# IAPR TC-11 (Reading Systems) Newsletter ## September, 2024 **Online, phone-friendly version:** [September 2024 Newsletter](http://www.iapr-tc11.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=IAPR_TC11_Newsletter_2024_09) **TC-11:** [TC-11 Homepage](http://www.iapr-tc11.org)    **X (Twitter):** [iapr_tc11](https://twitter.com/iapr_tc11) ### TABLE OF CONTENTS - Message from the Editor - Dates and Deadlines - Deadlines - Upcoming Conferences and Events - Open Call for Organizing DAR Events *(updated)* - ICDAR 2025 - Call for Papers *(repost)* - 2025 ICDAR-IJDAR Journal Track - Call for Papers *(repost)* - Call for Nominations for the IAPR/ICDAR Outstanding Achievements Award - Call for Hosting Proposals: SSDA 2025 - Call for Hosting Proposals: ICDAR 2028 - New Math Information Retrieval Book *(repost)* - Datasets - TC11 Datasets Repository - Recently published datasets - Where to share datasets Message from the Editor ======================= Dear TC11 members, This issue contains an updated call for organizing our major DAR events that will be held in the coming years. Bids for hosting the SSDA 2025 and for hosting ICDAR 2028 are open. Find more details in the calls for hosting proposals. The nominations for the IAPR/ICDAR Outstanding Achievements Award are open as well. The calls for papers for ICDAR **2025** and the associated ICDAR-IJDAR journal track can also be found in this issue. Please pay attention to the submission instructions of the IJDAR journal track. A new dataset for Bangla handwritten word images has been added to our data repository. Happy reading! **Nibal Nayef, TC11 Communication Officer** ( ) **Join us!** If you are not already a member of the TC11 community, please consider joining the [TC11 mailing list](https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=iapr-tc11&A=1). **Follow us on X (Twitter) (iapr\_tc11):** Dates and Deadlines =================== Deadlines --------- **2024** - **Oct 31** Proposal submission for hosting SSDA 2025 - **Nov 15** ICDAR-IJDAR Journal track paper submission - **Dec 15** Nominations due for the IAPR/ICDAR Outstanding Achievements Award **2025** - **Jan 31** Proposal submission for hosting ICDAR 2028 - **Feb 7** ICDAR paper title & abstract submission - **Feb 21** ICDAR full paper submission Upcoming Conferences and Events ------------------------------- **2024** - [ICPR 2024](https://icpr2024.org/). Kolkata, India (December 01-05, 2024) **2025** - [ICDAR 2025](https://www.icdar2025.com/). Wuhan, Hubei, China (September 17-21, 2025) Open Call for Organizing DAR Events *(updated)* =============================================== The IAPR technical committees on graphics recognition (TC10) and reading systems (TC11) are regularly organizing scientific events for the Document Analysis and Recognition (DAR) community, including the ICDAR flagship conference. In addition to specific calls for bids to host one of the events, we encourage teams to announce their interest in organizing one of the following events: - **ICDAR**: International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (annually; next possibility in **2028**) - **DAS**: International Workshop on Document Analysis Systems (satellite event of ICDAR in even years; next possibility in **2026**) - **HIP**: International Workshop on Historical Document Imaging and Processing (satellite event of ICDAR in odd years; next possibility in **2025**) - **GREC**: International Workshop on Graphics Recognition (satellite event of ICDAR in odd years; next possibility in **2025**) - **SSDA**: Summer School on Document Analysis (biannually in odd years; next possibility in **2025**) You may find the details of each specific call in the previous or future issues of this newsletter or in the respective websites of each event. Anyone interested in hosting one of these events is invited to announce their interest via email to and , in order to receive feedback and support for preparing a proposal. **Jean-Christophe Burie (Chair, TC10)** **Andreas Fischer (Chair, TC11)** ICDAR 2025 - Call for Papers *(repost)* ======================================= ICDAR is the premier event for scientists and practitioners involved with document analysis and recognition, a field of growing importance in our current age of digital transition. The 18th edition of this flagship conference will be held in Wuhan, September 17-21, 2025. **Conference Paper Submissions:** There is both a standard conference paper track and a journal track at ICDAR 2025; details regarding the journal track may be found in a separate Call for Papers. https://www.icdar2025.com/submission/conference-papers https://www.icdar2025.com/submission/journal-track The Review of conference papers will be double blind. Authors should not include their names, affiliations, or acknowledgements in submitted manuscripts, and should ensure that their identity is not revealed indirectly by citing their earlier work in the third person. Papers may be up to 15 pages long (including references) in Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) format. Detailed submission instructions for authors can be found on the conference website: (https://www.icdar2025.com/). **Important Dates** - Feb 7, 2025: Conference Title & Abstract submission deadline - Feb 21, 2025: Conference full paper upload and editing closed - Apr 11, 2025: Conference reviews due - Apr 18, 2025: Conference rebuttal due - Apr 25, 2025: Conference paper acceptance notation - May 16, 2025: Camera-Ready **Publication: Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science** The