LISA '05 Home

Conference Overview

Important Dates/Contact Information

Conference Organizers

Refereed Papers

Training Program

Invited Talks and Guru Sessions

Workshops, WiPs, and BoFs

Sponsorship and Exhibit Opportunities

Call for Papers in PDF Format

Refereed papers explore techniques, tools, theory, and case histories that extend our understanding of system and network administration. They present results in the context of previous related work. The crucial component is that your paper present something new or timely; for instance, something that was not previously avalable, or something that had not previously been discussed in a paper. If you are looking for ideas for topics that fit this description, the Program Committee has compiled a list of some good open questions and research areas. This list is not meant to be exhaustive; we welcome proposals about all new and interesting work.

It is important to fit your work into the context of past work and practice. LISA papers must provide references to prior relevant work and describe the differences between that work and their own. Authors should browse proceedings of previous LISA conferences for references and can use the online proceedings (going back to 1993) here, search the USENIX site for specific papers or topics, or use the bibliography and resource page at Oslo University College (https://www.iu.hio.no/SystemAdmin) to find references to related work.

Proposal and Submission Details
Our submission requirements this year are a bit different from prior years, so please take a moment to read these new guidelines. Anyone who wants help writing a proposal should contact the Program Chair at lisa05chair@usenix.org. The conference organizers want to make sure good work gets published, so we are happy to help you at whatever stage we can in the process.

Proposals can be submitted as draft papers or extended abstracts. Draft papers are preferred. Like most conferences and journals, LISA requires that papers not be submitted simultaneously to more than one conference or publication and that submitted papers not be previously or subsequently published elsewhere for a certain period of time.

Draft papers: A draft paper proposal is limited to 16 pages, including diagrams, figures, references, and appendices. It should be a complete or near-complete paper, so that the Program Committee has the best possible understanding of your ideas and presentation.

Extended abstracts: An extended abstract proposal should be about 5 pages long (500–1500 words, not counting figures and references) and should include a brief outline of the final paper. The form of the full paper must be clear from your abstract. The Program Committee will be attempting to judge the quality of the final paper from your abstract. This is harder to do with extended abstracts than with the preferred form of draft papers, so your abstract must be as helpful as possible in this process to be considered for acceptance.

General submission rules:

• All submissions must be electronic, in ASCII or PDF format only. ASCII format is greatly preferred. Proposals must be submitted using this Web form.
• Submissions containing trade secrets or accompanied by nondisclosure agreement forms are not acceptable and will be returned unread. As a matter of policy, all submissions are held in the highest confidence prior to publication in the conference proceedings. They will be read by Program Committee members and a select set of designated outside reviewers.
• Submissions whose main purpose is to promote a commercial product or service will not be accepted.
• Submissions can be submitted only by the author of the paper. No third-party submissions will be accepted.
• All accepted papers must be presented at the LISA conference by at least one author. One author per paper will receive a registration discount of $200. USENIX will offer a complimentary registration for the technical program upon request.
• Authors of an accepted paper must provide a final paper for publication in the conference proceedings. Final papers are limited to 16 pages, including diagrams, figures, references, and appendices. Complete instructions will be sent to the authors of accepted papers. To aid authors in creating a paper suitable for LISA's audience, authors of accepted proposals will be assigned one or more shepherds to help with the process of completing the paper. The shepherds will read one or more intermediate drafts and provide comments before the authors complete the final draft.