The purpose of the AAAI conference series is to promote research in artificial intelligence (AI) and foster scientific exchange between researchers, practitioners, scientists, students, and engineers in AI and its affiliated disciplines. AAAI-20 is the Thirty-Fourth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence. It will continue the tradition of previous AAAI conferences with technical paper presentations, invited speakers, workshops, tutorials, poster sessions, senior member presentations, competitions, and exhibit programs, all selected according to the highest standards. AAAI-20 will also include additional programs for students and young researchers.

Topics

AAAI-20 welcomes submissions reporting research that advances artificial intelligence, broadly conceived. The conference scope includes all subareas of AI and machine learning. These include (but are not limited to) traditional topics such as search, planning, knowledge representation, reasoning, natural language processing, robotics and perception, multiagent systems, statistical learning, and deep learning. We expressly encourage work that cuts across technical areas, or develops AI techniques in the context of important application domains, such as healthcare, sustainability, transportation, and commerce.

As in 2019, the AAAI-20 Program Cochairs have absorbed all former special tracks into the main conference technical program, with provision for distinguished oversight of reviews for these areas.

The full set of AAAI-20 keywords is available on the AAAI-20 keywords page.

Emerging Topics

The AAAI-20 Program Cochairs will continue the Emerging Topics program, and especially encourage submissions and community building in the area of AI for Social Impact. Further details are available on the emerging topics page.

Author Registration

Authors must register at the AAAI-20 web-based technical track paper submission site before they submit their abstracts and papers. The software will assign a password, which will enable the author to log on to submit an abstract and paper. To avoid last-minute congestion, authors are encouraged to register well in advance of the August 30 abstract deadline.

IMPORTANT: Authors must enter the names of ALL AUTHORS at the time of registration (by August 30, 2019) — CMT includes a hard-coded note that this is optional, but it is a mandatory step for AAAI-20 authors. According to AAAI policy, all author names must be added at the time of abstract registration, and the list of names as well as the order in which they appear cannot be changed after the final paper deadline (September 5, 2019). In addition, the contact author and contact information cannot change after the abstract submission deadline of August 30, 2019. For the complete policy on Guidelines for Changes to Titles/Authors after Submissions, please see below.

Abstract submission will close at 11:59 PM UTC-10 (midnight Hawaii) on August 30, 2019.
Final paper submission will close at 11:59 PM UTC-10 on September 5, 2019.

Abstract and Paper Submission

As usual, every submission requires both an abstract submission and a corresponding paper submission. There is no option to submit only an abstract, and every paper must be accompanied by an abstract submission.

Abstract submission is required by August 30, 2019. Authors should include a full title for their paper, as well as a complete abstract in the fields provided. Submissions that have “placeholder” (test, xyz, etc.) titles or abstracts (or none at all) will be deleted. Authors of such vacuous submissions will be notified that their abstract has been deleted and will not be allowed to submit a full paper on September 5, 2019.

NeurIPS and AAAI-20 Submissions: Authors who have also submitted papers to NeurIPS 2019 should register and submit their abstracts to AAAI-20 by the August 30 deadline. If they are accepted to NeurIPS by September 4, authors should withdraw their AAAI-20 abstract submissions by the AAAI-20 paper deadline of September 5. If they do not receive their NeurIPS-19 notification before the AAAI-20 paper submission deadline (September 5, 2019 at 11:59 PM UTC-10 (midnight Hawaii)), they should withdraw their abstract from AAAI-20 by this deadline, as NeurIPS-19 and AAAI-20 do not permit dual submissions under any circumstances.

Papers must be formatted in AAAI two-column, camera-ready style; see the 2020 author kit for details (available July 2019). Papers must be in trouble-free, high-resolution PDF format, formatted for US Letter (8.5″ x 11″) paper, using Type 1 or TrueType fonts. AAAI submissions are anonymous, and must conform to the instructions (detailed below) for double-blind review. Submissions may have up to 8 pages with page 8 containing nothing but references. For final papers, authors may purchase up to two additional pages in the proceedings (see below for details). The last page of final papers may contain text other than references, but all references in the submitted paper should appear in the final version, unless superseded. The AAAI copyright block is not required on submissions, but must be included on final versions. Papers that do not meet the submission requirements will be rejected without review.

Electronic abstract and paper submission through the AAAI-20 paper submission site is required on or before the deadlines listed above. There will be no individual exceptions.

If you experience any technical problems with the CMT site, please contact the AAAI-19 Workflow Chairs, Haoming Li and Yury Zemlyanskiy, at aaai20workflow@aaai.org.

We cannot admit submissions by e-mail or fax. Authors will receive confirmation of receipt of their abstracts or papers, including an ID number, shortly after submission. AAAI will contact authors again only if problems are encountered with papers. Inquiries regarding paper receipt must be made no later than September 6, 2019.

Submission Limit

This year AAAI-20 is enforcing a strict submission limit. Each individual author is limited to no more than 15 submissions to AAAI-20 and authors may not be added to papers following submission (see below for policies about author changes).

Guidelines for Changes to Titles/Authors after Submissions

MODIFICATIONS TO YOUR ABSTRACT/PAPER ARE ONLY ALLOWED UNTIL THE PAPER DEADLINE. Nothing can be changed after September 5. No exceptions will be granted. Please see the full policy on Submission/Paper Modification Guidelines.

