25th International Conference on  Very Large Databases Edinburgh - Scotland - UK 7th - 10th September 1999

Paper Submission Procedures

Authors for papers in all three tracks should comply with the procedures described in this document. This document also contains advice that may be of help to authors. The information supplied here is an amplification of the original Call for Papers. We intend that the additional information should assist authors. If there are any problems with differences between this document and the original CFP, please contact the programme chair, Malcolm Atkinson (mpa@dcs.gla.ac.uk).

There is a general section that applies to all papers and three separate sections covering Research Papers, Vision Papers and Experience and Application Papers.

General Information Applying to all submissions

All papers will be submitted and processed according to exactly the same schedule. This schedule is as detailed in the Call for Papers. At least one author of each accepted paper must register for VLDB'99 by the 1st June 1999. Otherwise the paper will not be included in the conference proceedings.
 
 

All authors of papers in the Research, Vision and Experience tracks should submit their paper to the region in which the first author of the paper works, at the time of submitting the paper, or where most of the work was carried out. The regions are set out below. Anyone requiring advice on where to submit a paper should contact the programme committee chair, Malcolm Atkinson (mpa@dcs.gla.ac.uk).

For the purposes of VLDB'99 the world is divided into three regions.
 

Summary of Where to Send Queries Regarding Submissions

Format and Layout of Papers

In the proceedings, all papers, irrespective of the track, will be laid out according to the same formatting instructions. These will be very similar to those established at recent VLDB conferences, e.g. VLDB'98 in New York. Authors wishing to prepare papers in that format can use their formatting instructions for the moment. The specific CRC formats for VLDB'99 will be available very soon. Accepted papers will be required in that format by 1 June 1999.

Submission for refereeing, may either be in a good approximation to the final CRC format (within the final size constraints specified below), or in the format stated in the Call for Papers. In the CFP format, Research Papers, Vision Papers and Experience, and Application papers should be a maximum of twenty US letter or A4 pages, typeset in a minimum of 11-point font double-spaced.

General Submission Procedure

Papers should be prepared to match the size and topic requirements of their intended track (see below) and should clearly indicate that track. It is the author's responsibility to make the papers readable, relevant and interesting before submission for consideration by referees. This includes legibility of diagrams and quality of English.

Papers should not be submitted to more than one event simultaneously (e.g. conference, journal, etc.). If occurrences of multiple submission are detected (referees often serve several events for their speciality) then the paper will be automatically rejected from VLDB'99.

Registering an Abstract

Once a paper has been prepared the authors must register their intention to submit it by recording the abstract in the relevant database. An interface is provided below for recording the abstract by geographic area. Members of any of the VLDB'99 programme committees will use their own geographic area.

You must register an abstract in order to obtain a reference code that will be used to identify your paper and to enable the allocation of referees. Without a registered abstract your paper may not be processed correctly.

When you register your abstract you will receive a reference number for your paper. This has two parts: an area code, e.g. "Asia" and a sequence number, e.g. 17. When you submit your paper and when there are any communications about this paper, the combination of area code and sequence number (without any intervening spaces) will be used to identify your paper. Please mark your paper with that identifier and use it as requested.

When you register the abstract, the form will also solicit information about how to contact you. The information will only be used for VLDB administration purposes, e.g. to notify you of the outcome of your submission. If you have to make a change, please e-mail your area programme chair. We expect that in virtually all cases this information will be stable over the period of paper processing.
 

Submitting your Paper

There are two methods for submitting a paper, you may use physical paper submission or electronic submission. Authors are responsible for ensuring that the submitted material is on time (no extensions will be given), complies with the size constraints (long papers will not be refereed) and is legible on arrival.

Every paper should have a cover page (not counted in the page count) that:

• Identifies the contact author
• Gives his or her address for correspondence (e-mail, conventional mail and telephone)
• States the reference number (see Registering an Abstract)
• Gives the title and full list of authors (marking any author that is on any VLDB'99 programme committee)

This cover page is redundant information if you have used the database for registering your abstract as requested (see Registering an Abstract). However we would like this extra confirmation of the accuracy of the administrative details relating to your paper.

Submitting papers by Physical Mail

You should submit four copies of your papers to arrive by 22 February 1999 to the relevant geographic regional programme committee chair. Their full postal addresses are set out in the following table.
 

Submitting papers Electronically

Papers that are submitted electronically must be in PDF. It is essential that they print without difficulty on a variety of printers using Adobe Acrobat Reader. Therefore, be sure that you have included any special fonts that you use, etc. It is the absolute responsibility of the authors to ensure that the submitted papers will print easily.

You should ftp the PDF of your paper in the relevant geographic directory by 22 February 1999. The file must be placed in the correct directory and must be named with the full reference (in lower case) allocated when the abstract was submitted (see Registering an Abstract). These ftp directories are given in the following table.
 

Notifications to Authors

Authors will be notified of the outcome of the refereeing process by 10 May 1999. We will use the information given when you registered your abstract (see Registering an Abstract).

Camera Ready Copy

This will be required by 1 June 1999. Details of the arrangements for electronic and paper submission will be specified as soon as possible.

Research Papers

Topics

A suggestive list of the overall range of topics of interest at the VLDB'99 conference is given in the Call for Papers. Authors may recognise other areas of relevance to the development and application of databases.

Papers in the research track will contain significant and original research results. Papers reporting and evaluating new architectures, structures, methods, systems and models are encouraged, particularly where these are carefully validated against realistic criteria, such as typical test loads and data volumes. Papers will develop and demonstrate the value of new ideas that are relevant to the future development of databases and their applications. They may make their contribution by developing new implementation methods, new design techniques, new theoretical results, new algorithms, or in any other way that makes databases more powerful, more effective, more widely applicable or easier to use. Developments in specialised databases or applications are also of interest to the VLDB community.

