acm-sigconf

ACM Conferences and Journals (acmart)

Workflow

Identify the exact journal and article type, open its current author guidelines, and fill in the limits table below. Never rely on remembered limits.
Check whether a format-free first submission is allowed. If it is, spend effort on content and mandatory statements rather than layout.
Restructure the manuscript into the venue's front matter and sections (see below).
Prepare the required statements, figures and supplementary files.
Run the checklist, then assemble the submission package: manuscript, source files, figures, declarations and cover letter.

Verify first (mandatory)

The call for papers sets the format (e.g. sigconf vs acmsmall for PACM-style venues), page limits (often excluding references), anonymization and supplementary rules. The master template and documentation are at https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template, and the class on CTAN is https://ctan.org/pkg/acmart. Use the latest acmart, because TAPS rejects old versions.

LaTeX setup

% Submission (double-blind, line numbers, review mode):
\documentclass[sigconf,review,anonymous]{acmart}
% Camera-ready:
% \documentclass[sigconf]{acmart}
% Journals / PACM: \documentclass[acmsmall]{acmart}

\setcopyright{acmlicensed}          % from your rights form at camera-ready
\copyrightyear{2026}
\acmYear{2026}
\acmDOI{XXXXXXX.XXXXXXX}            % from the rights form email
\acmConference[Short Name '26]{Full Conference Name}{Month dd--dd, 2026}{City, Country}
\acmISBN{978-x-xxxx-xxxx-x/2026/mm}

Keep \author{}, \affiliation{} (with \institution, \city, \country) and \email{} blocks per author. Use \renewcommand{\shortauthors}{...} if names are long.
Abstract goes before \maketitle in acmart.
CCS concepts: generate XML at https://dl.acm.org/ccs, paste the \begin{CCSXML}... block and \ccsdesc[500]{...} lines, and include \keywords{...}.
Bibliography: \bibliographystyle{ACM-Reference-Format} + \bibliography{refs}. With BibLaTeX use the acmart BibLaTeX styles. The "ACM Reference Format" block is generated automatically.
Teaser figure: \begin{teaserfigure} before \maketitle.

Accessibility and TAPS

Provide alt text for figures (\Description{...} inside each figure). ACM requires it.
The TAPS workflow compiles your source into ACM's HTML and PDF formats. Unsupported packages or custom macros that redefine layout will fail. Test by compiling with the latest acmart and avoiding \vspace hacks, font changes and margin packages.
Keep all source files in one folder with no absolute paths, and upload the .bib (TAPS runs BibTeX).

Double-blind checklist

anonymous option (hides authors and acknowledgments). Refer to your own prior work in the third person. Anonymize links to code (e.g. anonymous GitHub). Remove PDF metadata. No identifying acknowledgments or grant numbers in the submission.

Common problems

"Overfull hbox" in author block: shorten affiliations or use \shortauthors.
Missing \Description warnings: add alt text to every figure.
Wrong format option (sigconf vs acmsmall) for PACM venues: check the CfP.
Page limit breaches caused by excluding appendices incorrectly: check whether appendices count.
Using \usepackage{times} or geometry changes, which TAPS rejects.

Related skills

venue-templates, ml-paper-writing (KDD/WWW-style ML papers), bibtex-hygiene, scientific-visualization, rebuttal-and-response-to-reviewers, arxiv-submission.