Skip to content

The Review Process of a CGF-Associated Conference

1. What is a CGF-associated conference, and how can a conference apply for such a status?

A CGF-associated conference is a conference that follows a CGF-approved review process for the submissions to its main technical programme, and publishes the full papers accepted by such a programme in a special issue of CGF. Currently, the CGF-associated conferences are:

  • The Annual Conference of Eurographics (EG), CGF Issue 2
  • The Annual EG/VGTC Conference on Visualization (EuroVis), CGF Issue 3
  • The Annual Eurographics Symposium on Rendering (EGSR), CGF Issue 4
  • The Annual Eurographics Symposium on Geometry Processing (SGP), CGF Issue 5
  • The Annual Pacific Conference on Computer Graphics and Applications (PG), CGF Issue 7
  • The ACM SIGGRAPH / Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation (SCA) , CGF Issue 8 (2018, 2020, 2022)
  • The ACM SIGGRAPH / Eurographics Conference on High Performance Graphics (HPG) , CGF Issue 8 (2019, 2021, 2023)

All aforementioned conferences are either major events organized by Eurographics or reputable conferences in the broad field of computer graphics.

The decision for a conference to gain the status of a CGF-associated conference is made by the Eurographics Executive Board. Any enquiry about acquiring the status of a CGF-associated conference is normally handled by the Chair of the Eurographics Publication Board.

2. What is the review process of a CGF-associated Conference?

All CGF-associated conferences follow a CGF-approved review process that must have two review cycles. Both review cycles are managed by the full papers co-chairs who are in charge of the main technical programme of full papers in a conference. In some conferences, they are referred to as program co-chairs or just papers co-chairs when there is only one formal programme for technical papers. In addition, EG and EuroVis have their accepted STAR papers (State-of-The-Art Reports) published in CGF special issues. The STAR programmes have three review cycles, of which the second and third review cycles are considered to be the CGF review process. The guidelines for these two STAR review cycles are the same as those for the first and second review cycles of a main technical programme.

The main technical programme of a CGF-associated conference always has an international program committee (IPC) that consists of established and experienced scientists and researchers who are the experts in the scope covered by the conference. Coordinated by the full papers chairs, the IPC members have the main responsibility of evaluating the submissions to the conference, often assisted by additional reviewers appointed by these IPC members. CGF requires each submission receives a minimum of three reviews by the relevant experts, and recommends the system of appointing two IPC members and two external reviewers per submission, which are widely adopted by the prestigious conferences in the field (including EG and EuroVis).

As CGF is ultimately responsible for the quality of the papers accepted for publication in its special issues and for the distribution of these papers through the Wiley Online Service and Eurographics Digital Library, one of CGF Editors-in-Chief (EiCs) must oversee the management of the review process, and has the responsibility for ensuring the quality of the papers accepted into any CGF special issues. While CGF recognizes that all full papers co-chairs are established experts in the field, CGF is also aware of the facts that (i) some co-chairs may have limited experience in managing a journal-level review process for many submissions and in handling complex issues arising during a review process and (ii) some conferences do not have a continuity arrangement such that every year the full papers co-chairs are all new to the job for managing a CGF-approved review process. Hence, in some cases, the CGF EiC overseeing a conference may pay close attention to the review process. It is also sensible for the full papers co-chairs to seek advice whenever there is a need.

Once the full papers co-chairs are appointed, the first thing is to discuss the review and publication schedule with the CGF EiC overseeing the conference and the EG Publication Administrator, Stefanie Behnke.

In general, usually 3-5 days before the notification date of the first review cycle, the full papers co-chairs should provide the CGF EiC overseeing the conference with the following information:

  • Overall statistics about the number of submissions, the number of recommendations for acceptance or conditional acceptance, the number of recommendations for major revision to CGF, and the number of rejections.
  • For each submission, a review record consisting of the following information:
    1. paper ID,
    2. the name of the contact author,
    3. the email of the contact author,
    4. the title of the submission,
    5. if any, the name of the co-chair with conflict of interest (CoI)
    6. all scores returned by the reviewers,
    7. the decision by the co-chairs, and
    8. the remarks by the co-chairs (necessary for all borderline or complex decisions).

The recommendation by the primary reviewer is optional. The record should NOT include any information about the names or affiliations of the IPC members or external reviewers involved in the review process.

It is common for a CGF-EiC to query about certain decisions, and request for further explanation on borderline or complex decisions. Although it is rare for a CGF EiC to overrule a decision by the co-chairs, the CGF EiC does have the right to do so when the EiC considers a decision being highly risky or inconsistent with the quality requirement in general.

After the decisions for all submissions are finalized, the records of all submissions (including rejections) are kept as a formal CGF document for the review process of the special issue concerned. It is important to consider the entire review process for all submissions is a CGF review process, not just the part for the accepted papers.

Following the first review cycle, the CGF EiC overseeing the process will normally let the co-chairs know about the approval process for the second review cycle. While it is common that a CGF EiC requires only a post-notification report for the second review cycle, there have been cases where a CGF EiC requests pre-notification report, especially for submissions with less straightforward decisions in the first review cycle.

Following the notification review, all accepted papers in their final version are submitted by a date agreed by the EG Publication Administrator who will prepare the USB for the conference as well as for distribution of these papers through Wiley online service and EG Digital Library.

3. Can CGF Editors-in-Chief and/or conference (co-) chairs submit their work to a CGF-associated Conference?

Editors-in-Chief (EiCs). In order to enable CGF EiCs to continue their research activities, EG and Wiley allow CGF EiCs to submit co-author papers to CGF as well as CGF-associated conferences as long as there is an adequate process for maintain the review confidentiality and manage any potential conflict of interest. The following protocols must be followed:

  • For any paper co-authored by a CGF EiC, the decision of the full papers (or STAR) co-chairs is final. The CGF EiC does not have the responsibility for approving or disapproving the decision.
  • A CGF EiC should not take up the role of a full papers (or STAR) co-chair of a CGF associated conference that he/she will be overseeing.

Full Paper or STAR Co-Chairs. CGF allows a full papers or STAR co-chair to submit co-authored papers to the conference concerned as long as the submission and review platform can maintain the review confidentiality and manage any potential conflict of interest. The following protocols must be followed:

  • A submission co-authored by all co-chairs (i.e., all co-chairs have conflicts of interest) is not allowed.
  • It is common for a reputable conference to limit the number of submissions that a co-chair can co-author. A limit of two or three is the most common restriction. Any number above four is not recommended.

4. How are full papers and STAR co-chairs of a CGF-associated Conference appointed?

The full papers co-chairs or STAR co-chairs are appointed by the Steering Committee of the conference concerned. CGF recommends that all CGF-associated conferences should maintain a professional and functional steering committee that is able to facilitate collective decision-making processes and to transfer the knowledge of conference management to co-chairs year by year. CGF recommends the stacked continuity arrangement of EuroVis, with which at least one co-chair from year X will continue to serve as a co-chair in year X+1.

5. What review system should a CGF-associated Conference use?

Most of CGF-associated conferences use the Eurographics Submission and Review Management system (SRM), which is part of the service provided by Eurographics. Some conferences use other submission and review systems with an extra cost covered by the conferences concerned.