About DSAA Special Sessions

DSAA Special Sessions are an important part of the main conference program. They bring together researchers, industry experts, practitioners, and potential users who are interested in cultivating specialized and important aspects of data science and analytics.

DSAA Special Sessions are intended to include and promote emerging data science research areas that are not yet well established and covered in the main conference tracks, while featuring high quality papers, which would normally appear in the main track. The same evaluation criteria and quality level apply as for the main conference, but the papers must adhere to the area of the special session they are submitted to, and the reviewers are experts in that area.

We welcome proposals that promote a more intensive interaction between different communities and proposals that promote cooperation to solve interdisciplinary problems. Thus, special sessions might focus on:

• Topics on the border of data science research area
• Advanced topics within the data science research area
• Specific application areas for data science

Special Session Proposal Submission and Review

All papers should be submitted electronically via Open Review (under Special Session Proposal category).

Proposals for hosting special sessions at DSAA 2026 are welcome. The proposals must address:

1. Title: Propose a title of the special session.
2. Abstract: A brief abstract (~100 words) describing the focus of the session.
3. Aims and Scope.
4. Rationale: Why the topic is novel, timely, and relevant to DSAA.
5. List related events organized in recent years with details (conference, year, number of submissions, number of accepted papers, number of participants).
6. Special Session Organizers: Names, affiliations, countries, email, short bios (relevant qualifications and experience), and identify at least one contact organizer (all must agree to appear on the website).
7. A list of qualified committee members who would be invited.
8. Expected number of submissions.

Special Session Proposals will be reviewed based on the above criteria and their relationship to the main conference topics. Preference may be given to timely topics that inspire highly interactive discussions and showcase the impact of data science and analytics.

After Acceptance of a Special Session

Once a special session proposal has been accepted, its organizers should create a website with the Special Session information and should widely publicize the session’s call for papers on different mailing lists and social media.

Special session papers strictly follow the same specifications, requirements, and policies as the main conference submissions in terms of deadlines, formatting, length, and publication in the proceedings.

Reviewing the submissions in each special session is coordinated by the organizers, but fully aligned to the main conference review process:

• All papers will be double-blind reviewed.
• Organizers select program committee (PC) members.
• PC members may serve across multiple sessions.
• Papers are assigned to PC members for review.
• Organizers recommend acceptance/rejection, validated by Special Session Chairs.
• Final decisions are made by DSAA Program Chairs.

Proceedings and Indexing

All accepted Special Session Proposals will be published by IEEE in the DSAA main conference proceedings under its Special Session scheme and submitted for inclusion in the IEEE Xplore Digital Library.

Organizers may also arrange special issues for extended journal versions of the papers.

Enquiries

General enquiries about Special Sessions Proposals should be sent directly to the Special Sessions Chairs.

Specific inquiries about a Special Session should be submitted to the session organizers, who are advised to set up a joint email address once their proposal is accepted.

• Carson K. Leung, University of Manitoba, Canada
• Kamal Karlapalem, IIIT Hyderabad, India
• Defu Lian, University of Science and Technology of China, China