USENIX Authorship Policy

As approved by the USENIX Board of Directors on June 29, 2026

Introduction and Scope

USENIX expects authors to adhere to high ethical standards and to ensure transparency and integrity in the publication of their work. Clear and consistent authorship practices support USENIX’s core mission and are essential to maintaining confidence in the research record.

This Authorship Policy therefore applies to all research-focused conferences and workshops organized or sponsored by USENIX. It covers every paper submitted to and published in USENIX venues, including any co-sponsored events and their proceedings. All individuals involved in USENIX publications (i.e., authors, program committee members, and program co-chairs) are expected to understand and follow these guidelines. Conference Calls for Papers (CFPs) and submission instructions will reference this policy together with any venue-specific guidelines, ensuring that contributors are aware of the authorship expectations. By submitting a paper to a USENIX venue, authors agree to comply with the USENIX Authorship Policy.

The USENIX Authorship Policy is consistent with the broader academic publishing ethics upheld by organizations such as ACM and IEEE, while also following the community values promoted by USENIX. USENIX supports the principles outlined by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) regarding authorship and publication integrity. Notably, the key elements such as that authors are the originators of ideas, that they contribute substantially, and that they are accountable for their paper, are shared across the guidelines published by COPE and the ACM/IEEE policies.

Criteria for Authorship

To be listed as an author on a USENIX paper, an individual must meet all of the following three criteria:

1. Significant Intellectual Contribution: The individual has made substantial contributions to the idea, design, or implementation presented in the submission. This could include formulating the research problem, developing research questions, designing the system or experiment, developing the software, performing a theoretical analysis, or interpreting data and results. Generally speaking, each author should be a (co-)creator or (co-)originator of key ideas or results presented in the paper.
2. Involvement in Writing: The individual has contributed to the writing of the paper, or has critically reviewed or revised it for important intellectual content. The individual should be involved in shaping the paper.
3. Final Approval and Accountability: The individual has approved the contents of the paper, including all text, figures, data, and references, as it will appear in the proceedings. They accept responsibility for the content of the paper and are accountable for the work in its entirety, meaning they will address questions or concerns about the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work.

If a person does not meet all of the above criteria, they should not be included in the list of authors. Conversely, anyone who meets these criteria should be listed as an author. Omitting a qualified contributor or including an unqualified person as an author are both considered unethical practices in publishing. Ghost authorship (uncredited contributors) and gift authorship (unearned credit) are prohibited.

Pseudonymous Authorship

USENIX is committed to fostering an environment where authors can publish important work without fear of personal or political repercussions. In certain research areas, researchers may face serious personal risks or negative consequences if their identities are publicly associated with their work.

To address this rare situation, USENIX allows authors to choose pseudonymous attribution in the final version of the work as long as the following criteria hold:

1. The program co-chairs and USENIX deem the need for pseudonymous authorship is appropriate based on the per-paper context.
2. The paper lists the real name and contact information for at least one author who meets the criteria of authorship listed above.
3. The paper clearly indicates which author names are pseudonyms. Note that pseudonyms must not impersonate another person or be offensive. USENIX reserves the right to reject specific pseudonyms.
4. By opting to use a pseudonym, an author of an accepted paper implicitly grants USENIX the rights to publish the paper, as outlined in the USENIX Consent Form for Refereed Papers; normally all authors explicitly grant USENIX these rights.
5. The authors followed the below process to request pseudonymous authorship.

Pseudonymous Authorship Request Process: The pseudonymous authorship request process ensures that (a) conference organizers and systems never have access to the identity of pseudonymous authors and (b) paper review conflicts are adequately ensured. Failure to follow this process will result in a denied request for pseudonymous authorship.

1. Prior to the submission, an author with a real identity contacts the program co-chairs to declare that one or more authors will be pseudonymous. The real identities of pseudonymous authors must not be revealed in this email exchange or the paper submission system.
2. Conflicts for pseudonymous authors must be included in the selection of program committee member conflicts. In the email to the program co-chairs, the author must self-attest that conflicts are set correctly. They must not indicate which conflicts belong to the pseudonymous author(s).
3. The pseudonymous names must be listed in the paper submission metadata. The affiliation must be listed as “Pseudonymous” in order to allow program co-chairs to make appropriate exceptions to other submission requirements. Note that the “Pseudonymous” affiliation is only required for the submission of the paper, and another affiliation may be used for the final paper, as long as the paper clearly indicates which author names are pseudonyms.

Contributors Versus Authors (Acknowledgments)

Activities such as acquiring funding, generally supervising a research group, editing or shepherding the paper, providing special equipment, data sets, or tools, recruiting study participants, or providing routine technical support do not, in themselves, constitute a sufficient contribution to qualify as an author. While such contributions are often critical to the success of a project, they lack the level of creative intellectual input or manuscript involvement required for authorship. If the individuals are not otherwise deeply involved in the conception and writing of the work, they should be acknowledged, but not listed as authors.

As such, authorship is reserved for those who contribute in a substantial, intellectual, and creative way to the research and the corresponding written text, while others who support the project in auxiliary ways should be acknowledged in a separate section. This ensures that credit is allocated fairly and accurately.

Use of AI and Similar Tools in Authorship

Artificial Intelligence (AI) cannot be listed as an author on a paper. AI technologies are changing rapidly, and community views on the use of AI in research are nuanced and also changing. At this time, USENIX does not have an organization-wide policy on the use of AI during the creation of a paper. Refer to the Call for Papers (CFPs) of individual conferences for specific rules, requirements, and guidelines.

Enforcement and Policy Administration

USENIX takes violations of authorship ethics seriously. Improper authorship credit and related misconduct undermine the trust in our publications and harm the community. Possible sanctions include rejection or retraction of a paper; however, in the cases of lesser issues, USENIX will work with authors to issue an errata for the paper. See the USENIX Concern Reporting Process for more information.

USENIX recognizes that exceptional circumstances can arise that require special consideration. Petitions for exceptions to this authorship policy should be directed to [email protected].