Conference Proceedings Policy

Papers that were published in refereed proceedings can be accepted for publication in IJDS as long as the following conditions are met:

1. The paper extends the results published in the proceedings version in substantial and meaningful ways. “Substantial and meaningful” can include one or more of the following: extensions of key results, additional methodological contributions, and detailed development of key proofs. The paper must be accessible and of interest to a large part of the IJDS community, which means that additional background and motivation might be required in the Introduction of the paper. The "substantial and meaningful" criterion is subject to examination by the Editor-in-Chief, Senior Editor, Associate Editor, and/or Reviewers.
2. The manuscript of the journal submission needs to cite the original proceedings paper and clearly explains the extensions and contributions made in the journal manuscript. To respect the double-blind submission policy, the journal manuscript should cite the original proceedings paper as “Anonymous (year),” which will be replaced with the authors’ identity if the manuscript is accepted.
3. Any change in authorship between the conference paper and the journal submission must be explained in the cover letter. In the case of removing an author, all authors must agree to this removal of a proceedings author from the journal submission (Author Change Form available from the INFORMS Authorship Policy)
4. The following supplemental material are included: a) the original proceedings paper; b) a 1-page summary of the key contributions made in the paper that extend the original proceedings paper; c) a version of the submitted paper with all portions that are identical to the earlier proceedings paper highlighted clearly.
5. The author will secure appropriate copyright release permissions from the proceedings so that any copyrighted material can be included in INFORMS Journal on Data Science.

For papers previously rejected by a conference, no special disclosure is required beyond following IJDS’s submission guidelines.

Authors of papers previously reviewed by a conference, particularly those with rigorous and selective review processes, whether published or not, may optionally provide the conference review information for consideration of an expedited review. Under this process, desk rejection will happen within 1 week, a full review will finish in 2-3 months from submission to decision, and at most one round of major revision. For such an optional disclosure, the following information is needed:

1. In the cover letter, specify the conference, the paper’s review score, and the review scoring rules published by the conference.
2. Upload the conference review reports as supplemental materials.

All submissions are evaluated independently of conference outcomes and are held to the same rigorous peer review standard established by IJDS. This policy aims to leverage prior peer review to improve efficiency while maintaining the high standard.