NSDI '14 Call for Papers

Overview

NSDI focuses on the design principles, implementation, and practical evaluation of networked and distributed systems. It provides a high-quality venue to researchers and practitioners for publishing and discussing work that furthers the knowledge and understanding of the networking and systems communities.

Topics

NSDI takes a broad view of networked systems, which includes (but is not limited to):

• Internet, access, enterprise, and other large-scale networks
• Cloud systems and data centers
• Mobile and embedded systems and applications
• Wireless networked systems, including cross-layer and PHY-aware systems
• Online social networks
• Distributed storage, caching, and query processing systems

NSDI is interested in many aspects of such systems, including (but not limited to):

• Performance, availability, and reliability
• Security and privacy
• Energy efficiency
• Measurement-driven insights and experience with operational systems
• Management, debugging, and diagnosis
• Virtualization and resource management
• Systems aspects of networking hardware

Operational Systems Track (New for NSDI '14!)

In addition to papers that describe original research, NSDI '14 is also soliciting papers that describe the design, implementation, analysis, and experience with large-scale, operational systems and networks. While such papers may not describe new results or ideas, they are welcome if they disprove or strengthen existing assumptions, deepen the understanding of existing problems, and validate known techniques at scales or environments in which they were never used or tested before.

Authors should indicate on the title page of the paper and in the submission form that they are submitting to this track.

What to Submit

Submissions must be no longer than 12 pages, including footnotes, appendices, figures, and tables. Submissions may include as many additional pages as needed for references. Submissions must be in two-column format, using 10-point type on 12-point (single-spaced) leading, with a maximum text block of 6.5" wide x 9" deep, with .25" inter-column space, formatted for 8.5" x 11" paper. Papers not meeting these criteria will be rejected without review, and no deadline extensions will be granted for reformatting. Pages should be numbered, and figures and tables should be legible when printed, without requiring magnification.

NSDI is single-blind, meaning that authors should include their names on their paper submissions and do not need to obscure references to their existing work. Authors must submit their paper's title and abstract by September 20, 2013, and the corresponding full paper by September 27, 2013. All papers must be submitted via the Web form.

Submissions will be judged on originality, significance, interest, clarity, relevance, and correctness. Papers so short as to be considered "extended abstracts" will not receive full consideration.

For more details on the submission process, and for templates to use with LaTeX, Word, etc., authors should consult the detailed submission requirements.

NSDI '14 Policies

Simultaneous submission of the same work to multiple venues, submission of previously published work, or plagiarism constitutes dishonesty or fraud. USENIX, like other scientific and technical conferences and journals, prohibits these practices and may take action against authors who have committed them. See the USENIX Conference Submissions Policy for details.

Previous publication at a workshop is acceptable as long as the NSDI submission includes substantial new material. For example, submitting a paper that provides a full evaluation of an idea that was previously sketched in a short position paper is acceptable. Authors of such papers should cite the prior workshop paper and clearly state the submission's contribution relative to the prior paper.

Ethical standards must be adhered to by all authors. In particular, as applicable, authors must conform to acceptable use policies for systems that are analyzed, consider data privacy and anonymity for all personally identifiable information (PII), undertake institutional review board (IRB) approvals, acquire informed consent, notify parties of security flaws in their products or services in advance of publication, etc. Adherence to ethical standards will be a criterion for all submissions, and any violations, including ambiguous situations not well described, will be grounds for rejection.

Authors uncertain whether their submission meets USENIX's guidelines should contact the Program Co-Chairs, nsdi14chairs@usenix.org, or the USENIX office, submissionspolicy@usenix.org. Papers accompanied by nondisclosure agreement forms will not be considered. All submissions will be treated as confidential prior to publication on the USENIX NSDI '14 Web site; rejected submissions will be permanently treated as confidential.

All papers will be 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. The papers will be available online to everyone beginning on the first day of the conference, April 2, 2014.

By submitting a paper, you agree that at least one of the authors will attend the conference to present it. If the conference registration fee will pose a hardship for the presenter of the accepted paper, please contact conference@usenix.org.

If your paper is accepted and you need an invitation letter to apply for a visa to attend the conference, please contact 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.

Posters and Demos

We will hold poster sessions each evening. For more information on submitting a poster, see the Posters and Demos page. 

Best Paper Awards

Awards will be given for the best paper(s) at the conference.

Community Award

To encourage broader code and data sharing within the NSDI community, the conference will also present a “Community Award” for the best paper whose code and/or data set is made publicly available by the final papers deadline, February 26, 2014. Authors who would like their paper to be considered for this award will have the opportunity to tag their paper during the submission process.

Shadow Program Committee (New for NSDI '14!)

In order to train the next generation of program committee (PC) members and to expose students to the review process, the NSDI ’14 PC would like to make submitted papers available to shadow PCs. Shadow PCs allow students and others interested in future PC service to read submitted papers and go through the reviewing process, ultimately arriving at a shadow conference program. This is an opportunity for future PC members to learn about the peer-review process and gain experience as a reviewer. Shadow PCs will not have any access to the real reviews, the names of the real reviewers, or any other data such as relative rankings. They will have to abide by the same rules and restrictions applicable to regular PC members. This includes, but is not limited to, rules against discussing the papers outside of the PC context, or using in any way results from reviewed papers before such papers have been published.

Making a submitted paper available to shadow PCs is optional; authors will have the opportunity to opt-in during the paper submission process. Shadow reviews for papers that are reviewed by shadow PCs will be sent out after the actual NSDI ’14 review process. Authors that have participated in previous shadow PCs have found the additional reviews helpful.

If you would like to organize a shadow PC at your host institution, please contact Ethan Katz-Bassett.

Registration Materials

Complete program and registration information will be available in January 2014 on the conference Web site.