Submission
Types - Peer Reviewed Papers
Peer-Reviewed
PapersA printable version of the Call for Participation, tailored for papers, is available.
In the past, all submission proposals have been reviewed by a panel of peers. This year, we offer a peer review of full papers; that is, completed works, not just a proposal. Authors of accepted papers will be allowed to make small revisions based on reviewers’ comments. These papers will be in a separate section of the proceedings, clearly identified as peer-reviewed papers. We will be highly selective and will choose a limited number of submissions to ensure we are establishing a premier venue for publications. We are looking at two major areas:
(1) Methodologies and Tools, including practical new methods, processes and techniques along with new tools for use in interactive systems or device design, development, and testing, and
(2) Results from Fieldwork and Ethnography, including findings, guidelines, etc. from studies of real world settings or of technology use in such settings providing a clear relevance to the design and deployment of interactive systems or devices.
In keeping with the priorities of the UPA conference, papers and their presentations must emphasize practicality, hands-on experience, and interaction between authors and attendees. Papers that are accepted for publication must also be presented at the conference. The presentations will be made at a special session dedicated to presentations from peer-reviewed papers. These presentations must meet the same standards as all other UPA presentations. For this reason, anyone who submits a paper for UPA 2004 must also prepare and submit a presentation proposal. Both the presentation and the paper will be reviewed, independently, and both must be accepted for UPA to publish the paper. Presentation submissions accompanying peer-reviewed paper submissions will be reviewed with minor changes to the review criteria compared to the criteria used to review regular presentation submissions. These presentations must meet a minimum set of requirements that seek to ensure the presentation is not merely a copy and paste version of the paper into slide format. See additional details below.
As with the standard submissions, presentations of papers must be highly interactive, with one-third to one-half of the presentation time allocated for audience participation. Each presentation associated with a peer–reviewed paper will be 40 minutes in length.
BenefitsThe lead author of the paper (who should also be the lead presenter) will receive a 20% discount on conference registration.
Submission
InformationAll submissions for papers must include three documents: the paper, a description of the companion presentation and background information about the author(s). Please use the UPA-provided templates to prepare these documents. In addition, you will complete forms online with additional information when you submit your paper. See the section “Submitting Your Proposal” for additional information.
1. Your paper (4-6 pages suggested length including tables, figures, and references, 1MB maximum file size)
Include the following items in your paper:
TitleAbstract:
Provide a 50-word synopsis of your topic. This should be the same abstract
provided for the presentation section (below).Other
sections as appropriate, describing your design, protocol, results
and analysis. UPA recognizes that the broad range of topics covered at the
conference require some latitude in content organization; however, appropriate
rigor must be evident. In keeping with the priorities of the UPA conference,
papers must focus on practical issues or research issues that could influence
practice or describe a possible new practice.Paper
submissions that have been presented in their entirety at previous UPA or
other conferences will not be considered. The UPA recognizes that
research builds on initial findings until the researchers feel a complete
line of work can be presented. Paper submissions that include such initial
or interim results that have been presented previously will be considered
providing the submitter indicates this in their proposal and demonstrates
that greater than half of the material is new.New
for UPA 2004 for all submission types – Without using names
or other clearly identifying information, describe your professional history
of working with the material you will be presenting. We realize that this
can be difficult, but this section is intended to help reviewers understand
the depth and length of your work in the topic of this session. Examples:
“The
speaker has worked as a usability consultant for 8 years, and has given
several presentations on this topic at national and international conferences.”
The
speaker is a graduate student in a Human Factors program. The research described
in the presentation is part of the speaker’s thesis. 2. Your Background
In a separate document, describe in one or two paragraphs the relevant background and experience of each presenter, including presenter names and their affiliated organizations. Background description should not exceed 150 words for each person. This description will be used in all published information about the presentation or panel.
To facilitate the blind review process, the background document of your submission will not be sent to the review panel. Some information from the submission process (e.g., keywords, audience, etc.) will also be provided to reviewers. To keep your identity confidential:
Do
not include your name, product name (noncommercial products only), or organization
on any page of your Description, including headers and footers.Be
sure to remove your name and organization from the Property settings in
your document.
The presentation portion of the submission
will be reviewed in the manner stated in the presentation/panel submission
with minor changes. All submissions are scored by reviewers based on the
criteria for each type of submission. The presentation submission accompanying
a peer-reviewed paper submission will be required to receive a minimum
score from the presentation reviewers. The relative ranking of the presentation
will not be a factor in acceptance of the presentation accompanying a
peer-reviewed paper.
The nature of these paper submissions makes an absolutely blind review
process for papers very difficult. Reviewers of submitted papers will
be screened for previous experience in such reviews. Therefore our blind
review process will be more relaxed than our presentation review process.
To facilitate the blind review process, the background section of your
submission will not be sent to the to the review panel. Some information
from the submission process (e.g., keywords, audience, etc.) will also
be provided to reviewers. There are measures authors can take to aid in
maximizing anonymity:
Do
not include your name, product name (noncommercial products only), or
institution on any page of your paper, including headers and footers.
Be
sure to remove your name and institution from the Property settings in
your document.
When
citing work previously published by the author(s), state “Author1
and author 2 demonstrated…” rather than “In previous
work, author1 and author2 demonstrated…”
Watch
for identifying markings on screenshots, photos and figures.
· Be cautious in your Acknowledgments section. For example, thanking
well-known friends and/or organizations may provide information about
the author(s).
