Workshop Proposals

  • Deadline for proposals (extended): October 13, 2023
  • Notification of acceptance: November, 10 2023
  • Contact for submission: Gary Lupyan (lupyan@wisc.edu)
EVOLANG will host several thematically focused workshops to be held on May 18th. For all accepted workshops, the workshop organizers will be responsible for finalizing the detailed schedule and for soliciting contributions.

Workshop proposals should be submitted as a PDF, and include the following information:


● Workshop title
● How long do you anticipate the workshop will run? (depending on the number of submissions, we may group workshops into shorter and longer slots, depending on needs).
● Names and contact information for the workshop organizers,
● What research questions does your workshop address? Why are these questions important to the study of language evolution? What makes this workshop timely? What makes the organizers qualified to run the workshop? What criteria are you using to invite contributors? (no more than 750 words + references).
● A list of likely contributors
● A tentative schedule
● Do you have any special technical needs?


Workshop proposals will be reviewed and selected by the local organizers and at least two referees.

Paper submissions

The (extended) deadline for submission to EVOLANG XV (Madison, WI, USA, May 18-21, 2024) is October 13, 2023. You can submit to EvoLang XV via the OpenReview platform. Please carefully read the guidelines set out below - and see the linked submission templates - to prepare your submission. Submissions that do not adhere to the guidelines may be rejected without review. If you have a problem with your submission, please email scientific-committee@evolang.org. Submissions may be in any relevant discipline, and should aim to make clear their own substantive claim relating to relevant, current scientific literature in the field of language evolution. Submissions which do not have clear relevance to the field may be rejected without review.

Submission Format

Submissions can be both for podium presentations (15 min talk + 5 min Q&A) and for poster presentations. Authors are limited to one first-authored podium presentation and one first-authored poster. There is no limit on the number of submissions for which you can be a non-first author. When submitting, please indicate your preferred mode of presentation (podium talk or poster). We hope to see as many of you as possible in person, but we understand that travel to the US is not possible for all presenters. We will be able to offer a limited number of virtual flash talks and podium presentations. For both podium and poster presentations, there are two possible types of submission:

(a) Full papers, which can have a length of up to 6 pages; and
(b) Abstracts, which can be up to 2 pages long.

Note that:
  • Full papers should include an abstract and structured sections. Abtracts can be a single section of text (possibly including one or multiple figures).
  • For both full papers and abstracts, the maximum page limit excludes additional pages with references and acknowledgements.
  • Any figures should be integrated within the main text and are included towards the maximum page limit.
  • Submissions can include non-peer reviewed, online supplementary information.

Submissions must be formatted according the following guidelines/style sheets: Please do not change the margins, line spacing, font size, etc. in the provided templates. Submissions may be in the form of long papers (up to 6 pages excluding references) or abstracts (2 pages excluding references). For 2-page abstracts, use the same template as for the long papers, omitting the abstract section and using the body text for the entire submission (as such, there is no need to include the 'abstract' section in 2-page abstracts).

Upon acceptance authors will be encouraged to sign a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license/b>, which allows for free reuse of the work as long as the original authors are attributed, the work is not changed in any way, and prohibits comercial use. Accepted and licensed submissions will be published in online proceedings to appear before the start of the conference.
If you do not agree to the license agreement, your submission will not be made public as part of the conference proceedings, and only the 150-word summary will still be included in the conference program.

Double-blind peer review

The review process is double-blind: authors will not be told who reviews their paper and reviewers will not be told who the authors of the papers are. To ensure this process goes smoothly, initial submissions should be anonymous. Please keep in mind the following guidelines for keeping your paper anonymous:

1. Do not include the names and affiliations of authors in the paper Names and affiliations will be added after the paper has been reviewed and accepted. However, keep in mind that names and affiliations will take up space. We suggest that authors include anonymous placeholders for names and affiliations to avoid problems with page limits (e.g. “Author BBBBB & Author CCCCC”). If the paper is accepted, the authors will be required to submit a camera-ready version with author names, affiliations, and acknowledgements included. At the submission stage, please make sure that the work will adhere to the space limitations once these changes are made.

2. Make sure not to reveal the identity of the authors indirectly This can include the following steps:

● Use third person to refer to previous work by the authors. e.g. instead of “As we have previously shown, language is a complex system (Jones, 2012)” use “As was previously shown, language is a complex system (Jones, 2012)”, or more simply “Language is a complex system (Jones, 2012)”.

● Do not eliminate essential self-references or other references but limit self-references only to papers that are relevant for those reviewing the submitted paper.

● Make sure figures do not contain any affiliation related identifier.


Given the small size of the field it may not be possible to completely prevent reviewers from guessing the identity of the authors, but please make every effort to keep submissions anonymous.


FAQs


● Is there any support for supplementary materials along with my submission?
    There will be some support for online supplementary materials. Reviewers will not evaluate the supplementary materials, however, so all information necessary to understand and evaluate the submission should be included in the main paper or abstract. Authors are encouraged to make data or code available for the final publication. All supplementary materials should be submitted within a single zip file, which should also include a readme file describing the contents. Supplementary materials should be referenced in the main text of the final submission (e.g. “see supplementary materials”).
● Does the length of the abstract (2 pages) or full paper (6 pages) include the references?
    No. The abstract and full paper should be 2 and 6 pages respectively, excluding the references and acknowledgements.
● Should I submit a 150-word summary for my abstract submission?
    Yes, the 150-word summary is required for all types of the submission.
● Should the figures and tables be included within the page limit for both types of submission?
    Yes. The extra page(s) can be used only for references and acknowledgements (funding bodies    etc).

Musical performances

Evolang folks are a musical bunch and some past conferences have included musical numbers (Luc Steels’s performance at EvoLang X was a highlight). If you would like to pitch an idea for a musical event or to volunteer yourself as a performer, please get in touch with Gary Lupyan (lupyan@wisc.edu).