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Call for Papers
IRCDL 2026
22nd Conference on Information and Research Science
Connecting to Digital and Library Science
Modena, Italy
February 19-20, 2026
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Apologies for multiple posting
Please distribute this call to interested parties
AIMS AND SCOPE
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Since 2005, the Conference on Information and Research Science Connecting to Digital and Library Science (IRCDL) has been an annual event for researchers on Digital Libraries and related topics. IRCDL has become a key forum on digital libraries and associated issues. It covers various aspects, including new forms of information institutions, digital content management, and theoretical models of information media. The conference welcomes participants from academia, government, industry, and other sectors. It draws from diverse research areas such as computer science, digital humanities, information science, librarianship, archival science, museum studies, technology, social sciences, cultural heritage, and humanities.
IRCDL 2026 features two distinct tracks, each with an associated special issue:
This track examines core computer science concepts essential for digital libraries. It covers algorithms for information retrieval and data management, system architectures for large-scale digital collections, and practical applications in areas such as academic research and cultural heritage preservation.
Special Issue: published in International Journal on Digital Libraries
Track 2: Digital Humanities: The Science and Foundation of Modern Humanities Libraries
This track explores the intersection of digital technologies and humanities research. It examines computational methods for analyzing and preserving cultural artifacts, text mining techniques for large-scale literary analysis, and digital platforms for collaborative scholarship.
Special Issue: published in Umanistica Digitale
TOPICS
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Submissions are welcome on theory, architectures, data models, tools, services, and infrastructures. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
Open data
Open science: models, practices, mandates, and policies
Information retrieval and access
Information extraction from tables and figures in scientific literature
Machine learning and data mining for digital libraries
Generative AI and foundation models for digital libraries
Responsible and ethical AI in digital libraries
Ontologies
Knowledge discovery, representation, and reasoning in digital libraries
Knowledge acquisition from scientific papers
Document analysis (layout, text, images)
Services for digital arts and humanities
Cultural heritage access and analysis
Metadata (definition, management, curation, integration)
Digital manuscript analysis
Data repositories and archives
Data citation, provenance and pricing
Data and information lifecycle (creation, store, share and reuse)
Semantic web technologies and linked data for digital libraries
Digital epigraphy
Digital preservation and curation
Quality and evaluation of digital libraries
Digital scholarship
Citation analysis and scientometrics
Research infrastructures
User participation
Human-computer interaction and user experience
Multimodal and multimedia information management
Applications of digital libraries
IMPORTANT DATES
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Submission deadline: November 28, 2025
Notifications of acceptance: January 23, 2026
Camera-ready deadline: February 6, 2026
Conference: February 19-20, 2026
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
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Research papers, describing original ideas on the listed topics and on other fundamental aspects of digital libraries and technology, are solicited. Moreover, short papers on early research results, new results on previously published works, and extended abstract on previously published works are also welcome:
Research papers: should be in the 10-12 pages range.
Short papers: should be in the 6-7 pages range.
Extended abstracts: should be 5 pages long.
For all the submission types, references are not counted in the page limit.
The accepted papers will be part of the IRCDL 2026 Proceedings, published by CEUR-WS.
ORGANIZERS
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General Chairs:
Program Chairs:
Fabio Carrara (ISTI-CNR)
Vittorio Cuculo (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)
Marilena Daquino (University of Bologna)
Stefano Marchesin (University of Padua)
Marina Paolanti (University of Macerata)
Publication Chair:
Publicity Chairs:
Emanuele Balloni (Università Politecnica delle Marche)
Davide Caffagni (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)
Beatrice Portelli (University of Udine)
Local Organization Chairs:
Davide Bucciarelli (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia & University of Pisa)
Evelyn Turri (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)
Leonardo Zini (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)
Special Issue Chairs: