Papers presenting new and original research on theory of computation are sought. Typical but not exclusive topics of interest include: algorithmic coding theory, algebraic computation, algorithmic graph theory, algorithms and data structures, analysis of Boolean functions, approximation algorithms, computational applications of logic, combinatorics, computational complexity including communication complexity and circuit complexity, computational game theory, computational geometry, computational learning theory, cryptography, foundations of machine learning, online algorithms, optimization, parallel and distributed algorithms, parameterized algorithms, sublinear algorithms, streaming algorithms, quantum computing, randomness in computing, and theoretical aspects of areas such as networks, privacy, information retrieval, computational biology, and databases. Papers that broaden the reach of the theory of computing, or raise important problems that can benefit from theoretical investigation and analysis, are encouraged.

Important dates

Submission format

Abstracts should consist of the title of the paper, and an abstract of 1-2 paragraphs summarizing the paper’s contributions. Full submissions should contain the complete submission. There is no page limit and authors are encouraged to use the “full version” of their paper as the submission. The submission should contain within the initial ten pages following the title page a clear presentation of the merits of the paper, including a discussion of the paper’s importance within the context of prior work and a description of the key technical and conceptual ideas used to achieve its main claims. The submission should be addressed to a broad spectrum of theoretical computer science researchers. Proofs must be provided which can enable the main mathematical claims of the paper to be fully verified. Although there is no bound on the length of a submission, material other than the abstract, references, and the first ten pages will be read at the committee’s discretion. Authors are encouraged to put the references at the very end of the submission. The submission should be typeset using 11-point or larger fonts, in a single-column, single-space (between lines) format with ample spacing throughout and 1-inch margins all around, on letter-size (8 1/2 x 11 inch) paper. Submissions deviating significantly from these guidelines risk rejection without consideration of their merits.

FOCS 2023 will use double-blind reviewing, and as such, submissions should not reveal the identity of the authors in any way. In particular, authors’ names, affiliations, and email addresses should not appear at the beginning or in the body of the submission. Authors should not include obvious references that reveal their own identity, and should ensure that any references to their own related work are in the third person (e.g., not “We build on our previous work …” but rather “We build on the work of …”).

The purpose of this double-blind process is to help PC members and external reviewers come to an initial judgment about the paper without bias, and not to make it impossible for them to discover who the authors are if they were to try. Nothing should be done in the name of anonymity that weakens the submission or makes the job of reviewing the paper more difficult. In particular, important references should not be omitted or anonymized. In addition, authors should feel free to disseminate their ideas or draft versions of their paper as they normally would. For example, authors may post drafts of their papers on the web, submit them to arXiv, and give talks on their research ideas.

Submissions by PC members are allowed. If any of the authors of a submission is a PC member, this should be indicated in the submission form by checking the corresponding box.