We understand that in some cases who you are or where you are located/affiliated
is important to a publication and we leave it up to the author(s) to determine
how much anonymity they wish to pursue in the body of their paper.
2. Your presentation description
The presentation description section of your submission must meet all
standards and requirements for presentation submissions. See “Presentation
Submission Format” in the Presentation/Panel submission section
for the details.
During the online submission process, you will fill out a series of forms
that ask for additional information. Several of these questions will help
UPA classify the audience and subject matter for your paper. Please be
sure to read the section, “Preparing Your Submission” before
submitting your paper.
Some peer-reviewed paper submissions may be too large for submission via
the UPA online process. The maximum file size for a submission is 1MB.
If your paper is larger than this, the online submission process must
still be followed. However, instead of actually submitting the paper itself,
a brief note should be entered in that portion of the submission process
indicating the submission was too large. The paper itself should be emailed
to one of the Papers chairs. In other words, please fill out all templates
for the submission and submit online except the paper template itself
will be the brief note indicating the paper has been emailed to a Papers
chair. Please contact one of the Papers chairs if you have difficulty
with your submission.
Review
Questions & Guidelines
UPA will evaluate papers on the basis of their anticipated benefit for
prospective participants and on their fit in the program on the whole.
Factors to be considered include originality, practicality, relevance,
appeal to the UPA population, suitability for presentation format, and
use of presentation methods that afford participants with opportunities
to interact with the presenter. Papers must be complete and
ready for publication. Presentation submissions must demonstrate
that the coverage of the topic will fit in the proposed timeframe, including
audience participation.
Reviewers
will evaluate all papers on the basis of these questions:
1. Importance: How important do you think this topic is to the usability
field?
2. Practicality: To what extent would this paper provide practical tips,
tricks, and techniques that can be applied in the workplace?
3. Value to attendees: Will the session provide direct benefits that attendees
can apply immediately to their jobs?
4. Audience: How effectively does the submitter address the needs of his
or her targeted audience? See the section “Target Audiences.”
5. Theme: In your opinion, does this topic fit the conference theme (“Connecting
Communities”)? While UPA encourages submissions tied to the conference
theme, it is not required. This is an “added value” in evaluating
submissions.
6. Originality/Novelty: How well does this paper provide original or new
content for returning conference attendees? Novelty is an “added
value” for submission topics; UPA recognizes that established topics
continue to be important to the UPA membership, and that new insights
and new perspectives often come from re-examination of established issues.
7. Demonstration of Quality: How well does this presentation address quality
issues? That is, how well does it position the methodology used in comparison
to established experimental methods, or acknowledge where tradeoffs were
made and why? These qualities are difficult to assess because the criteria
for quality change depending on the topic and how the topic is approached.
Evaluation based on rigor may not be appropriate in many cases, and may
vary radically depending on the kind of work being presented. However,
it is always a good idea to familiarize yourself with existing literature
on the method or topic you are discussing. See “Quality
Guidelines” for more information.
8. Challenging: How well does this paper challenge UPA mainstream thinking?
How well will this presentation stimulate and promote “outside the
box” discussion?
9. Clarity: How clearly and concisely is the material presented? Does
it flow such that readers can easily follow the major point(s) being made?
Are tables, photos, and figures used to appropriately support the text?
Are the tables, photos, and figures simple, clear and easy to understand?
10. Speaker’s Background: In what way will the speaker’s background
contribute to the quality of presentation? Does the speaker’s background
match their chosen topic to speak on? That is, if this is an advanced
topic does the speaker have an advanced degree, have they presented this
topic before or have they been practicing usability for a longer period
of time?
11. Overall Assessment: Would you accept or reject this paper?
The presentation proposal submitted with a paper will be reviewed according
to the review standards for presentations with the minor changes stated
above. The paper itself and the associated presentation will be reviewed
separately, by different reviewers.
If
both the presentation and paper are accepted, UPA will publish the paper,
and the author will be expected to present at the conference.
If
the presentation is not accepted, the paper is also not accepted, and
UPA will not publish the paper.
As a submitter, you will receive anonymous reviewers’ comments in
response to these questions for the paper, as well as feedback on the
presentation review.
Templates
UPA provides templates for papers, for presentations, and for biographical
information. These templates guide you through the process of building
a submission that will describe your material in a way that will help
both you and your reviewers to evaluate your submission against the review
questions. We strongly urge you to use these templates. Use of the UPA
paper publication format is required.
Download
the paper template
Download
the presentation template
Download
the biographical information template
After Your Paper is Accepted
UPA will notify submitters of the status of their submission by
December 22, 2003. If your paper is accepted, you will need to
provide UPA with your presentation slides and the final copy of your paper
by April 9, 2004, in order for UPA to include these in
the conference proceedings.
In the event that your paper is rejected, UPA encourages you to incorporate
reviewer feedback in your materials, and to resubmit as a poster. Note
that the poster submission format is different from the presentation submission
format.
If you are accepted, you will be asked to confirm your participation.
Once you confirm, you are expected to give your presentation, or arrange
for an equivalent substitute presenter.
Important
Dates for Peer-Reviewed Papers:
Submissions are due: October 20, 2003
Submitters notified by: December 22, 2003
Presenters are required to provide the final paper for the conference
proceedings by: April 9, 2004. You must also provide
your accompanying presentation materials, also to be included in the proceedings,
by April 9, 2004.
For more information:
Contact Papers Chair:
Stephen Hatfield (shatfield15@earthlink.net)
Wendy McKibben (wendy_mckibben@forgent.com)
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