benchmarking crimes.

Authors of resubmitted work will be given the opportunity to describe in a separate note the changes since the previous submission(s). While this is optional, authors are encouraged to do so, as it helps reviewers who may have reviewed a previous draft of the work to appreciate any improvements to currently submitted work.

Papers must be submitted before the aforementioned submission deadline via the USENIX ATC '20 submission site. Submissions must be in PDF format. No extensions will be given. There is no separate deadline for abstracts registration. Submissions must strictly adhere to the policies specified below. By submitting, you agree that at least one of the authors will attend the conference to present the paper if accepted. Submissions accompanied by nondisclosure agreement forms will not be considered.

Submission Type: Full vs. Short

USENIX ATC accepts both full and short submissions. Short submissions are limited to roughly half the space of full-length submissions. Both types are reviewed to the same standards and differ primarily in scope. A short paper is not like a workshop "position" paper—it presents a complete idea, which does not require full length to be appreciated. The idea should be concisely formulated and evaluated, and conclusions should be drawn from it, just like in a full-length paper. The program committee may, in rare cases, decide to accept a full submission on the condition that it is cut down to fit in the short paper page limit. Short papers will be included in the proceedings and presented at the conference like full papers during a slightly shorter time slot.

Originality

Submissions must contain original unpublished material that is not under review at any other forum, including journals, conferences, and workshops with proceedings. Submissions that extend your own previous work—in a significant way—are welcome, but you must explain the differences between your current USENIX ATC submission and your prior work. You should also relate your current USENIX ATC submission to relevant submissions of your own that are simultaneously under review for this or other venues. The next section discusses how to do so while maintaining anonymity.

Simultaneous submission of the same work to multiple venues, submission of previously published work, or other violations of the above policies constitute plagiarism, dishonesty, or fraud. USENIX prohibits these practices and may, on the recommendation of a program chair, take action against authors who have committed them; see the USENIX Conference Submissions Policy for additional details.

Anonymizing

USENIX ATC '20 will employ double-blind reviewing, keeping author identities concealed from reviewers. You must therefore make a good faith attempt to anonymize your submissions by avoiding identifying yourself or your institution, either explicitly or by implication, e.g., through references, acknowledgments, online repositories that are part of the submission, or direct interaction with committee members. Do not say "reference removed for blind review." When it is necessary to cite your own studies, there are only two possibilities: cite them (1) as written by a third party (preferable), or (2) as uploaded anonymized supplemental material (see below). This guideline applies in particular to any of your workshop papers that are being extended by your current USENIX ATC submission. Related submissions of your own that are simultaneously under review or awaiting publication at other venues should typically opt for the second option. Publication as a technical report or in an online repository does not constitute a violation of this policy, because they are not peer reviewed. Papers that are not properly anonymized may be rejected without review.

Public disclosure of excerpts from submitted papers and/or reviews (e.g., those received during the rebuttal process) prior to the announcement of official decisions, constitutes a violation of the anonymity policy. All questions or comments about the reviews should be made exclusively to atc20chairs@usenix.org.

Anonymized Supplemental Material

Supplemental material may be submitted as a single-but-separate anonymized file without page limit. Note that the reviewers are not required to read such material or consider it in making their decision. Any material that should be considered to properly judge the paper for acceptance or rejection is not supplemental and will apply to the page limit.

Declaring and Avoiding Conflicts

When registering a submission, all its co-authors must provide information about conflicts with the USENIX ATC '20 program committee (PC) members and extended review committee (ERC) members. You are conflicted with a member if: (1) you are currently employed at the same institution, have been previously employed at the same institution within the past two years (2017 or later), or are going to begin employment at the same institution; (2) you have a past or present association as thesis advisor or advisee (no time limit); (3) you have collaborated on a project, publication, grant proposal, or editorship within the past two years (2017 or later); or (4) you have spouse or first-degree relative relations.

Do not declare a conflict if you discussed your submission with a PC/ERC member before the USENIX ATC '20 PC/ERC lists were publicized. Do not declare a conflict merely because you wish to avoid a review from a specific committee member; such unethical behaviour might result in immediate rejection. All conflicts will be reviewed to ensure the integrity of the reviewing process.

