Submission Guidelines

General information

NEW THIS YEAR – 2027

New to LAK or a returning author? Here are two very important details to remember as you prepare for your LAK27 submission.

This year we are piloting two changes: publishing the proceedings in the Journal of Learning Analytics, and requesting short abstracts one week ahead of the full submission deadline to help us match reviewers by expertise. 

  1. We are no longer publishing the Full and Short research papers in ACM for 2027. All Full and Short research papers will be published in special issues of the Journal of Learning Analytics (JLA). Read our full announcement here. 
  2. For overall improvement of reviewer workload and reviewer expertise alignment, we request that initial abstract submissions be submitted by September 21, 2026 at 11:59pm AOE. 

What will this accomplish? 

  • It enables the bidding process to be opened earlier to assist matching reviewers with papers more aligned with their interests and expertise. 
  • It gives an earlier indication of the total number of  submissions to ensure the reviewer pool is large enough to not overburden our reviewers. 
  • PLEASE NOTE that this is not mandatory but highly recommended and will not impact decision making on whether your actual submission is accepted or rejected. 

To learn more about these processes, reviewer guidelines improvements along with the Do’s and Dont’s of submitting to LAK, stay tuned for our submitters and reviewers webinar in early September! Announcement coming soon!

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Guidelines

LAK and JLA adhere to the COPE Authorship Standards. Authors should ensure that their use of Artificial Intelligence is in accordance with COPE guidance:

Authors who use AI tools in the writing of a manuscript, production of images or graphical elements of the paper, or in the collection and analysis of data, must be transparent in disclosing in the Materials and Methods (or similar section) of the paper how the AI tool was used and which tool was used. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics.

 

Double Blind Review 

To maintain the technical quality of the conference as it continues to grow in size and variety, LAK27 continues to use double-blind review for all categories of submission, with the exception of Workshops & Tutorials (pre-conference events), the Doctoral Consortium (for which supervisor letters of support are required) and Interactive Demonstrations (as video recordings are difficult to blind).

In double-blind review:

  • Reviewers’ identities are not disclosed to authors.
  • Authors’ identities are not disclosed to reviewers. Moreover, reviewers will respect the spirit of the double-blind process, treating each submission on its own merits, and not seek to research the authors’ identities.

To ensure double-blind review:

  • Submissions should omit author names, affiliations, acknowledgements
  • Other details (such as URLs and project/product names that may disclose identity) should also be omitted or disguised . 
  • Relevant self-references to authors’ published work that are essential to a proper review should be included, but written in the third person (e.g. “Previous work by Smith [27] has shown…”). The goal and spirit of double-blind review is to create uncertainty about authorship, which is sufficient to realize most of its benefits.
  • If any supplemental materials are provided via a link within the paper, these supplemental materials or appendices must also be blinded.

On the rationale and evidence for double-blind review, see McKinley (2015) and Snodgrass (2007).

Additional Information & Contacting Organizers

For full conceptual details for any LAK27 submission category, please refer to the General Call for Papers. The below submission guidelines are meant to only provide technical and formatting information for each submission type. 

Some authors in previous years have requested the inclusion of supplemental materials, such as code for analysis, prompts, and data tables, which allows research to be transparent and for reviewers to scrutinize the claims in the paper. Authors can include an anonymized url within the main text of their paper by using view-only links in Open Science Frameworks or anonymized Github pages, among other similar alternatives. Please note these links may or may not be reviewed by reviewers and/or the program committee. 

For the full listing of LAK27 deadlines, please refer to our LAK27 Important Dates. 

For general LAK27 questions, please contact organizers at lakconference@gmail.com. 

Research Track Guidelines

This year, accepted LAK Research Track papers will be published in the Journal of Learning Analytics (JLA).  As such, all submissions in this track should follow the JLA journal paper template (Word, LaTeX or Overleaf).

Submission Types

Submission types for the research track are similar to other years:

  • Full research papers (from 10 to 14 pages in JLA format, including references and notes for practitioners) include a clearly explained substantial conceptual, technical or empirical contribution to learning analytics. The scope of the paper must be placed appropriately with respect to the current state of the field, and the contribution should be clearly described. This includes the conceptual or theoretical aspects at the foundation of the contribution, an explanation of the technical setting (tools used, how are they integrated into the contribution), analysis, and results. See the bulleted list of questions above for more detailed ideas on useful elements to include. 
  • Short research papers (from 6 to 8 pages in JLA format, including references and notes for practitioners) can address on-going work, which may include a briefly described theoretical underpinning, an initial proposal or rationale for a technical solution, and preliminary results, with consideration of stakeholder engagement issues. See the bulleted list of questions above for more detailed ideas on useful elements to include.

Additional Information for Research Track

  • Remove all identifying information
    • Research track submissions use the double-blind review process described above. To ensure double-blind review:
      • Submissions should omit author names, affiliations, acknowledgements
  • Other details (such as URLs and project/product names that may disclose identity) should also be omitted or disguised . 
  • Relevant self-references to authors’ published work that are essential to a proper review should be included, but written in the third person (e.g. “Previous work by Smith [27] has shown…”). The goal and spirit of double-blind review is to create uncertainty about authorship, which is sufficient to realize most of its benefits.
  • Pay attention to the page limits for each submission type. Your submission cannot exceed the maximum length (this includes references, acknowledgements and/or appendices*)
  • Upload your submission via LAK27 EasyChair submission system. EasyChair The submission must be made before the official deadline (28 September 2026, 23:59 GMT-12). There will be no extensions for LAK27.

