Important Dates

• Submission of Papers: July 3, 2026, extended to July 10, 2026

• Final Acceptance Notification: July 17, 2026

• Camera-Ready Submission: July 31, 2026

• Submission of Lightning Talk Proposals: September 5, 2026

• Workshop: October 5, 2026, or October 6, 2026 

Description

Alt’ISMAR is a workshop for XR research that does not fit neatly into standard conference tracks. We invite alternative, unconventional, critical, speculative, controversial, previously rejected, or difficult-to-evaluate contributions from across the AR, VR, and MR community. The workshop provides a constructive venue for work that may challenge dominant assumptions, use unusual methods, report negative or ambiguous results, revisit rejected submissions, or raise questions that are important for the field but hard to place in conventional review formats. We are interested in strong ideas, thoughtful provocations, and contributions that can stimulate discussion, even if they do not follow the typical structure of a full research paper. Accepted contributions will be presented and discussed at the workshop. In addition, the workshop will reflect on the review process itself, including how human and AI-assisted reviewing can support more constructive, transparent, and inclusive evaluation practices.

Topics of Interest

We welcome contributions, including, but not limited to:

• Alternative, unconventional, or boundary-pushing XR research

• Critical or controversial perspectives on AR, VR, MR, and spatial computing

• Negative results, failed studies, replication attempts, and lessons learned

• Position papers, provocations, manifestos, and reflective essays

• Speculative, design-fiction, artistic, or practice-based XR work

• XR research using unusual methods, formats, or evaluation criteria

• Work that challenges established assumptions in immersive technology research

• Reflections on review quality, reviewer expectations, and publication norms

• Human-AI reviewing, AI-assisted feedback, and alternative peer-review practices

• Early-stage ideas that could benefit from community discussion

• Previously accepted or published work submitted for discussion rather than republication

• XR systems, demos, or experiences that are difficult to communicate through standard paper formats

Submission Formats and Review Process

By submitting to the workshop, authors agree that AI tools may be used as part of the review process. AI support may be used, for example, to generate additional feedback, identify potential issues, or support reflection on the review process. Human reviewers and organizers remain responsible for the evaluation and final decisions.

Accepted contributions will be presented as posters at the workshop, with the exception of invited lightning talks. This format is intended to leave sufficient room for discussion of both the submitted work and the review process itself.

Original Submissions

We invite original papers presenting research results, surveys, systems, methods, design work, or position papers related to XR. Submissions may be up to 8 pages excluding references.

Original submissions will go through a formal review process via an independent program committee. Each submission will receive two human reviews. Authors will have the opportunity to respond to the reviews through a revised version. The final acceptance decision will be made by the workshop organizers based on the quality of the submission, its fit with the workshop, and whether reviewer comments have been sufficiently addressed. In the event of a conflict of interest within the organizing committee, the decision will be made by an independent expert.
Accepted original papers are intended to be published electronically through the IEEE Digital Library, subject to the conference’s publication policies.
Submissions must be anonymous, prepared in the IEEE Computer Society VGTC conference format, and submitted in PDF via EasyChair.

Previously Published Papers

We also invite submissions of previously accepted or published XR papers that authors consider relevant to the workshop theme. These submissions should include the original paper together with the reviews received during the original review process, unless this is explicitly prohibited by the policies of the original venue.
Previously published papers will not be republished in the IEEE Digital Library. Instead, they will serve as material for presentation and discussion at the workshop, with particular attention to how the work was reviewed, evaluated, and positioned within the field. They can also be presented during the workshop's poster session.
These submissions should not be anonymous and should be submitted in PDF via EasyChair.

Invited Lightning Talks

We also welcome proposals for lightning talks on AI-assisted reviewing, alternative reviewing practices, review quality, publication norms, reviewer training, author experiences, or related issues in XR and HCI publication culture.
Lightning talk proposals should be submitted as informal abstracts of up to 500 words. They will be reviewed by the workshop organizers. Since this track focuses on oral presentation and discussion, abstracts will not be published in the IEEE Digital Library.
Lightning talk submissions should not be anonymous and should be submitted via email to the workshop organizers at danzi@dtu.dk

Organizer

• Daniel Zielasko, DTU, Denmark (danzi@dtu.dk)

• Jeanine Stefanucci, University of Utah, USA

• Gerd Bruder, University of Central Florida, USA

• Tabitha Peck, Davidson College, USA