ACM Workshop on Negative Results in Network Measurements (NetNeg)

Call for Papers

Network measurement research has traditionally favored work that advances the state-of-the-art, either through improved measurement techniques or new empirical insights. This approach has often translated into a focus on measurement techniques, sophisticated inference methods, and large-scale empirical studies expected to yield strong, positive conclusions. However, research efforts do not always produce statistically significant or practically meaningful results. Measurement campaigns can reveal biases in datasets, limitations in vantage point diversity, or inconsistencies in collected measurement data across different types of networks. Similarly, newly proposed inference methods may fail to generalize, or yield results that hold only under restrictive conditions.

The workshop aims to provide a venue for constructive discussion on lessons learned from studies in which methods, datasets or experimental designs did not yield the expected results.

Topics of Interest

The main topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• Bias and limitations in the data collection
• Experiments that fail due to design flaws or system bottlenecks
• Unexpected or controversial results that challenge conventional expectations
• Experiments impacted by policy, compliance or ethical constraints
• Reproducibility challenges due to missing or incomplete datasets
• Insights from failed trials, preliminary verification efforts or optimizations
• Approaches and techniques applied to networking that fail to generalize

Submission Instructions

The workshop invites submissions that report and reflect negative results in network measurement studies. Submissions should focus on fundamental issues related to measurement approaches, methodology, underlying assumptions, rather than on non-fundamental issues such as implementation bugs or misconfigurations. Focusing on the critical parts of the experiment, the workshop aims to strengthen rigor, promote transparency and improve methodology practices in network measurement research.

We are looking for two types of submissions:

1. Research papers of up to 6 pages, including all figures, tables, references, and appendices in two-column 10pt ACM format. Submissions must be original, unpublished work, and not under consideration at another conference or journal.
2. Extended abstracts of up to 2 pages (excluding references), submitted in the same format as the workshop papers. We welcome submissions that showcase lessons learned from past or ongoing experiments that led to negative results.

NetNeg follows a double-blind reviewing process and submissions must be anonymized. Authors of accepted papers are expected to present their papers at the workshop.

Please submit your paper via https://netneg26.hotcrp.com.

Important Dates

Organizers