Authors and others are prohibited from directly or indirectly communicating with any ATC '20 PC/ERC member about any potentially submitted paper. All requests should be made exclusively to atc20chairs@usenix.org. Violations of these guidelines may seek remedies as stipulated in the USENIX Conference Submissions Policy.

Formatting

Full submissions must not exceed 11 pages, and short submissions must not exceed 5 pages, including all text, figures, tables, footnotes, appendices, etc. Bibliographic references, however, are not included in the page limit. The reviewers will value conciseness, so if you can describe your work with fewer pages than the limit, please do. Because references do not count against the page limit, they should not be formatted using a smaller font, and the names of all co-authors should be specified.

Use US letter paper size, with all text and figures fitting inside a 7" x 9" (178 mm x 229 mm) block centered on the page, using two columns separated by 0.33" (8 mm) of whitespace. Note that the text block size changed in 2019 to be more consistent with formatting rules of other systems conferences.

Use 10-point font (typeface Times Roman, Linux Libertine, etc.) on 12-point (single-spaced) leading. Graphs and figures can use colors but should be readable when printed in monochrome, without magnification. All pages should be numbered, and references within the paper should be hyperlinked. Labels, captions, and other text in figures, graphs, and tables must use reasonable font sizes that, as printed, do not require extra magnification to be legible. Submissions that violate any of these restrictions will not be reviewed. No extensions will be given for reformatting.

USENIX's latest LaTeX/Word template were updated in 2019 and the style files are available on the USENIX templates page.

New in 2020: Early Rejection Notifications

USENIX ATC '20 will conduct its reviews in multiple rounds. Papers that pass a given round are assigned additional reviewers to help make a sound decision for each paper. Some papers, however, may be rejected in an early round. USENIX ATC '20 will send early rejection notifications to such authors at least a month ahead of the date that all remaining notifications are sent (acceptances and additional rejections). These decisions are final and authors of early rejected papers will not be asked to provide a rebuttal (see below). Authors who receive an early rejection notification will also not receive another notification later on. Authors of rejected papers at this early stage are therefore free to read their paper’s reviews and use the extra time to consider revising and resubmitting the work to a future conference.

Authors Response Period

USENIX ATC '20 will provide an opportunity for authors to respond to reviews prior to final consideration of the submissions at the program committee meeting according to the schedule detailed above. Authors must limit their response rebuttal to: (1) correcting factual errors in the reviews; and (2) directly addressing questions posed by reviewers. Rebuttals should be limited to clarifying the submitted work. In particular, rebuttals must not include new experiments/data or describe additional work completed since submission, or promises of additional work to be performed. Rebuttals are optional. Rebuttals are limited to no more than 500 words.

Confidentiality

All submissions will be treated as confidential prior to publication on the USENIX ATC '20 website. Rejected submissions will be permanently treated as confidential.

Accepted Papers

Submissions selected by the program committee will be conditionally accepted, subject to revision and approval by a program committee member acting as a shepherd. Accepted (long and short) papers will be allowed one additional page in the proceedings. One author of each accepted paper will present the work at the conference in a designated time slot.

By default, all accepted papers will be made available online to registered attendees before the conference. If your accepted paper should not be published prior to the event, please notify production@usenix.org before the camera-ready date. Accepted papers, however, will be made available online to everyone beginning on the first day of the conference.

If the conference registration fee will pose a hardship for the presenter of the accepted paper, please contact the Conference department. If your paper is accepted and you need an invitation letter to apply for a visa to attend the conference, please email conference@usenix.org as soon as possible. (Visa applications can take at least 30 working days to process.) Please identify yourself as a presenter and include your mailing address in your email.

Poster Session

Due to USENIX ATC '20 not occurring as an in-person event, there will not be a poster session.

Lightning Session

In addition to the regular presentations, authors of all accepted papers will present their work in 120-second "lightning talks" during the lighting session(s). A corresponding lightning video should be submitted to appear on the conference site in advance of the conference.

Best Paper Award

Cash prizes will be given for the best paper(s) at the conference. Both full and short papers will be considered. Please see USENIX's Best Papers page to see the winners from previous years.

Program and Registration

Complete program and registration information will be available in May 2020 on the conference website.

Questions?

Please direct any questions to the program co-chairs at atc20chairs@usenix.org or to the USENIX office at submissionspolicy@usenix.org.