Onward! PapersSPLASH 2026

Onward! is a premier multidisciplinary conference focused on everything to do with programming and software: including processes, methods, languages, communities and applications. Onward! is more radical, more visionary and more open than other conferences to ideas that are well-argued but not yet proven. We welcome different ways of thinking about, approaching and reporting on programming language and software engineering research.

The Character of Onward! Papers

Onward! Papers is looking for grand visions and new paradigms that could make a big difference in how we will one day build software. But it is not looking for research-as-usual papers—conferences like OOPSLA are the place for that. Those conferences require rigorous validation such as theorems or empirical experiments, which are necessary for scientific progress, but which typically preclude discussion of early-stage ideas. Onward! papers must also supply some degree of validation because mere speculation is not a good basis for progress. However, Onward! accepts less rigorous methods of validation such as compelling arguments, exploratory implementations, and substantial examples. The use of worked-out examples to support new ideas is strongly encouraged.

Accepted Papers

The Character of Onward! Papers

Onward! Papers is looking for grand visions and new paradigms that could make a big difference in how we will one day build software. But it is not looking for research-as-usual papers—conferences like OOPSLA are the place for that. Those conferences require rigorous validation such as theorems or empirical experiments, which are necessary for scientific progress, but which typically preclude discussion of early-stage ideas. Onward! papers must also supply some degree of validation because mere speculation is not a good basis for progress. However, Onward! accepts less rigorous methods of validation such as compelling arguments, exploratory implementations, and substantial examples. The use of worked-out examples to support new ideas is strongly encouraged.

Onward! papers are peer-reviewed in a double-blind manner. Accepted papers will appear in the Onward! Proceedings in the ACM Digital Library. Submissions will be judged on the potential impact of the ideas and the quality of the presentation. Onward! Papers follows a two-stage review process with an initial review and a revision period. This enables us to welcome papers that contain promising ideas and have the potential to meet the conference’s standards, but which may fall short of this in the initial submission. At the end of the initial review, all papers will be either: accepted normally; conditionally accepted pending revisions; or rejected outright. The authors of conditionally accepted papers will get one month to complete the revisions, at which point the original reviewers decide on the final acceptance of the paper.

The program committee may identify certain papers with promising ideas as needing important revisions. These papers will be handled in one of two ways. They may be assigned a shepherd, in the tradition followed by numerous conferences. Otherwise, they will be given a concrete set of goals to accomplish in the revision. In the latter case, the revised paper must then be accompanied by a cover letter mapping the revision requests to specific parts of the paper; the program committee will use the cover letter and revised paper to arrive at a final decision.

The revision period will only be used to elevate promising papers to the conference’s standard, not to require additional work of papers already deemed up-to-standard. The revision period is not open to new submissions.

Instructions for Authors

For fairness reasons, all submitted papers should conform to the formatting instructions (see below). Submissions that violate these instructions may be rejected without review, at the discretion of the Program Chair.

Authors of accepted papers are encouraged to present their work in person at the conference, but that is not required. For those unable or unwilling to attend in the US, remote presentations are possible, although they might be subject to technical constraints.

Submission Site

https://onward2026papers.hotcrp.com

Concurrent Submissions

Papers must describe unpublished work that is not currently submitted for publication elsewhere as described by SIGPLAN’s Republication Policy. Submitters should also be aware of ACM’s Policy and Procedures on Plagiarism.

Policy on Double-Blind Review

Onward! Papers 2026 uses a double-blind submission process. This means that authors will not know who reviewed their papers, and reviewers will not know who authored the papers they review. The aim of double-blind is to treat all papers with minimal bias. Authors must take the following actions to prepare their papers for double-blind reviewing:

• Remove identifying information (names, institutions, etc) from the author block of the first page of the paper.
• To the extent possible, when authors cite their own work, they should refer to it in the third person.
• To the extent possible, authors should remove any other potentially identifying information, such as acknowledgements.

After submitting their review, reviewers will be able to see author identities. When the paper is accepted for publication, the camera-ready copy must not be blinded.

See OOPSLA’s FAQ on double-blind reviewing for more information. Please contact the PC chair if you have any questions.

Policy on Authorship Changes

Any addition of authors after initial submission of a paper must be cleared with the PC chair. Authors are very strongly advised to list all authors prior to initial submission as the addition of authors may create new conflicts with the PC. In all cases, the PC chair must be provided with a rationale. The PC chair has the authority to reject any requested change.

Format

Submissions should use the ACM SIGPLAN Conference acmart Format, sigplan sub-format and 10 point font. All submissions should be in PDF format.

If you are formatting your paper using LaTeX, you will need to use the sigplan, anonymous and review options. Note that by default the SIGPLAN template produces two-column, 9 point papers, but you will need to set the 10pt option in the \documentclass command. If you are formatting your paper using Word, you may wish to use the provided Word template that supports this font size. Please include page numbers in your submission. Setting the review option in the LaTeX \documentclass command generates page numbers, and the anonymous option hides author names. Please also ensure that your submission is legible when printed on a black and white printer. In particular, please check that colors remain distinct and font sizes are legible.

Page Limit

To ensure that papers stay focused on their core contributions, the main part of the paper (excluding bibliographic references) should be no longer than 13 pages. There is no page limit for bibliographic references and appendices, and, therefore, for the overall submission. However, reviewers are not obligated to read the appendices, so the main part of the paper should be self contained. If the paper is accepted or conditionally accepted, the revised main body of the manuscript and final submission will be limited to 17 pages plus references and supplementary material. (The 13-page limit for the main body of the paper no longer applies.)

Publication (Digital Library Early Access Warning)

AUTHORS TAKE NOTE: The official publication date is the date the proceedings are made available in the ACM Digital Library. This date may be up to two weeks prior to the first day of the conference. The official publication date affects the deadline for any patent filings related to published work.

More Information

For additional information, clarification, or answers to questions please contact the Program Chair via onward@splashcon.org.