Resubmissions of Substantially Improved IJCAI-19 and NeurIPS-19 Submissions

Authors of declined IJCAI-19 and NeurIPS-19 submissions have two options if they wish to submit substantially improved versions to AAAI-20: 1) Authors may submit them without reference to the previous version, in which case they will be considered as new submissions, or 2) Authors may submit them with the prior reviews included as supplementary material and a cover letter describing the improvements, in which case reviewers will be instructed to take this material into account when evaluating the submission. The cover letter should explain how the revised submission addresses the comments of the IJCAI-19 and NeurIPS-19 reviewers. Such cover letters should be prepended to the PDF paper submission (cover letter + 7 pages + 1 page reference) and a PDF copy of the full IJCAI-19 or NeurIPS-19 reviews should be included as supplemental material.

Supplemental Material

The length of the main submission is strictly limited as indicated above. Authors may also choose to submit supplemental material as a second file. Examples of supplemental material are proofs of theorems that are stated in the main paper, or video demonstrations. This year, we especially encourage the submission of additional examples and visual materials as supplementary material, to provide evidence that the paper would make for a good oral presentation; this will be taken into account in deciding which papers get an oral presentation. Submissions may reference the supplemental material, but should be self-contained. Reviewers are instructed to make their acceptance evaluations based on the main submission, and are not obligated to consult the supplemental material. If proofs or other supplement matter are an important part of the contribution, their essential elements should be included in the main paper. Please be very careful not to violate the blind review requirements (below) in the supplemental material. Those resubmitting substantially improved IJCAI-19 and NIPS-19 submissions with an accompanying cover letter must include a PDF copy of their full IJCAI-19 (resp. NIPS-19) reviews as supplemental material.

Supplemental material submitted at the time of submission for review will not be published or posted if the paper is accepted for publication. At the time of the submission of a final paper for publication, a different supplemental file is requested, which should contain all source files necessary to recompile the accepted paper.
Blind Review Instructions

Reviewing for the AAAI Conference is blind to the identities of the authors. The first page, on which the paper body begins, should include the title, abstract, content areas, and ID number (if available), but not names or affiliations of the authors. The references should include all published literature relevant to the paper. Acknowledgments of funding or assistance should also be omitted. Submissions should not contain pointers to supplemental material on the web.

When referring to one’s own work, use the third person, rather than the first person. For example, say “Previously, Newell (1996) showed that…,” rather than “In our previous work (Newell 1996) we showed that…” Try to avoid including any information that would identify the authors or their affiliations. Such information may be added to the final camera-ready version for publication.

Summary Review Process

Each submission will be evaluated by a Senior Program Committee member (SPC) and, if the SPC believes that the paper has no chance of getting accepted by AAAI, a meta-review of summary reject will be written and submitted to the Area Chair (AC). If the AC also believes that the paper has no chance of getting accepted by AAAI, a summary reject recommendation will be submitted to the Program Cochairs (PCCs). If the PCCs also feel that the paper has no chance of being accepted by AAAI, then the paper will be rejected. Note that this is a conservative process that requires the uniform approval of an SPC, an AC, and the PCCs.

Policy Concerning Submissions to Other Conferences or Journals

AAAI-20 will not consider any paper that, at the time of submission, is under review for or has already been published or accepted for publication in a journal or another conference. Once submitted to AAAI-20, authors may not submit the paper elsewhere during AAAI’s review period. These restrictions apply only to refereed journals and conferences, not to unrefereed forums or workshops with a limited audience and without archival proceedings. Authors must confirm that their submissions conform to these requirements at the time of submission.

Review Process

For papers that are accepted for review, program committee (PC) members will be matched to submissions based on research expertise and interest. Authors will have a limited opportunity to respond to initial reviews. This author feedback will then be taken into account in the final recommendations and reviews may be changed accordingly. PC reviewers will make recommendations to the senior program committee, who in turn will make recommendations to the area chairs (AC). Area chairs will then make their recommendations to the program cochairs, who will make all final decisions following full consultation with area chairs and SPC members during the process.
All AAAI authors and reviewers are governed by the AAAI Publications Ethics and Malpractice Statement.

Publication

Accepted papers will be allocated eight (8) pages in the conference proceedings; up to two (2) additional pages may be used at a cost to the authors of $275 per page. Final papers found to exceed page limits and or otherwise violating the instructions to authors will not be included in the proceedings. Authors will be required to transfer copyright of their paper to AAAI. Accepted papers will be available via the online schedule at the conference. The published archival versions of the papers will be made available in the AAAI Digital Library and in hard copy after the conference.

Conference Registration and Attendance

At least one author is required to register for the conference to present the paper, and we encourage all authors to attend if possible.

Demonstrations

During paper submission, authors will be able to express interest in demonstrating their systems (if applicable) during a demonstration/poster session and describe the features of their intended demonstration.

Journal Opportunities

A select set of top-rated papers may be nominated for fast track reviewing at participating journals, including the AI Journal (AIJ) and the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research (JAIR). Nominated authors will be invited to submit extended versions of their AAAI-20 papers for fast-track consideration.

Questions and Suggestions

Concerning author instructions and conference registration, write to aaai20@aaai.org. Concerning suggestions for the program and other inquiries, write to the AAAI-20 Program Cochairs at aaai20chairs@aaai.org.

AAAI-20 Program Cochairs

Vincent Conitzer (Duke University, USA)
Fei Sha (University of Southern California, USA)