USENIX Security '25 Reviewing Model

Summary of main changes from previous editions

  • Major revisions are submitted and reviewed during the same submission cycle as the initial submission.

Submissions Deadlines

The Symposium will accept submissions in two cycles in 2025. For USENIX Security '25, the first deadline will be September 4, 2024, and the second will be January 22, 2025.

Review Process Outcomes

The reviewing process will result in one of the following four outcomes:

  • Accepted
    In this case, reviewers either see no need for any required edits—the paper could be published as is—or trust the authors to make any required edits.
  • Accepted on Shepherd Approval
    These papers offer sufficient contributions to be in the USENIX Security program, but the reviewers feel that some changes are needed. Reviewers expect that these changes are highly unlikely to reduce their enthusiasm regarding the paper being published. These can include text changes, clarifications, and presentation of missing results that do not require additional experiments.
  • Invited for Major Revision
    A clear path exists to strengthen the paper to a state that is likely adequate for the paper to be accepted. The reviewers have identified a well-defined set of additions and changes necessary to bring the paper to this state. Unlike Accepted on Shepherd Approval, the effect of these changes is too unpredictable for it to be feasible to decide in advance whether a revised paper will be acceptable for publication (e.g., new experiments need to be run whose outcomes are uncertain). There is no guarantee that the paper will be accepted, but we expect a high acceptance rate for these papers (as currently happens with Major Revisions).
  • Rejected
    This outcome indicates that the reviewers do not see a well-defined path from the present state to acceptance. For example, reviewers may not see the scientific contribution as adequately significant, or the idea is acceptable but reviewers struggle to offer well-defined changes to address identified technical issues. Reviews for such papers will attempt to identify major changes that could move the paper toward a publishable state.

    Authors may not resubmit these papers in the next review cycle.

Shepherding and Revision Processes

Authors of papers submitted to USENIX Security '25 that have been accepted on shepherd approval or invited for major revision may submit a revised version of their papers only within the review cycle during which the paper was originally submitted. Such papers that were originally submitted in the first cycle of USENIX Security '25 may not be resubmitted in the second cycle.

For both Accepted on shepherd approval and Invited for major revision, each paper will have one shepherd. This shepherd will be agreed upon by the reviewers, and will be in charge of communicating expectations to authors and, eventually, communicating whether the paper has met the criteria for acceptance. The shepherd may consult with other reviewers.

All shepherding activities will happen through anonymous author-visible comments on HotCRP. All reviewers will be able to see these exchanges.



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