DSN 2026: Research Track Call For Contributions

The 56th Annual IEEE/IFIP International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN) will be held in Charlotte, USA, June 22-25, 2026.

Society is increasingly dependent on the dependability and security of all types of computing systems. This conference is devoted to the mission of ensuring that the computing systems and networks on which society relies are dependable and secure.

Scope

All aspects of research and practice of computer system resilience (i.e., dependability and security) are within the scope of DSN.

Relevant topics include but are not limited to:

1. Innovative systems, architectures, protocols, and algorithms for preventing, detecting, diagnosing, eliminating, or recovering from accidental and malicious threats.
2. Practical experimentation with and assessment of the dependability and security of all types of computing systems and networks.

Example topical areas include but are not limited to:

• Hardware (e.g., CPUs/GPUs/DPUs/TPUs, memory systems, systems on chip, I/O devices, storage systems, Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), edge and mobile devices, data center infrastructure, hardware accelerators, emerging technologies, emerging paradigms like processing in memory & quantum computing).
• Software (e.g., applications, middleware, distributed algorithms, operating systems, software security, dependable software design).
• Networked systems and clouds (e.g., wireless networks, mobility, software-defined networking, edge computing, cloud computing/storage, networks on chip, network security).
• Autonomous systems (e.g., self-driving vehicles, autonomous robots, assured autonomy, explainable decision-making, acceptability, privacy issues).
• Cyber-physical systems (e.g., embedded systems, real-time control of critical systems, internet of things, smart grid, automotive, aerospace, railway, medical systems, security and safety of cyber-physical systems).
• Distributed ledgers/Blockchains (e.g., BFT/consensus algorithms, cryptocurrencies, decentralized storage, zero-knowledge proofs, cross-chain protocols).
• AI/Machine Learning for resilient systems (e.g., robust, resilient, secure, and explainable AI/Machine Learning techniques; applications of AI/ML/LLM techniques for dependability and security, robustness issues in AI/ML/LLM systems).
• Models and methodologies for programming, evaluating, verifying, and assessing robust (dependable and secure) systems (e.g., performance and dependability evaluation, analytical and numerical methods, simulation, experimentation, benchmarking, verification, field data analysis).
• Emerging technologies and computing paradigms (e.g., robustness, security, dependability issues of emerging memory and storage systems, emerging computing paradigms like quantum computing, processing in memory/sensors/storage/network, 3-dimensional architectures, new hardware/software cooperative paradigms, emerging programming and system paradigms).

Important Dates

Date	Event
Nov 27, 2025	Abstract Submission Deadline
Dec 4, 2025	Paper Submission Deadline
Jan 27, 2026	Early Reject Notification
Feb 13 - 27, 2026	Author Rebuttal & Revision Period
Mar 19, 2026	Notification to Authors
Apr 28, 2026	Camera Ready Materials

All dates refer to AoE time (Anywhere on Earth)

Paper Categories

• Regular papers (11 pages): A full paper describing a research contribution.
• Practical experience reports (7 pages): A shorter paper describing practitioner experiences or lessons learned.
• Tool descriptions/demonstrations (7 pages): Descriptions of the architecture, implementation, and usage of substantive tools.

The number of pages indicated above includes everything: title page, text, figures, appendices, etc. Only references are not included in the page limit. Papers that exceed the number of pages for that submission category will be rejected without review.

Artifacts

DSN supports open science, where authors of accepted papers are encouraged to make their code and datasets publicly available to ensure reproducibility and replicability by other researchers.

At the time of the submission, authors must indicate (1) whether they intend to submit an artifact for their submission, (2) the type of artifact (code, dataset, or both), (3) a DOI reserved for the artifact on an open-access repository (Zenodo or Figshare), and (4) the badge(s) they are applying for. For more information about how to reserve a DOI and about the three choices available for the badges, see the Call for Artifacts on the DSN'25 website.

The artifacts will be evaluated by a dedicated Artifacts Evaluation (AE) committee through a single-blind review process, where authors should be available to respond quickly during the artifact evaluation. All artifacts submitted will compete for a “Distinguished Artifact Award” to be decided by that committee.

Anonymization Rules

Authors must make a good-faith effort to anonymize their papers for double-blind review.

Please take the following steps when preparing your submission:

• Remove authors' names and affiliations from the title page.
• Remove acknowledgment of identifying names and funding sources.
• Use care in naming your files.
• Use care in referring to related work, particularly your own previously published work.
• If you have a concurrent submission, reference it as follows: "Closely related work describes a microkernel implementation [Anonymous 2025]." with the corresponding citation: "[Anonymous 2025] Under submission. Details omitted for double-blind reviewing."
• If you cite anonymous work, you must also send the deanonymized reference(s) to the PC chair in a separate email.

Authors should also avoid broadly advertising their work in a way that reaches the reviewers even if they are not searching for it (presentations in small meetings or seminars are allowed). It is unacceptable to discuss the work with program committee members.

Formatting Rules

Submissions must adhere to the IEEE Computer Society camera-ready 8.5″x11″ two-column camera-ready format (using a 10-point font on 12-point single-spaced leading) as implemented by the LaTeX/Word templates available at the IEEE conference template page (last updated in 2019):

• LaTex Package (ZIP)
• Word Template (DOC)

Each paper must be submitted as a single Portable Document Format (PDF) file. All fonts must be embedded in the file. We also strongly recommend you print the file and review it for integrity (fonts, symbols, equations, etc.) before submitting it.

Paper Submissions

Papers are submitted via the submission website: https://dsn26.hotcrp.com.

The program committee will perform a double-blind review of all submissions, with help from outside referees. Papers will be held in full confidence during the reviewing process, but papers accompanied by nondisclosure agreement forms are not acceptable and will be rejected without review.

Submissions violating the formatting and anonymization rules will be rejected without review. There will be no extensions for reformatting.

Awards

DSN gives three Best Paper Awards and one of them, based on the quality of the oral presentation, will also receive a Distinguished Best Paper Award.

DSN also attributes a group of awards based on nominations.

As noted above, there will also be a Distinguished Artifact Award.

Open Science Policy

After papers are accepted, the authors are encouraged to make all research results accessible to the public and ensure, if possible, that empirical studies are reproducible. In particular, DSN actively supports the adoption of open source and open data principles and encourages all authors to make their prototypes available to the research community and disclose collected data to increase reproducibility and replicability. Note that sharing research data is not mandatory for submission or acceptance. Accepted papers can participate in the artifact evaluation process described above.

Ethical considerations

Submissions describing experiments with data derived from human subjects or presenting results that might have ethical considerations should discuss how ethical and potential legal concerns were addressed and disclose if an ethics review was conducted (e.g. by the author's institutional ethics review boards if applicable).

Contact

For further information please send an email to dsn26pcchairs@gmail.com