Paper and Submission Guidelines

Paper Content

Papers must:

• Begin with a structured abstract that accurately summarizes the whole paper. It should be 150-350 words in length and include the following elements: background, aim, method, results, and conclusions. (See below)
  
• Include, at a minimum, background, aim, method, results, and conclusion sections.
• Provide details sufficient that the validity of the experiment(s) conducted can be verified and the experiments can be repeated by peers.

Papers not meeting these criteria will be rejected without review, and no deadline extensions will be granted for reformatting.

Structured-Abstract Guidelines

Abstracts should contain concise statements that tell the whole story of the study, presented in a consistent structure that facilitates quick assessment as to whether or not the paper may meet the reader’s needs and warrant reading the full paper. Essential elements of structured abstracts are background, aim, method, results, and conclusions:

• Background. State the background and context of the work described in the paper.
• Aim. State the research question, objective, or purpose of the work in the paper.
• Method. Briefly summarize the method used to conduct the research, including the subjects, procedure, data, and analytical method.
• Results. State the outcome of the research using measures appropriate for the study conducted. Results are essentially the numbers.
• Conclusions. State the lessons learned as a result of the study and recommendations for future work. The conclusions are the “so what” of the study.

By using this format for an abstract, the author has a good structure not only for his or her paper but also for creating slides to present the work. See LASER 2014 or LASER 2013 for example structured abstracts.

Paper Format

Papers should follow USENIX paper formatting guidelines using the USENIX template:

• Length should be 6-10 pages, inclusive of tables, figures, and references.
• Should fit on USA-style 8.5x11 inch paper. All text and figures must fit a text block 6.5" wide x 9" deep.
• All text must be 10 point type on 12 point (single-spaced) leading, two-column format, and Times Roman or a similar font for the body of the paper.
• All pages must be numbered.
• Figures and tables should be legible when printed, without requiring magnification.
• Paper must be submitted in PDF format. Do NOT submit files in Word, WordPerfect, LaTeX or other word processing format.
• If using Microsoft Word or LaTeX, use the appropriate USENIX template and sample first pages (two-column format) from the USENIX templates page.