IMC 2026 Shadow TPC

Background

To expose students to the academic review process and train the next generation of technical program committee (TPC) members, the ACM IMC 2026 TPC would like to make submitted papers available to the Shadow TPC (STPC). The STPC allows participants to read papers at the submission stage, experience the peer-review process from a reviewer’s perspective, and discuss academic work with fellow STPC members. This opportunity allows future TPC members to learn first-hand about the peer-review process and gain experience as a reviewer.

The STPC’s peer-review process will closely resemble the actual one in function, workload, and timing. Yet, the two processes will run on isolated systems; STPC members have no access to any TPC information, including names of reviewers, reviews, or any other data such as relative rankings. STPC reviewers cannot delegate reviews (i.e., request external reviews) and will have to abide by the same rules and restrictions applicable to regular TPC members (e.g., anonymity and confidentiality rules) in addition to the ones below.

Application

If you are interested in participating, please apply by uploading your application material to the https://forms.gle/WT2jx1rBmWJQE8yd8 submission site by April 10, 2026, 23:59 AoE.

Important Dates

For any further questions or concerns, please contact the Shadow TPC chairs via (tak2154@columbia.edu; jiayi.meng@uta.edu).

• Thomas A. Koch (Columbia University)
• Jiayi Meng (University of Texas at Arlington)