CFP

WebSci26: 18th ACM Web Science Conference 2026

TU Braunschweig

Braunschweig, Germany, May 26-29, 2026

Conference website	http://websci26.org/
Submission link	https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=websci26
Submission deadline	December 10, 2025

Call for Papers - Web Science 2026

Important Dates

December 10, 2025 Paper submission
February 4, 2026 Notification
February 28, 2026 Camera-ready versions due
May 26-29, 2026, Conference dates

About the Web Science Conference

Web Science is an interdisciplinary field dedicated to understanding the complex and multiple impacts of the Web on society and vice versa. The discipline is well situated to address pressing issues of our time by incorporating various scientific approaches. We welcome quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research, including techniques from the social sciences and computer science. In addition, we are interested in work exploring Web-based data collection and research ethics. We also encourage studies that combine analyses of Web data and other types of data (e.g., from surveys or interviews) to help better understand user behavior online and offline.

Theme for Web Science 2026: Managing Risks in the Era of Generative AI - How 20 Years of Web Science Research can Help

Web content is influencing human experiences more than ever before in history. The rapid deployment of artificial intelligence (including large language models) has created new risks for humans in the digital environment. These risks include customly crafted misinformation at scale, realistic AI-generated harmful content and deepfakes, as well as fraudulent activities and scam becoming more effective thanks to AI. Trust and community have been eroded during this current era of the Web and researching means to manage these risks on the Web is as essential as ever. The Web Science community has looked at this complex socio-technical system for 20 years, exploring its structure, dynamics, and impact on society. This year’s conference especially encourages contributions investigating the risks for society on the web in the presence of artificial intelligence. Additionally, we welcome papers on a wide range of topics at the heart of Web Science.

In 2026, we will also be able to allocate a limited amount of funding for student travel provided by SIGWEB and WebIST.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

Understanding the Web

Trends in globalization and fragmentation of the Web
The architecture, philosophy, and evolution of the Web
Automation and AI in all its manifestations relevant to the Web
Critical analyses of the Web and Web technologies
The Spread of Large Models on the Web

Making the Web Inclusive

Issues of discrimination and fairness
Intersectionality and design justice in questions of marginalization and inequality
Ethical challenges of technologies, data, algorithms, platforms, and people on the Web
Safeguarding and governance of the Web, including anonymity, security, and trust
Inclusion, literacy and the digital divide
Human-centered security and robustness on the Web

The Web and Everyday Life

Social machines, crowd computing, and collective intelligence
Web economics, social entrepreneurship, and innovation
Legal and policy issues, including rights and accountability for the AI industry
The creator economy: Humanities, arts, and culture on the Web
Politics and social activism on the Web
Online education and remote learning
Health and well-being online
Social presence in online professional event spaces
The Web as a source of news and information

Doing Web Science

Data curation, Web archives and stewardship in Web Science
Temporal and spatial dimensions of the Web as a repository of information
Analysis and modeling of human and automatic behavior (e.g., bots)
Analysis of online social and information networks
Detecting, preventing, and predicting anomalies in Web data (e.g., fake content, spam)
Novel analysis techniques for Web and social network analysis
Recommendation engines and contextual adaptation for Web tasks
Web-based information retrieval and information generation
Supporting heterogeneity across modalities, sensors, and channels on the Web.
User modeling and personalization approaches on the Web.

Format of the submissions

Please upload your submissions via EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=websci26

There are two submission formats:

Full paper should be between 6 and 10 pages (inclusive of references, appendices, etc.). Full papers typically report on mature and completed projects.
Short papers should be up to 5 pages (inclusive of references, appendices, etc.). Short papers will primarily report on high-quality ongoing work not mature enough for a full-length publication.

All papers should adopt the current ACM SIG Conference proceedings template (acmart.cls). Please submit papers as PDF files using the ACM template, either in Microsoft Word format (available at https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template under “Word Authors”) or with the ACM LaTeX template on the Overleaf platform which is available https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/association-for-computing-machinery-acm-sig-proceedings-template/bmvfhcdnxfty. In particular, please ensure that you are using the two-column version of the appropriate template.

All contributions will be judged by the Program Committee upon rigorous peer review standards for quality and fit for the conference, by at least three referees. Additionally, each paper will be assigned to a Senior Program Committee member to ensure review quality.

WebSci-2026 review is double-blind. Therefore, please anonymize your submission: do not put the author(s) names or affiliation(s) at the start of the paper, and do not include funding or other acknowledgments in papers submitted for review. References to authors’ own prior relevant work should be included, but should not specify that this is the authors’ own work. It is up to the authors’ discretion how much to further modify the body of the paper to preserve anonymity. The requirement for anonymity does not extend outside the review process, e.g. the authors can decide how widely to distribute their papers over the Internet. Even in cases where the author’s identity is known to a reviewer, the double-blind process will serve as a symbolic reminder of the importance of evaluating the submitted work on its own merits without regard to the authors’ reputation.

For authors who wish to opt-out of publication proceedings, this option will be made available upon acceptance. This will encourage the participation of researchers from the social sciences that prefer to publish their work as journal articles. All authors of accepted papers (including those who opt out of proceedings) are expected to present their work at the conference.

ACM Publication Policies

1. By submitting your article to an ACM Publication, you are hereby acknowledging that you and your co-authors are subject to all ACM Publications Policies, including ACM’s new Publications Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects. Alleged violations of this policy or any ACM Publications Policy will be investigated by ACM and may result in a full retraction of your paper, in addition to other potential penalties, as per ACM Publications Policy.

2. Please ensure that you and your co-authors obtain an ORCID ID, so you can complete the publishing process for your accepted paper. ACM has been involved in ORCID from the start, and we have recently made a commitment to collect ORCID IDs from all of our published authors. The collection process has started and will roll out as a requirement throughout 2022. We are committed to improve author discoverability, ensure proper attribution and contribute to ongoing community efforts around name normalization; your ORCID ID will help in these efforts.

3. For guidelines on the use of generative AI tools, please, refer to https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/frequently-asked-questions

Important update on ACMs new open access publishing model for 2026 ACM Conferences!

Starting January 1, 2026, ACM will fully transition to Open Access. All ACM publications, including those from ACM-sponsored conferences, will be 100% Open Access (https://www.acm.org/publications/openaccess).

Authors will have two primary options for publishing Open Access articles with ACM: the ACM Open institutional model or by paying Article Processing Charges (APCs). With over 1,800 institutions already part of ACM Open, the majority of ACM-sponsored conference papers will not require APCs from authors or conferences (currently, around 70-75%).

Authors from institutions not participating in ACM Open will need to pay an APC to publish their papers, unless they qualify for a financial or discretionary waiver. To find out whether an APC applies to your article, please consult the list of participating institutions in ACM Open and review the APC Waivers and Discounts Policy. Keep in mind that waivers are rare and are granted based on specific criteria set by ACM.

Understanding that this change could present financial challenges, ACM has approved a temporary subsidy for 2026 to ease the transition and allow more time for institutions to join ACM Open. The subsidy will offer:

$250 APC for ACM/SIG members
$350 for non-members

This represents a 65% discount, funded directly by ACM. Authors are encouraged to help advocate for their institutions to join ACM Open during this transition period.

You can find an FAQ here: Open Access Model for ACM and SIG Sponsored Conferences: Frequently Asked Questions and more information here: Open Access Publication & ACM

Program Committee Chairs:

Gianluca Demartini (The University of Queensland, Australia)
Stefan Dietze (Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf & GESIS, Germany)
Jen Golbeck (University of Maryland, USA)