FOCS 2026

Deadlines
Theory/CORE A*

FOCS 2026

IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science

November 8-11, 2026New York City, NY, USAOfficial conference site Site reachable

FOCS 2026 is the 67th Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science, sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Mathematical Foundations of Computing. It seeks original research in theoretical computer science, covering a broad range of topics from algorithms and complexity to quantum computing and machine learning, with an emphasis on advancing the foundations of computation.

Official CFP Back to deadlines Verified September 9, 2026

Key deadlines

Verified September 9, 2026

Full paper

April 1, 2026

AoE

Conference timeline

Submission and decisions

Full paperKey deadline

April 1, 2026 · AoE

Paper fit

Contribution paths

A strong submission should clearly identify its contribution and evaluate it appropriately.

Full papers

Submissions must contain the abstract and complete paper, with no page limit. The first ten pages (after the title page) must clearly present the paper’s merits, importance, and key technical ideas for a broad theoretical computer science audience. Proofs must be included and verifiable.

Research areas in scope

01

Typical but not exclusive topics of interest

Algebraic computationAlgorithmic coding theoryAlgorithmic game theoryAlgorithmic graph theoryAlgorithms and data structuresAnalysis of Boolean functionsApproximation algorithmsAverage-case algorithms and complexityCircuit complexityCombinatorial optimizationCombinatorics and graph theoryCommunication complexityComputational applications of logicComputational complexityComputational geometryComputational learning theoryContinuous optimizationCryptographyDynamic algorithmsFoundations of fairness and privacyFoundations of machine learningOnline algorithmsParallel and distributed algorithmsParameterized algorithmsPseudorandomness and derandomizationQuantum computingRandomization and probabilistic methodSpectral algorithmsStreaming algorithmsSublinear time algorithmsTheoretical aspects of networking, information retrieval, computational biology, and databases

Policies worth checking twice

  • Double-blind review: Authors' names, affiliations, and emails must not appear in the submission; references to own work must be in third person; acknowledgements must be omitted.
  • No page limit, but material beyond the first ten pages is read at the committee’s discretion.
  • Submissions must be in PDF without security restrictions, using 11-point or larger font, single-column, single-spaced, with 1-inch margins on letter-size paper.
  • Authors must declare conflicts of interest using SafeToC guidelines; additional conflicts may be submitted via text form.
  • Use of LLMs or generative AI tools must be disclosed in an 'AI Disclosure' statement at the end of the paper if they materially affected substantive content; AI tools cannot be listed as authors.
  • Authors are fully responsible for accuracy, originality, and integrity of all content, including AI-generated material.
  • Simultaneous submission to another conference or journal with published proceedings is prohibited.
  • Previously published work (in conference proceedings or journals) or work scheduled for publication before November 2026 is not eligible.

Official sources

Compiled from the official call for papers. The organizers’ pages remain authoritative.

Official conference site

Last verified September 9, 2026