Call for Doctoral Consortium Papers

December 15-19, 2025

Call for Doctoral Consortium Papers

The JCDL 2025 Doctoral Consortium (DC) offers a unique opportunity for doctoral students to present their research, receive personalized feedback from senior scholars, and connect with peers in the digital libraries community and related fields. Held in conjunction with JCDL 2025, the leading international conference in digital libraries, the DC is designed to support PhD students at pivotal moments in their research journey. This one-day event will feature student presentations, mentoring sessions, panel discussions, and networking opportunities aimed at fostering research development and career growth. JCDL 2025 will be held as a fully virtual, synchronous event. Accepted papers will be included in the official proceedings. Authors are required to present their work live and provide a pre-recorded video for asynchronous viewing.

Important Dates

All deadlines are Anywhere on Earth (AoE) time: 

  • Submission Deadline (EXTENDED): September 10, 2025 November 5, 2025
  • Notification: October 24, 2025 November 12, 2025
  • Camera-Ready Deadline: November 1, 2025 November 14, 2025

Submission Site

JCDL 2025 EasyChair Submission Portal

Eligibility and Target Participants

We invite submissions from doctoral students who are at or beyond the PhD thesis/dissertation proposal stage. 

You are encouraged to apply if you are:

  • A currently enrolled PhD student in digital libraries or a related field
  • At or beyond the dissertation proposal stage, but not within 12 months of graduation
  • Have defined your research problem, reviewed the relevant literature, and identified your methodology
  • Seeking structured feedback and mentoring from the community

If you’re unsure about eligibility, please contact the DC chairs for clarification.

Benefits of attending the DC

  • Present your work and receive feedback from expert researchers in the field
  • Community-building activities to foster interdisciplinary connections and support
  • The DC paper will be published in the official JCDL 2025 proceedings

Awards

Outstanding contributions will be considered for the Best DC Paper Award, which will be announced during the closing session of the conference.

Submission Guidelines

We welcome submissions from students in all areas of digital libraries and related fields, including but not limited to topics listed on the call for papers page of this conference. Submissions should include the following:

  1. Doctoral Consortium Paper (2-4 pages, including references):
  • Title, author name, affiliation, abstract (max 200 words)
  • Research motivation and questions
  • Background and related work
  • Research approach and methodology
  • Preliminary results (if available)
  • Challenges or feedback areas for discussion

This track uses a single-blind review process. Author names and affiliations should be included in the submitted manuscript. The DC paper should be single-authored. If you require a different authorship structure due to institutional requirements, please contact the DC chairs.

All submissions must follow the IEEE two-column conference template (LaTeX or Word), be written in English, and submitted in PDF format. Incomplete or abstract-only submissions will not be reviewed. References count toward the page limit, and optional appendices must also remain within the limits. Please ensure your submission adheres to the official IEEE submission policies and author guidelines. You can find the full details here: IEEE Submission Policies and Author Guidelines.

  1. Personal Statement (max. 500 words)

Your PhD stage, research goals, and what you hope to gain from the DC. 

  1. Advisor Letter (max. 1 page)

A brief letter from your advisor/supervisor outlining:

  • Confirmation of your PhD status and expected timeline to graduation
  • Statement of how you would benefit from and contribute to the DC
  1. Optional CV (1 page)
  • For mentorship matching purposes (research interests, experience, publications)

Review & Selection Criteria

  • Clarity and potential of research contribution
  • Alignment with the digital libraries community
  • Stage of doctoral work (ideal: mid-stage with some work completed, and some still adaptable)
  • Value of participation for the student’s development
  • Diversity in topics, institutions, backgrounds, and geographic representation

Proceedings and Presentation

Submissions will be reviewed by the program committee members, and accepted papers will be included in JCDL 2025 Conference Proceedings, published by IEEE Conference Publishing Services (CPS), sent to IEEE Xplore for possible inclusion, and indexed by Ei Compendex and Scopus. To qualify for inclusion in the proceedings and participate in the program, authors of accepted papers must meet the following requirements:

  • Each accepted paper must be covered by a distinct conference registration submitted by the registration deadline. 
  • Authors must submit a pre-recorded video presentation, which may be made available for asynchronous viewing. Detailed instructions will be provided after acceptance notifications.
  • Authors are required to present their work live during their scheduled session. 

Generative AI Policy

All submissions must comply with the IEEE Guidelines on Use of AI-Generated Content. The use of content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) in an article (including but not limited to text, figures, images, and code) shall be disclosed in the acknowledgments section of any article submitted to an IEEE publication. The AI system used shall be identified, and specific sections of the article that use AI-generated content shall be identified and accompanied by a brief explanation regarding the level at which the AI system was used to generate the content. The use of AI systems for editing and grammar enhancement is common practice and, as such, is generally outside the intent of the above policy. In this case, disclosure as noted above is recommended.

Authorship Policy 

JCDL 2025 follows the ACM Authorship Policy. Every person listed as an author must have made a substantial contribution to the research and/or the writing of the paper and must take responsibility for the entire content. The complete list of authors, including order, must be finalized by the submission deadline. No additions, removals, or reordering of authors will be allowed after submission. Corrections to spelling or affiliation may be made with approval from the Program Chairs.

Desk Rejection Policy

Submissions that fail to adhere to length or formatting requirements, or that violate academic integrity standards, such as plagiarism, author misrepresentation, or falsification, may be subject to desk rejection by the chairs. Submissions that violate ethical standards (e.g., failure to include required ethics approval statements for human-subject research) may also be desk-rejected at the discretion of the Program Chairs. All authors are expected to comply with the ACM Policy on Plagiarism, Misrepresentation, and Falsification.

Ethics and Conduct

  • Research Ethics: Authors are expected to comply with accepted standards for ethical research and professional integrity, including those outlined in the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. Submissions involving human participants or sensitive data must include a statement on ethics approval (e.g., IRB or equivalent), informed consent, and any other relevant safeguards. Authors must also comply with ACM Publications Policies, including the Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects. Please ensure all authors are familiar with these policies. The Program Chairs reserve the right to reject submissions that do not adequately address ethical considerations.

Doctoral Consortium Chairs

For more information or questions, please contact the JCDL 2025 Doctoral Consortium Chairs: