--- name: infocom-workflow description: Use when planning an IEEE INFOCOM project timeline from venue fit through the two-step EDAS abstract-then-paper registration, the early-reject checkpoint, the December notification, the IEEE Xplore camera-ready with PDF eXpress and eCF, and presentation, with backward-planning offsets for a networking paper and honest handling of the single-summer deadline. --- # INFOCOM Workflow Use this as the project-management skill for an INFOCOM submission. Replace every date with the current official timetable and work backwards from the **abstract/metadata deadline** (in late July), which precedes the full-paper deadline by about a week. INFOCOM runs a **single annual summer deadline**, so a missed cycle costs roughly a year — plan the calendar as tightly as the paper. INFOCOM is an IEEE ComSoc conference with **no standing editor-in-chief** and **no article-processing charge**. Rotating leadership is the per-edition General Co-Chairs and TPC Co-Chairs, appointed under ComSoc; the cost model is **conference registration**, and at least one author must register for the paper to enter IEEE Xplore. Chairs rotate yearly; re-check the organizing-committee page rather than carrying a name forward. ## Milestones - **Venue fit:** confirm INFOCOM over SIGCOMM/NSDI/MobiCom and confirm the paper is ready this cycle (`infocom-topic-selection`). - **Evidence lock:** freeze the system model, theorems/proofs, simulator setup, baselines, and the evaluation results. - **Abstract/metadata registration:** enter real title, abstract (≤200 words), co-authors, and topic tags into EDAS by the abstract deadline (INFOCOM 2026: 24 Jul 2025; 2027: 24 Jul 2026). - **Full-paper submission:** upload the anonymized IEEEtran PDF (INFOCOM 2026: 31 Jul 2025; 2027: 31 Jul 2026), within the 10-page / ≤9-page-of-text budget. - **Early-reject checkpoint (if the cycle runs one):** INFOCOM 2027 posts early-reject on 9 Oct 2026 — a mid-cycle signal, not a final verdict. - **Notification:** final decision (INFOCOM 2026: 8 Dec 2025; 2027: 8 Dec 2026). - **Camera-ready:** eCF copyright, PDF eXpress validation, IEEE Xplore-compliant PDF (INFOCOM 2026: 9 Jan 2026), plus author registration. - **Presentation:** at least one author registers and presents at the conference. ## Backward plan from the full-paper deadline | Weeks out (heuristic) | Networking-paper milestone | |---|---| | 12+ | Problem formulated; system model and assumptions fixed; baselines chosen | | 10 | Theorems proved / protocol designed; simulator or testbed built | | 8 | Experiments/simulations complete; seeds and configs logged | | 6 | Analysis done; plots and tables built; proofs written up | | 4 | Full draft in IEEEtran; measured against the 9-page text boundary (refs excluded) | | 3 | Internal mock review by a reader from the other side (theory ↔ systems) | | 2 | Baselines hardened, related-work delta sharpened, page budget met | | 1 | Double-blind sweep on the PDF and metadata; abstract entered in EDAS | | 0 | Full paper on EDAS within the budget; five-paper cap re-checked | These offsets are planning heuristics only — anchor every one to the current Call for Papers, never to a previous cycle's calendar. ## The single-summer calendar reality INFOCOM runs one annual research deadline in **late July**, with notification in **December** and the conference the following **May**. As of 2026-07-09, INFOCOM 2026 (Tokyo) is decided, so the live next target is **INFOCOM 2027** (Honolulu; abstract 24 Jul 2026, paper 31 Jul 2026). Two planning consequences: - **A near-miss on the July deadline costs a full year** at INFOCOM; a sibling flagship (SIGCOMM/NSDI/MobiCom) or a journal (ToN/JSAC) may have a nearer date — factor that into routing rather than idling. - **There is no rebuttal to plan for** (traditionally): budget the pre-submission mock review as the one and only chance to hear "your baseline is unfair" from a friend instead of a reviewer. ## Failure modes by stage - **Evidence still moving at week 4** forces last-minute simulation nobody has audited — the classic soundness reject. - **Discovering the paper is a page over at week 1** with appendices counted inside the nine pages — a not-reviewed outcome that editing weeks earlier would have prevented. - **Skipping the cross-side mock review** forfeits the chance to catch an unstated assumption (theory reader) or an unrealistic topology (systems reader). - **Forgetting the five-paper cap** on a group's submission sprint, so a sixth paper is dropped. ## Coordination notes - Assign one owner for the EDAS metadata/topic tags (they drive automated assignment) and another for the double-blind sweep; shared ownership is how both slip. - Archive the exact submitted PDF and the simulator/testbed configuration — the camera-ready must match, and any released artifact must reproduce it. ## Output format ```text [Current stage] idea / evidence / writing / abstract-registered / submitted / early-reject / accepted [Next official deadline] [Critical path] [Risk register] [Owner map] person or role> ```