The Research track of ESWC 2026 is looking for contributions addressing theoretical, analytical, and empirical aspects of the Semantic Web, knowledge graphs, and semantic technologies in general. We also encourage interdisciplinary submissions where the Semantic Web intersects with other scientific domains. Submissions should describe novel, significant research and include a principled evaluation.

Domains of Interest

• Foundational Semantic Web research
• Knowledge representation, ontologies, rules, and reasoning (within and beyond Description Logics)
• Data quality, bias, transparency, and trust
• Ontology analysis and design
• Knowledge graphs: provenance, embeddings, management, query processing, and automated construction
• Machine learning on or for semantic data
• Hybrid learning and reasoning systems (explainability, neuro-symbolic)
• Matching, integration, and fusion of ontologies and knowledge graphs
• Reuse and modularization of ontologies and knowledge graphs
• Tabular data to knowledge graph matching
• NLP, language models, and information retrieval
• Linked data
• Ontology-based data access, and distributed data access
• Data dynamics, IoT, streaming data, and mobile platforms
• Social and human aspects of the Semantic Web
• Privacy and security
• Science and research data management
• User interfaces, usability, and accessibility

Positioning and Delineation

• Submit new algorithms and architectures to the Research Track.
• Submissions reusing or applying state-of-the-art technology in practical settings belong in the In-Use Track.
• For industry applications without a full paper, use the Industry Track.
• Papers describing datasets, ontologies, corpora, workflows, etc., should go to the Resources Track.

Note: Research, In-Use, and Resource papers are published in the same Springer LNCS proceedings.

Scope vs. Machine Learning Community

Submissions must have clear relevance or impact in the Semantic Web field. ESWC focuses on the Semantic Web as a distinct research area. Papers rooted purely in other domains like ML or NLP without contribution to the Semantic Web are out of scope.

Use of Generative AI Text

The conference follows the ACM Policy on Authorship, specifically:

Generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) may not be listed as authors. Their use must be disclosed in the Acknowledgements section.

Acceptable tools like spell checkers and grammar correctors (MS Word, Grammarly) do not require disclosure.

For questions, contact the organizing committee.

Review Criteria

Submissions will be evaluated on:

• Relevance to the Semantic Web
• Novelty and originality
• Impact of the research
• Methodological soundness
• Evaluation design and execution
• Clarity and presentation quality
• Literature grounding and related work
• Reproducibility and resource availability

We welcome strong, well-evaluated papers, even if they don’t outperform existing work. Negative results should be reported. Evaluation results must be repeatable. Include links to:

• Datasets
• Source code (with dependencies, parameters)
• Queries and scripts

Important Dates

All deadlines are 23:59 anywhere on earth (UTC-12).

Submission Guidelines

• No dual submissions or under-review papers
• Abstracts must be submitted before the paper deadline
• Accepted papers published in Springer LNCS, preprints will be openly accessible
• Maximum 15 pages (plus unlimited references); optional 2-page appendix allowed (not mandatory for reviewers)
• Dual-anonymous: remove author names and use anonymous links for code/data
• Format: PDF or HTML in LNCS style
• Rebuttal opportunity included
• At least one author must register and present the paper
• Submission via EasyChair, select the Research Track

Program Chairs

• Anastasia Dimou, KU Leuven, Belgium
  
• Raphaël Troncy, EURECOM, France