*If any supplemental materials are provided via a link within the paper, these supplemental materials or appendices must also be blinded. These materials may or may not be reviewed and are optional.

Practitioner Track Guidelines

Practitioner reports may be between 2 and 4 pages in length using the LAK companion proceedings template (including references) and should include:

  • Presenter’s Names (Left Blank for double blind submission // Only add in for camera-ready version)
  • Presentation Title:
  • Abstract (100-150 words):
  • Keywords (up to 10):
  • Full Presentation Description 

For full conceptual details, please refer to the LAK27 Call for Papers. 

Preparing Your Submission

  • Prac reports are using double-blind review process, so please remove all identifying details from text. However, Interactive demos do not need to be de-identified since it can be very hard to disguise real systems.
  • The Prac track submissions should use LAK companion proceedings template
  • Upload your submissions via LAK27 EasyChair submission system. The submission must be made before the official deadline, 23:59 GMT-12). There will be no extensions for LAK27.

Posters and Demonstrations Guidelines

Preparing Your Submission

Poster Submissions – 3 pages, LAK companion proceedings template, including references 

Interactive Demo Submissions –  should include a 200-word abstract and movie link using the LAK companion proceedings template and a demo movie no more than five minutes in length. Demo submissions are not blinded.

Pre-conference Event Track Guidelines

Submission Types

Proposals should be a maximum of four pages using the LAK companion proceedings template and should include the following information in order to enable reviewers to judge the importance, quality, and benefits for the LAK community.

  • Organizational details of proposed event:
    • Type of event (Interactive Workshop, Mini-track Symposium, Tutorial etc.)
    • Proposed duration (half-day or full-day) 
    • The workshop/tutorial activities that participants should expect: e.g., symposia elements, birds of a feather, group-based demos, discussion groups, presentations, poster sessions, etc.
    • Proposed schedule / itinerary in which the activities will take place
    • Expected / maximum participant numbers and planned channels to recruit attendees
  • Workshop/tutorial objectives or intended outcomes
    • What are the objectives that the workshop or tutorial aims to achieve? 
    • How will these outcomes be disseminated? (e.g. #hashtag of the event, mailing lists, etc.) 
    • If the workshop invites contributions (in the form of papers), will these be published in any form (e.g. CEUR proceedings)? [Please note only the overall workshop proposal will appear in the LAK Companion Proceedings]
    • How will the outcomes of the workshop be shared out to participants and the wider community? (e.g. will the workshop produce open access documents or notes synthesizing key outcomes and agreed follow-on activities?)
  • Planned mechanism(s) for communicating information and resources
    • How will potential attendees find out about the intended content and structure of the event?
    • How will you share information and resources with participants before, during and after the event?
    • Consider what tools will best meet your purpose, for example a website, shared google drive, mailing list, Slack workspace
  • References

For workshops with a submission/application process, we suggest that workshop chairs follow this timeline:

  • 21 Sept 2026: Deadline for submission to organize workshops/tutorials 
  • 13 Oct 2026: Notification of acceptance for workshop/tutorial organization
  • 04 Dec 2026: Deadline for submission of papers to individual workshops that issue calls**
  • 18 Dec 2026: Notification of acceptance for posters/demos and papers submitted to individual workshops** 
  • 17 Jan 2027: Deadline for camera ready (Workshop organizer proposal docs) (individual workshop papers are not included in LAK proceedings)

**Workshop Paper Submissions – this term refers to papers submitted to be presented within an accepted LAK pre-conference workshop. Many LAK workshops are mini-symposium style and issue calls for papers. Please visit the pre-conference schedule when available to view which workshops have CFP’s that you may submit to.

Preparing Your Submission

Review Process (pre-conference submissions)

Workshop and Tutorial selection will be handled competitively; proposals will be ranked according to six criteria:

  1. Overall relevance to LAK
  2. Relevance to the LAK27 theme
  3. Innovativeness
  4. Overall quality, including potential value for attendees
  5. Extent of interaction
  6. Comprehensiveness of planning

Workshop/tutorial organizers are encouraged to propose innovative and interactive formats, which will be given priority in the selection process. In case of overlapping proposals, the workshop/tutorial Chairs may propose to merge two workshops or tutorials into a single event. 

Research Track Awards

From the full research papers, up to 5, with the highest review rankings, will be nominated for the ‘Best Full Research Paper Award’. Also, from the short research papers with the highest review rankings, up to five will be nominated for ‘Best Short Research Paper Award’. All nominated papers will be identified in the conference program and conference proceedings. A committee formed from current and past LAK program chairs will select the winning paper and the award will be announced during the conference.

Practitioner Track Awards

From the Practitioner Reports with the highest review rankings, up to five, will be nominated for the ‘Best Practitioner Report Award’ and identified in the Program. A committee formed from current and past LAK Program Chairs will select the winning paper, and the award will be made during the conference.

 

Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR)