Following the tradition of previous ICDARs, ICDAR 2026 will once again feature a Journal Track, combining the rapid turnaround and wide visibility of a conference with the depth, length, and rigorous peer review of an archival journal. The ICDAR–IJDAR Journal Track invites high-quality original submissions in all areas of Document Analysis and Recognition, suitable for both the International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR) and the International Journal on Document Analysis and Recognition (IJDAR). Accepted papers will be published in a special issue of IJDAR and will be allocated an oral presentation slot at ICDAR 2026.
Please note that journal versions of previously published conference papers, as well as survey papers, will not be considered for this special issue. Such papers should instead be submitted directly to IJDAR through its regular submission process.
Authors submitting to the journal track commit to presenting their work at ICDAR upon acceptance. Springer Nature, the publisher of IJDAR, will make accepted journal track papers freely accessible during a four-week window around the conference, in addition to their publication in the archival journal.
Format: Papers submitted to the journal track should follow the format of IJDAR submissions and all of the standard guidelines.
Procedure and deadlines:
All authors must understand that the full journal review process is required for all journal track submissions—there is no “short cut.” Papers submitted by the journal track paper submission deadline will undergo review for the journal track. At the time of the initial journal track decision, any paper requiring major revision can no longer be considered for the journal track. In such cases, authors have two options:
- Transfer the submitted paper to the regular IJDAR track to continue the review process, or
- Withdraw the submission and prepare a shorter version to be submitted as an ICDAR conference paper. Please refer to the ICDAR 2026 website for details on deadlines and submission procedures.
Questions regarding the status of a paper under review for the IJDAR–ICDAR Journal Track should be directed to the Journal Editorial Office via the Editorial Manager system. The guest editors retain full authority to determine whether the journal review process can be completed in time, and decline submissions that arrive too late. In such cases, the authors will be notified immediately and may choose either to keep the paper in the regular IJDAR review process or to withdraw the manuscript from the journal.
Unlike the main ICDAR conference submission process, which is double blind, the IJDAR journal uses a regular submission process where authors must identify themselves on a paper at the time of submission.
Submit here:
Important Dates
- Journal track paper submission deadline: 14 November 2025
- Initial journal track decision announced to authors: 16 January 2026
- Revised journal track paper submission deadline: 1 April 2026
- Final journal track decision: 15 May 2026
Editors
This special issue is a joint initiative of the IJDAR editors and the ICDAR 2026 PC chairs.
Program Chairs of ICDAR 2026:
- Gernot A. Fink
- Alicia Fornes
- Koichi Kise (liaison to IJDAR)
- Daniel Lopresti
Contact:
For any information about this initiative, please email to [email protected]