SPIRE 2026 - First call for papers

**33rd International Symposium on String Processing and Information 
Retrieval**

**October 13-16, Hamilton, Canada**
**First call for papers**

The International Symposium on String Processing and Information 
Retrieval (SPIRE 2026) will be held at McMaster University, in Hamilton, 
Canada.
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/spire-2026/
# SCOPE

SPIRE 2026 covers research in all aspects of string processing, 
information retrieval, computational biology, and related applications. 
Typical topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

- String Processing: String pattern matching, text indexing, data 
structures for string processing, text compression, compressed data 
structures, compressed string processing, text mining, 2D pattern 
matching, automata-based string processing, combinatorics on words.
- Computational Biology: Algorithms for DNA sequencing, assembly, 
alignments, read error correction, metagenomics, transcriptomics, gene 
and regulatory element recognition, motif finding, pangenomics, variants 
discovery, phylogenetics, genome rearrangements.
- Information Retrieval: Retrieval models and ranking, theoretical 
models and foundations of IR, efficiency and scalability topics in IR, 
knowledge acquisition in IR, machine learning and natural language 
processing for IR, knowledge representation and reasoning for IR, 
user-centric aspects of IR, IR evaluation, fairness, accountability, 
transparency in IR, domain-specific IR applications, web search.
# SUBMISSIONS

SPIRE 2026 invites submissions in two categories:
- Long papers: Up to 12 pages, excluding references and optional appendices.
- Short papers: Up to 6 pages, excluding references and optional appendices.
Papers should be submitted electronically via EasyChair via the 
following link:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=spire2026
As in past editions, the proceedings of SPIRE 2026 will be published by 
Springer in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series. The use 
of LNCS templates is mandatory. Suitable templates are available at the 
Springer Website and on Overleaf. Use the LNCS style file as given: do 
not change the margin size or the font; do not make a separate title 
page, etc. Simultaneous submissions to other conferences with published 
proceedings is not permitted. At least one author per accepted paper is 
expected to register for the conference and present the paper. The 
conference will be in-person, with online presentations only in 
exceptional cases (e.g., authors with travel difficulties).

# AWARDS

The SPIRE 2026 Conference will present both a Best Paper Award and a 
Best Student Paper Award, each sponsored by Springer Nature for 500 
euros, to recognize outstanding research contributions.
# IMPORTANT DATES
Submission deadlines:
- Abstract Deadline: June 18, 2026 AoE
- Full paper deadline: June 25, 2026 AoE (firm deadline)
Notifications: August 6, 2026
Camera-ready version: August 20, 2026
Events:
- SPIRE: October 13 to 15, 2026
- Workshop on Compression, Text, and Algorithms (WCTA): October 16, 2026
# GENERAL CHAIRS

Neerja Mhaskar, McMaster University, Canada
Ricardo Baeza-Yates, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden & 
University of Chile
# PROGRAM COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Neerja Mhaskar, McMaster University, Canada
Solon P. Pissis, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), Netherlands
Ricardo Baeza-Yates, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden & 
University of Chile

-- 
Solon P. Pissis, Ph.D

Senior Researcher
Networks & Optimization group
Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Tel:   +31 62 881 7122
Email:[email protected]
WWW:https://homepages.cwi.nl/~solon/

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