Call for Papers

Two decades after VLDB first visited Scandinavia, the conference is back. Taking place in Norway, VLDB 2005 marks the 100th anniversary of the country's independence.

The 31st VLDB conference invites paper submissions reporting on original results that pertain to any aspect of data management. The conference also invites proposals for demonstrations, tutorials, panels, and exhibits that address critical issues and views relating to practical, leading-edge database technology.

Topics of interest

VLDB 2005 encourages the submission of creative work that goes beyond improvements of already known results. Submissions may cover novel approaches in data management or may describe the implementation or deployment of advanced database technology in an industrial or application setting. Submissions that describe new and challenging applications with respect to their technical substance, their impact, and their scientific importance and relate them to today's database technology are also solicited.

VLDB 2005 will continue the policy of broadening the range of topics covered at the conference beyond core database system technology. Consequently, VLDB 2005 includes three tracks, each with its own program committee:

• Core DB: Core Database System Technology
• IIS: Infrastructure for Information Systems
• IA&E: Industrial Applications & Experiences

The Core DB track solicits submissions that report on technology meant to be incorporated into the database system itself. The increasing penetration of data management technology in applications as well as the quickly evolving computational platforms, connected into rapidly expanding networks, challenge the existing solutions on which all the components of a DBMS are based. The challenges relate to data modeling and (query) languages, data structures, indexing, query optimization, and transaction support. The Core DB track solicits original technology-push submissions that report on scientific progress in this area that aim to provide new or better data management solutions. A detailed list of suggested topics is given below.

The IIS track solicits submissions that make advances within the design, development, and deployment of data management solutions. This track covers technology that exploits database technology, but is typically not part of a database management system per se. Expanding the field of data management calls for continual progress in the use of data management technology in concrete application domains. It requires innovations, case-studies and experiments supported by a wide variety of methodologies, (middleware) tools, and techniques. The IIS track solicits original submissions that report on progress in this evolutionary process to provide new or better data management solutions. A detailed list of suggested topics is given below.

The IA&E track solicits submissions covering innovative commercial database implementations, novel applications of database technology, and experiences in applying recent research advances in practice. Submissions should describe innovative implementations, new approaches to fundamental challenges, or major technical improvements over current industrial practice. This track challenges the industrial community to articulate the unsolved data management problems faced by industry. Therefore, submissions are encouraged that expose challenges that the database research community should address more aggressively. The track aims to foster the exchange of ideas and solutions between research and industry. IA&E submissions may be either full papers whose technical density is comparable to research submissions, or they may be extended abstracts.

In some cases, submissions might be relevant to more than one track; such submissions are also encouraged. Topics where this may occur include data mining, web-related work, and XML. The authors decide to which track to submit, depending on the dominant contribution. Authors who are in doubt may contact one of the PC chairpersons. As submissions will be judged by their appropriateness for the track in which they are being evaluated, appropriate placement of papers is important.

Each list below indicates topics that are within the purview of the associated track. Some topics may be relevant to several tracks, and additional, relevant topics may exist.

Submission Guidelines

Research Papers

Papers must adhere to the conference's duplicate submission policy, must be formatted according to the conference's camera-ready format, and are limited to 12 pages.

Paper submission must be done electronically using the conference management tools for the Core Database Technology or the Infrastructure for Information Systems track. In particular: For each paper, its authors must submit an abstract by February 23, 2005 (3:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time). The full paper must subsequently be submitted electronically, in pdf format, by March 2, 2005 (3:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time).

Authors will be notified of the results by May 13, 2005. Further questions may be addressed to:

Core Database Technology Program Chair:
Martin L. Kersten (martin.kersten at cwi nl)

Infrastructure for Information Systems Program Chair:
Laura Haas (laura at almaden ibm com)

Papers will be judged according to their category, so authors should give careful consideration to placing their papers appropriately. Nominations for topics and speakers for keynotes are welcome.

Industrial Applications & Experiences Papers

Full papers or extended abstracts must be submitted electronically, in pdf format, by March 2, 2005 (3:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time) using the conference management tool. The duplicate submission policy and the formatting requirements for research papers apply. In particular, page length is restricted to at most 12 pages.

Authors will be notified of the results by May 13, 2005. Further questions may be addressed to:

Paul Larson (palarson at microsoft com)

Demonstration Proposals

Demonstration proposals must be submitted electronically, in pdf format, by March 2, 2005 (3:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time) using the conference management tool. Proposals should be focused on new technology, advances in applying databases, or new techniques. Proposals must be submitted in camera-ready format and are limited to 4 pages. They should describe the demonstrated system, indicate what is going to be demonstrated, and state the significance of the contribution to database technology or applications. Proposals must not be published or under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Authors will be notified of the results by May 13, 2005. Demonstration papers will appear in the proceedings. Further questions may be addressed to:

Beng Chin Ooi (ooibc at comp nus edu sg)

Tutorial Proposals

Tutorial proposals must clearly identify the intended audience. Tutorials whose audience is broader than the database research community are encouraged. Proposals must be no more than 5 pages and must provide a sense of both its scope and depth within the scope. The intended length of the tutorial (1.5 or 3 hours) should also be indicated, together with justification that a high-quality presentation will be achieved within the chosen time period. Proposals must be submitted electronically by March 2, 2005 (3:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time) to:

Masaru Kitsuregawa (tutorial-kitsuregawa at tkl iis u-tokyo ac jp)

Submissions must contain the name, e-mail address, telephone number, and fax number of the speaker(s). Tutorial presentations will be published and made available to VLDB participants, and must be ready for publication by July 1, 2005.

Panel Proposals

Panels should address timely and, preferably, controversial issues and must be debate-oriented rather than series of short presentations. A proposal should include the topic title; a short statement about the importance and relevance of the panel and the potential issues of controversy; a tentative list of questions that will be posed to the panelists; a list of confirmed participants along with their affiliations; and a short bio of each participant. Proposals must be submitted electronically by March 2, 2005 (3:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time) to:

Tore Risch (Tore.Risch at it uu se)

Short panel summaries will appear in the proceedings.

Workshop Proposals

VLDB 2005 will feature a number of co-located workshops on topics related to data management. See the Call for Workshop Proposals for more information. Workshop proposals should be submitted electronically by February 7, 2005 to:

Klaus R. Dittrich (dittrich at ifi unizh ch)