Run this audit before uploading to the ICALP HotCRP site. ICALP — the EATCS International Colloquium
on Automata, Languages, and Programming — is a pure theory venue publishing open-access in
LIPIcs, with a single annual deadline and two tracks on separate HotCRP servers. The
paper is judged on its theorems and proofs, so this audit is about format, anonymity, and the
body/appendix split, not about a runnable artifact. Every number below was read from the ICALP 2026
(53rd, Royal Holloway) call on 2026-07-09 via search renderings of the CFP (see
resources/official-source-map.md); treat them as a one-cycle snapshot and reopen the live call.
ICALP has two tracks on two different HotCRP sites — submitting to the wrong one is a real, avoidable failure:
icalp2026-a.hotcrp.com.icalp2026-b.hotcrp.com.If you are unsure, resolve it with icalp-topic-selection before touching HotCRP; the tracks have
different program committees, and Track B carries a rebuttal while Track A does not.
ICALP separates abstract registration from full submission, both AoE:
Register with the real title and abstract — the abstract drives PC bidding, and a placeholder quietly worsens your reviewer match.
lipics-v2021 document class is an option but not required at submission in recent
cycles (confirm per cycle); the camera-ready must be LIPIcs — so many authors write in LIPIcs
from the start.icalp-supplementary). Reviewers judge on the body.ICALP runs lightweight double-blind review: submissions are anonymous and self-references must be third person. This is a lightweight regime — the goal is an unbiased first read, not making authorship undiscoverable — but the mechanical leaks still cost you:
# Mechanical pass on the submission PDF
pdfinfo paper.pdf | grep -Ei 'author|creator|producer' # scrub identifying metadata
pdftotext paper.pdf - | grep -nEi 'acknowledg|thanks|this work was supported|grant (no|number)' | head
pdftotext paper.pdf - | grep -nEi 'in our (previous|earlier) (work|paper)|as we showed in' | head
pdftotext paper.pdf - | grep -nEi 'github\.com/[a-z0-9-]+|/home/|/Users/' | head
The theory-specific leaks: an acknowledgements block, a grant number, "in our previous work [12]" (rewrite as "in the work of [12]"), and an arXiv/ECCC identifier that de-anonymizes. It is fine for a full version to exist on arXiv — just do not point at it in a way that breaks the blind.
ICALP forbids prior publication and simultaneous submission to any other conference or journal. A paper concurrently under review at STOC, FOCS, SODA, LICS, or a journal is ineligible. Posting a full version on arXiv/ECCC/HAL is allowed and normal — that is not "publication."
| Finding at audit time | Severity | Real fix |
|---|---|---|
| Body over 15 pages (excluding refs + appendix) | Format-reject-grade | Compress the body; move detail to the appendix, not into the body count |
| Submitted to the wrong track | Mis-review / reject | Withdraw and resubmit to the correct HotCRP server before the deadline |
| Author identity leaks (metadata, acks, first-person self-cite) | Anonymity violation | Scrub metadata, remove acks, rewrite self-citations in third person |
| Abstract not registered by the earlier date | No submission slot exists | Nothing fixes this post-AoE — calendar it now |
| Headline theorem has no complete proof anywhere | Soundness-fatal | Write the full proof into the appendix / full version before upload |
| Same result under review at another venue | Dual-submission violation | Withdraw one venue |
[ICALP submission status] ready / blocked / needs work
[Track] A (algorithms/complexity/games) / B (automata/logic/semantics) — correct server? yes/no
[Registration] title/abstract/authors/conflicts locked by the earlier deadline? yes/no
[Format] body pages (<=15 excl. refs + appendix), LIPIcs class y/n
[Anonymity] clean / leaks: <where>
[Proofs] every headline theorem fully proved in appendix / full version? yes/no
[Fix queue] <ordered, with owners and dates before the AoE cutoff>