Criteria

The ultimate criteria by which papers are judged are:

• Whether they carry a significant contribution to our knowledge about databases
• Whether there is a reasonable expectation that the contribution will prove important to the future of databases
• Whether the ideas are conveyed in such a way that they can be easily understood and applied

This then leads to the development of the following aspects of evaluation:

• Is the work reported relevant to the database community?
• Does the work report significant innovation, or is it repetition of earlier work, or a minor increment to earlier work?
• Is the work technically sound?
• Is the generality, impact and importance of the contribution made clear via suitable abstraction and comparison with other work?
• Is the work reported clearly and convincingly, with good structure and with a high standard of English and presentation?

A paper when presented in the two-column CRC format used in VLDB proceedings (see Format & Layout) should not exceed 12 pages. A paper submitted in the CFP format of 11-point double spaced pages must not exceed 20 pages. In both cases this includes all parts of the paper: title, abstract, body, bibliography and appendices. Any paper exceeding this size will not be refereed, but will be rejected outright.

Similarly any paper that is submitted simultaneously to other conferences, journals, etc. will be rejected outright.

Any author who requires advice or further information should contact either the appropriate regional chair or the programme chair, Malcolm Atkinson (mpa@dcs.gla.ac.uk).

Submission & Dates

The arrangements for submission are set out in Submission Procedures.

The critical dates for submission are set out in Important Dates. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Vision Papers

Topics

These provide a medium for discussion of expected technological, economic and social developments and their impact on databases. These papers are inevitably speculative, however they are expected to present clearly a scientifically and technically convincing argument of relevance to the database community.

They will normally be written by authors very experienced in the database industry or in database research, or else with some other deep experience which they bring to bear on database issues. Papers in this category will be helping to formulate directions in which the database industry or database research should develop. Insight and perspective are particularly highly valued.

Criteria

The fundamental criteria by which these papers are judged are similar to those in the Research Category. Adjusting them to this context, they become:

• Whether they carry a significant new view of the future of databases
• Whether there is a reasonable expectation that that view will prove formative or predictive of the future for databases
• Whether the ideas are conveyed in such a way that they can be easily understood and applied

This then leads to the development of the following aspects of evaluation:

• Is the work reported relevant to the database community?
• Does the work report a significantly new view, or is it repetition of earlier work, or a minor revision of previously enunciated views?
• Is the vision a plausible view of databases and does it depict a feasible future?
• Is enunciation of this view likely to have a significant impact? Are the ideas within it explored sufficiently for its impact to be apparent?
• Is the vision reported clearly and convincingly, with good structure and with a high standard of English and presentation?

A paper when presented in the two-column CRC format used in VLDB proceedings (see Format & Layout) should not exceed 12 pages. A paper submitted in the CFP format of 11-point double spaced pages must not exceed 20 pages. In both cases this includes all parts of the paper: title, abstract, body, bibliography and appendices. Any paper exceeding this size will not be refereed, but will be rejected outright.

Similarly any paper that is submitted simultaneously to other conferences, journals, etc. will be rejected outright.

Any author who requires advice or further information should contact either the appropriate regional chair or the programme chair, Malcolm Atkinson (mpa@dcs.gla.ac.uk).

Submission & Dates

The arrangements for submission are set out in Submission Procedures.

The critical dates for submission are set out in Important Dates. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Experience and Application Papers

Topics

This section provides a forum for discussion of experiences in implementing DBMSs or in applying DBMS technology in challenging situations. Reports of industrial experience of using databases will be particularly welcome.

Papers in this category will be written by authors who have been involved in building major Database Management Systems or in managing the use of databases in demanding applications. It is hoped that such papers will have one or both of the following effects:

• Demonstrating the effectiveness of new database methods or technology so that others may appreciate its value and possibly re-use the approach in their own context.
• Demonstrating the deficiencies in our current understanding and technology as a challenge to researchers and implementers.

Criteria

The underlying criteria in this category again emphasise the extent to which a paper contributes to our understanding of databases or our ability to build and use them. This includes:

• Whether the experience reported is a significant advance in our use or construction of databases
• Whether experience reported can be expected to challenge researchers or to significantly help those who build or use databases
• Whether the experience is conveyed in such a way that it can be understood and applied easily

This then leads to the development of the following aspects of evaluation.

• Is the experience reported relevant to the database community?
• Does the paper report significantly new experience or is it a minor variation on previously reported experiences?
• Is the work technically sound?
• Is the generality, impact and importance of the contribution made clear via suitable abstraction and comparison with other work?
• Is the work reported clearly and convincingly, with good structure and with a high standard of English and presentation?

A paper when presented in the two-column CRC format used in VLDB proceedings (see Format & Layout) should not exceed 12 pages. A paper submitted in the CFP format of 11-point double spaced pages must not exceed 20 pages. In both cases this includes all parts of the paper: title, abstract, body, bibliography and appendices. Any paper exceeding this size will not be refereed, but will be rejected outright.

Similarly any paper that is submitted simultaneously to other conferences, journals, etc. will be rejected outright.

Any author who requires advice or further information should contact either the appropriate regional chair or the programme chair, Malcolm Atkinson (mpa@dcs.gla.ac.uk).

Submission & Dates

The arrangements for submission are set out in Submission Procedures.

The critical dates for submission are set out in Important Dates. Late submissions will not be accepted.