Submission

Key Dates

The planned dates are as follows (all times are UTC-12h, aka “Anywhere on Earth (AOE)”):

We offer a two-stage submission process, with Stage 2 following Stage 1, Submission Site: OpenReview.

Submission and Review Date:

• Submission Open: January 6th, 2026

• Submission Deadline: 11:59pm, February 2nd, 2026 AOE

• Review Start: February 3rd, 2026

• Review End: February 25th, 2026

Meta Review: February 25th-28th, 2026

Notification: March 1st, 2026 AOE

Camera Ready:  April 10th AOE

Venue Start Date: TBD

Subject Areas

We welcome submissions related to the construction, analysis and applications of World Models, by using (but not limited to) the following technologies: Model-Based Reinforcement Learning, Causality, Sequential Modelling, Simulation of the Environment, Diffusion Models, Video Generation, 3D reconstruction, Robotics, and Embodied AI etc.

We also encourage submissions from the Natural Sciences (e.g., physics, chemistry, biology) and Social Sciences (e.g., pedagogy, virtual sociology simulation) related to world/environment construction in the science domain to offer attendees a more comprehensive perspective. In summary, topics of interest mainly include, but are not limited to:

• Understanding World Rules: Exploring how World Models capture environment dynamics; World Models by causal understanding, spatial-temporal modelling, model-based RL; and theoretical foundations for simulation and prediction. 

• World model training and evaluation: strengths, limitations, and challenges of current modelling architectures (e.g. Transformers, RNNs, and SSMs), training algorithms (autoregressive training, diffusion modelling, RL, and normalizing flow) and dataset construction. 

• Scaling World Models prediction and generation across language, vision, and control: Investigating how integrating visual, auditory, and textual data improves realism World Models.

• World Models in general domains: Exploring World Models in embodied AI, robotics, automatic driving, AI, healthcare, natural and social sciences, and beyond to improve prediction and decision-making. 

• Benchmark, Dataset, and Demonstration about World Models.

• ...

For a detailed summary of our main focus areas, please visit the front page. Contributions may vary in length from 2 to 9 main pages  (Tiny Paper: <=4 main pages; Full Paper: <= 9 main pages) and unlimited additional pages of reference and appendix. formatted in accordance with ICLR 2026 paper format. We also welcome shorter submissions, particularly those showcasing proof-of-concept work, including live demonstrations, code repositories, or blog posts.

Submission Instruction

The paper submission deadline is: 11:59pm, February 2nd, 2026 AOE

Papers must be submitted using the workshop submission system at: OpenReview. 

Double-Blind Review Policy:

The review process will be conducted under a double-blind protocol. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their submissions are fully anonymized. This includes omitting author names, affiliations, and acknowledgements from the submission. Authors should avoid disclosing any identifying information, including in supplementary materials.

Dual-Submission Policy:

Submissions to this workshop are non-archival, allowing for the inclusion of ongoing or unpublished work. We also accept submissions of papers currently under review at other venues. However, work that has already been published or accepted for publication elsewhere will not be considered (including ICLR 2026). This policy on dual submissions remains in effect throughout the entire review process. 

Transparency:

We will only publicly share the list of accepted papers and their corresponding articles. The review process and review content will not be made public.

Contact:

Please email worldmodels.workshop.25@gmail.com if you have questions.