This page summarizes the general submission criteria for DFRWS events. Note, specific events may deviate from the listed criteria which is announced in the Call for Papers or the event website. If you find contradicting information, the event webpage and related Call for Papers are correct.
If not indicated otherwise, all submissions are through easychair.org.
There are up to five categories that are accepted: research papers, presentation and demonstration proposals, poster proposals, workshop proposals, and panel proposals.
RESEARCH PAPERS must be original contributions, not duplicate previous work (including the authors’ own work), must not be under simultaneous publication review elsewhere, and must align with the topics of interest. Articles can be published as a special issue of the Journal of Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation (by Elsevier).
Papers must be written in English, blinded, and must not exceed 10 single-spaced, two-column pages with 1in margins and 10pt font. This page limit does NOT include references and appendix, although references and appendix should be limited to one page to the extent possible (= 11 pages in total). Papers must be submitted as PDF files. The preferred reference style is Harvard. Authors may use the IEEE style, and it will be converted by the publisher.
All submissions undergo an initial screening by the TPC Chair(s) ensuring relevance to the event and compliance with the submission criteria. Once approved, submissions will undergo a “double-blind” review process (reviewers will not know who the authors are, and authors will not know who the reviewers are). Therefore, the version submitted for review must not contain the names or affiliations of the authors, and should anonymize content that readily identifies the authors, such as references to tools developed by the authors. When referring to their own previous work, authors should use the third person instead of the first person (i.e., “Smith and Jones [2] previously determined…” instead of “We [2] previously determined…”).
To be within scope of this Conference, any novel data analysis method must be evaluated using datasets that are representative of actual digital investigations. In addition, improvements over existing methods must be clearly demonstrated. For instance, analysis of malware or deepfakes will only be considered within scope if it addresses forensic questions (what, when, where, how, and who). It is recommended that authors provide an open source working implementation of their proposed method to enable others to test it using their own datasets for comparison where applicable. General methods for analyzing data are not within scope of DFRWS, and will be rejected without review.
Accepted papers will be required to utilize the provided Microsoft Word Template or Elsevier’s LaTeX template (elsarticle class with the “5p” option, which does not include numbers in section headers). Authors are encouraged to use these templates for the submission version as well. Higher resolution graphics are required (vector graphics or >300 DPI).
At least one full (early bird) registration per paper is required before submitting the camera-ready version, i.e., before the camera-ready submission deadline. Authors MUST present their work. While in-person presentations are strongly encouraged, remote presentations may be possible (for details see Call for Papers). Presentations are normally 25 minutes followed by 5 minutes of questions (verify this information in the final program).
PRESENTATIONS / DEMONSTRATIONS* are 15-minute presentations (followed by 5 minutes for questions) that showcase forensics experiences of interest to DFRWS attendees, including (but not limited to) case studies and advances in user interface, real-time analysis, and triage. Presentation proposals are not included in the printed proceedings and should not be anonymized. Presentation proposals undergo a modest reviewing process to make sure they are of interest to the community. Sales pitches will not be accepted. Presentation proposals are in the form of an abstract in PDF format (details see Call for Papers). At least one author per presentation is expected to register and present. We do require that all presenters be available during the conference for questions and answers.
POSTERS / DEMONSTRATIONS* allow for the presentation of current research efforts and the discussion of preliminary results with the Digital Forensics Community. Posters sessions are typically held in one or two sessions at the end of the day or during breaks such as at lunch and allow presenters to discuss ideas or demonstrate new tools and techniques and get feedback from interested parties. There is no mandatory format, but authors are encouraged to follow examples from previous years or to contact the corresponding chair for advice.
WORKSHOPS are 2 or 4 hours, and typically include hands-on participation by attendees, allowing for an in-depth, detailed exploration of tools and techniques of interest to DFRWS attendees. Workshops normally are either preceding or succeeding the main conference where we work with the instructor(s) to find the best time. Workshops can cover state-of-the-art research projects, useful tips and techniques for standard tools, or most anything that DFRWS attendees would consider beneficial. While commercial tools can be used, workshops should NOT be thinly veiled commercial advertisements. Each workshop receives one free registration.
PANEL PROPOSALS should be one to three pages and clearly describe the topic, its relevance, and a list of potential panelists and their biographies. Panels will be evaluated based on the topic relevance and diversity of the panelists.
If you have questions, please contact the general chair(s) or technical program chair(s) of the corresponding event.
*Remark: Depending on the kind of the demonstration it may be scheduled during the presentation or the poster session. While the former is a demonstration in front of the complete audience, the latter allows closer interaction with participants.