16th International Conference on Formal Ontology in Information Systems (FOIS 2026)
21–25 September 2026, Vitória, ES, Brazil – 9 September 2026, Online
Website: https://www.foisconference.org/

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FOIS is the flagship conference of the International Association for Ontology and its Applications (IAOA) a non-profit organization promoting interdisciplinary research and international collaboration in formal ontology.

FOIS is a meeting point for all researchers with an interest in formal ontology. Formal ontology is the systematic study of the types of entities and relations making up the domains of interest represented in modern information systems. The conference encourages submission of high quality, not previously published results on both theoretical issues and practical advancements. FOIS 2026 will have distinct tracks for foundational issues, ontology applications and methods, and domain ontologies.

FOIS aims to be a nexus of interdisciplinary research and communication for researchers from many domains engaging with formal ontology. Common application areas include conceptual modeling, database design, knowledge engineering and management, software engineering, organizational modeling, artificial intelligence, robotics, computational linguistics, the life sciences, bioinformatics and scientific research in general, geographic information science, information retrieval, library and information science, as well as the Semantic Web.

FOIS 2025 will be held both online and in Vitória, ES, Brazil, organized by the Federal University of Espírito Santo.

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Call for Papers (main track)
- Mandatory abstract submission: 16 March 2026 (strict)
- Paper submission: 23 March 2026 (strict)
Website: https://www.foisconference.org/cfp/

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The conference encourages submission of high quality, not previously published results on both theoretical issues and practical advancements.

Important dates

- Mandatory abstract submission: 16 March 2026 (strict)
- Paper submission: 23 March 2026 (strict)
- Rebuttal period: 6–13 May 2026
- Notifications: 27 May 2026
- Camera-ready submission: 17 June 2026
- Virtual conference: 9 September 2026
- Onsite conference: 21–25 September 2026

Submission types

FOIS 2026 seeks full-length high-quality papers on three tracks:

- Foundational track: for papers that address content-related ontological issues, their formal representation, and their relevance to some aspect of information systems.
- Application and Methods track: for papers that address novel systems, methods, and tools related to building, evaluating, or using ontologies, emphasizing the impact of ontology contents.
- Domain Ontology track: for papers that describe a novel ontology for a specific realm of interest, clarifying ontological choices against requirements and foundational theory, and showing ontology use.

Reviewing Process

Each paper will be reviewed by at least 3 members of the program committee and 1 member of the senior program committee, who will provide a meta-review. All reviews will be anonymous. Accepted papers will have the FAIRness of their related artifacts evaluated (if applicable). The FOIS proceedings will be published by IOS Press (Sage) as open access.

For further details, especially on submission instructions, evaluation criteria and requirements, the review process, and paper publication, see here: https://www.foisconference.org/cfp/


FOIS 2026 Organization

General Chairs
- João Paulo A. Almeida, Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), Brazil
- Tiago Prince Sales, University of Twente, The Netherlands

Program Committee Chairs
- Sergio de Cesare, University of Westminster, UK
- Fernanda Baião, PUC-Rio, Brazil

JOWO Chairs
- Mara Abel, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil
- Mattia Fumagalli, Free University of Bolzen-Bolzano, Italy

Online Chair
- Maria Hedblom, Jönköping University, Sweden

Local Organizing Committee
- Monalessa Perini Barcellos, Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), Brazil
- Julio Cesar Nardi, Federal Institute of Espírito Santo (IFES) Colatina, Brazil
- Paulo Sérgio Santos Jr., Federal Institute of Espírito Santo (IFES) Serra, Brazil

Ontology Show Case Chairs
- Torsten Hahmann, University of Maine, USA
- César Bernabé, Leiden University Medical Center, Netherlands

Demonstrations Chairs
- Bart Gajderowicz, Utah State University, USA
- Claudenir Morais Fonseca, University of Twente, Netherlands

FAIR Chair
- Luiz Olavo Bonino, University of Twente, The Netherlands

Industry Chair
- Jim Logan, Ontogenesis Solutions, LLC, USA

Early Career Symposium Chairs
- Renata Wassermann, University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil
- Maria Luiza Campos, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil

Journal-First Chairs
- Greta Adamo, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy
- Ludger Jansen, PTH Brixen College, Italy

Research Project Chairs
- Fumiaki Toyoshima, Université de Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- Adrien Barton, CNRS, Toulouse, France

Tutorial Chairs
- Guendalina Righetti, University of Oslo, Norway
- Laure Vieu, CNRS, Toulouse, France

Publicity Chairs
- Giorgio A. Ubbiali, PTH Brixen College, Italy
- Vitor Souza, Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), Brazil

Proceedings Chair
- Sander van Leeuwen, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands

JOWO Proceedings Chair
- Cauã Roca Antunes, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil