In order to streamline the IJCARS review process, different from previous years, this year we will be implementing a single stage submission process. All long papers submission will be made using the IJCARS EM system. However, you still have to make sure that you submit your "intention to submit" using CMT website. Only papers with "intention to submit" will be considered during the IJCARS review process as IPCAI submissions. 

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Instruction for REGULAR paper submission

• Intentions to submit: October 25, 2019.

• Intentions to submit should made using the CMT website.

• Full Paper submission: November 8, 2019 (Extended to November 15, 2019 (23:59 Pacific time)).

• IMPORTANT: Full papers should be submitted using the IJCARS Editorial Manager system.

• Paper should be formatted for submission to the International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery (IJCARS). Detailed instructions with regard to paper format: Title page, Abstract structure, References, etc. can be found on the IJCARS site under “Instructions for Authors” tab.

  • LaTex: a style file is available from Springer’s website. If you use this style file use the first option in the template as your document class, “one column (standard format)”.

  • Word: unfortunately, we do not have a word template. Your text will need to fit inside a 7.25″x4.5″ (18.415 cm x 11.43 cm) region. Text font should be set to Times new roman 10 pt. Captions and reference font should be set to Times New Roman 9 pt. We encourage the use of the LaTex template for IPCAI 2020.

• All papers should be submitted in IJCARS single column format.

• The maximum number of pages for your submitted paper is 13 in single column format including abstract and references.

• The review process (see below) is single blind: authors declare their names and affiliations in the manuscript for the reviewers to see, but reviewers do not know each other’s identities, nor do the authors receive information about who has reviewed their manuscript.

• Submissions should describe original work that has not been submitted to or accepted for another conference, nor is intended to be published in a journal before the IPCAI conference in June 2020.

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Instruction for LONG ABSTRACT submission

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• Submission deadline: January 10, 2020.

• IMPORTANT: Please submit your long abstract papers using the CMT website.

• The maximum number of pages for your long abstracts is 4 pages (including references) in the Springer LNCS style format. The LaTex a style file is available from Springer’s website.

• The review process is single blind: authors declare their names and affiliations in the manuscript for the reviewers to see, but reviewers do not know each other’s identities, nor do the authors receive information about who has reviewed their manuscript.

• The file format for submissions is Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) with a maximum of 20MB in size. Other formats will not be accepted.

• The focus of these Long Abstracts should be on:

  • Exciting new breakthroughs relevant to IPCAI or,

  • Novel ideas with preliminary but limited experimental validation.

• Do not modify the LNCS template in anyway (no changes in margin, line spacing, etc.). Any alteration to LNCS template format will result in automatic rejection

• The Long Abstract text is to be structured exactly as the following:

  • Full title of the paper

  • Full list of the authors and affiliations

    • Purpose

    • Methods

    • Results

    • Conclusion

    • Bibliography

    • Figures/Tables must be referenced in the text

    • Figures/Tables captions must be provided

    • No “short abstract” is needed

    • Each Long Abstract can be accompanied with a single (1) supplemental video. The supplemental video must be compressed and uploaded in .ZIP file format.

    • On the Microsoft CMT submission system ONLY, submit a 2000-character abstract detailing the nature of the work and why it should be considered for the Long Abstract category. This is for review purpose and is not to be included in the long abstract text.

 

Review Process

IPCAI will be collocated with the International Congress on Radiology and Surgery (CARS). The Program Committee ensures that the paper selection process is coordinated with CARS and Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Interventions (MICCAI). Authors will have the option to indicate that they would like their paper to be considered for CARS if it is not accepted by IPCAI. In addition, the program is finalized and announced before MICCAI’s paper submission deadline. This allows the authors of papers not accepted by IPCAI to submit their paper to one of these conferences.

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All papers accepted at IPCAI are intended to be published in a special issue of the International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery (IJCARS) after all revisions recommended during the review process have been addressed. 
 

Area Chairs (ACs)

who assign reviewers (primary role) and make decision recommendations for a subset of submitted papers (secondary role).

 

Reviewers

who provide an evaluation for a set of papers. Each paper is assigned to three reviewers. ACs act both as a Primary and as a Secondary AC for different subsets of papers:

 

Primary ACs

assign three reviewers to each paper. They know the identity of the authors and the reviewers and ensure that there are no conflicts of interest. Reviewer assignment ensures that at least one reviewer is senior in the topic and the reviewers represent a good spread of institutions and geographical locations. Primary ACs ensure three detailed, solid external reviews for each paper and encourage reviewers to update scores after the rebuttal phase. They then provide a summary of the reviews as well as a recommendation.

 

Secondary ACs

are responsible for making a second independent recommendation for acceptance/rejection of manuscripts. They do not know the identity of the reviewers and make a recommendation for papers that do not belong to the set of manuscripts in their Primary AC set. At the program board meeting, each paper discussed will have two independent recommendations: one from a Primary AC and one from a Secondary AC.

Note: These two AC roles are designed to reduce any possible bias arising from knowledge of the identity of the reviewers in the single-blind process.

The timeline of the review process is as follows:

 

Assignment of ACs

Each submission is assigned to one Primary AC and one Secondary AC. The assignment is based on the matching between the expertise of the AC and the contents of the paper.

 

Assignment of Reviewers by Primary ACs

The Primary AC member assigns three reviewers to evaluate each paper. Conflicts of interest are herewith taken into account; no reviewer from the same organization as the authors is allowed and the ACs try to take geographical spread into account; at least one senior reviewer is assigned. Primary AC members will make their best effort to assign the appropriate reviewers to each paper.

 

Review by Reviewers

Reviewers work on their reviews and once submitted they are checked by the Primary AC to ensure sufficient constructive content.

 

Recommendations by ACs

For each paper for which there is consensus among the reviewers, the Primary and one Secondary AC make a recommendation about acceptance or rejection of the paper and may also recommend the paper for awards.

 

Early Acceptance/Rejection

Decision are made to reject/accept papers for which there is consensus among the reviewers and ACs. Decisions and reviews are sent to the authors. For accepted papers, the authors can begin revising their papers according to the comments of the reviewers for the second step of the process.

 

Rebuttal Period

For papers who have not been subject to an early decision, the authors receive the reviews and are invited to submit a rebuttal.

 

Update of Reviews by Reviewers

The Primary AC urges the reviewers to consider the authors’ rebuttal and to update their reviews and scores accordingly. The purpose of this step is not necessarily to reach consensus among the reviewers but to eliminate any misunderstanding.

 

Recommendations by ACs

For each paper, the Primary and Secondary ACs provide their recommendation about acceptance or rejection of the paper by taking into account the initial reviews, the rebuttal and the updated reviews.

 

Final Decisions

The Program Chairs compile all recommendations for the Program Board Meeting. The Program Board then finalizes acceptance/rejection decisions and selects papers with award nominations. The award winners are decided later by the IPCAI Award Committee.

 

Notification of Acceptance

The authors are notified about the final decision and are provided the reviews and comments from the ACs that offer additional information on how the decision was made. The authors begin revising their papers according to the reviews for the second step of the process.

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