conference proceedings will be published as part of the Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series. Accepted papers will be freely available through SpringerLink from the conference website for one year after publication, and will later be freely available through SpringerLink four years after publication. **Contact:** Xu-Cheng Yin Dimosthenis Karatzas Daniel Lopresti 2025 ICDAR-IJDAR Journal Track - Call for Papers *(repost)* =========================================================== This is a call for papers for the IJDAR journal track of ICDAR 2025. Please note that there is both a standard conference paper track and a journal track at ICDAR 2025. The details regarding the journal track maybe found as a separate Call for Papers in the following link: https://www.icdar2025.com/submission/journal-track **IJDAR Journal Track Important Dates** - Nov 15, 2024: Journal track paper submission deadline - Jan 10, 2025: Initial journal track decision announced - Mar 14, 2025: Journal track paper revise submission deadline - May 23, 2025: Final notification **IJDAR Journal Track Submission Guidelines:** Authors should submit their papers via the ICDAR 2025 collection on the IJDAR website. Please ***choose ICDAR 2025 from the collection dropdown on the "Details" page of the submission process***. Submitted papers should present original, unpublished work, relevant to one of the topics of the Special Issue. All submitted papers will be evaluated on the basis of relevance, significance of contribution, technical quality, scholarship, and quality of presentation, by at least three independent reviewers. It is the policy of the journal that no submission, or substantially overlapping submission, be published or be under review at another journal or conference at any time during the review process. Manuscripts will be subject to a peer reviewing process and must conform to the author guidelines available on the IJDAR website at: https://link.springer.com/journal/10032/updates/27412600 **Publication: Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science** The conference proceedings will be published as part of the Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series. Accepted papers will be freely available through SpringerLink from the conference website for one year after publication, and will later be freely available through SpringerLink four years after publication. Call for Nominations for the IAPR/ICDAR Outstanding Achievements Award ====================================================================== **Important Dates** Nominations Due: December 15, 2024 The IAPR/ICDAR Award Program is an established program designed to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of Document Analysis and Recognition in one or more of the following areas: - Research - Training of students - Research/Industry interaction - Service to the community There are two awards categories: The *Young Investigator Award* (less than 40 years old at the time the award is made) and the *Outstanding Achievements Award*. They alternate in odd and even years. For ICDAR 2025, nominations are invited for the following award category: - **IAPR/ICDAR Outstanding Achievements Award** The award will consist of a token gift and a suitably inscribed certificate. The recipient will be invited to give a keynote speech at the ICDAR 2025 conference, introduced by the previous recipient of the award. The nomination pack should include the following: 1. A nominating letter (1 page) including a brief citation to be included in the certificate. 2. Supporting letters (1 page each) from 3 active researchers from at least 3 different countries. A nomination is usually put forward by a researcher (preferably from a different institution than the nominee) who is knowledgeable of the scientific achievements of the nominee, and who organizes letters of support. The submission procedure is strictly confidential, and self-nominations are not allowed. Please send nominations packs electronically to the TC10/11 chairs: **Andreas Fischer ** and **Jean-Christophe Burie **. The deadline for receiving nominations is December 15, 2024 but early submissions are strongly encouraged. Call for Hosting Proposals: SSDA 2025 ===================================== This is a call for proposals for hosting the IAPR TC10/TC11 Summer School on Document Analysis (SSDA) 2025. **Important Dates** Proposal Submission Deadline: October 31, 2024 Submit Proposals via email to: - Foteini Simistira Liwicki (TC11 Representative), foteini.liwicki\@ltu.se - KC Santosh (TC10 Representative), kc.santosh\@usd.edu Part of the mission of International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR) TC11 and TC10 is to promote high quality educational activities related to Reading Systems and Graphics Recognition. Responding to this need, TC10 and TC11 have organized a series of summer schools. After the successful organization of summer schools in India, France, Pakistan, Sweden, and Switzerland, we are now soliciting proposals for the organization of the sixth "IAPR TC10/TC11 Summer School on Document Analysis" (SSDA) in 2025. The "IAPR TC10/TC11 Summer School on Document Analysis" is intended to become the primary educational activity of IAPR TC11 (Reading Systems) and TC10 (Graphics Recognition). The School is meant to be a training activity where participants are exposed to the latest trends and techniques of Reading Systems and Graphics Recognition. The aim of the School is to provide both an objective and clear overview and an in-depth analysis of the state-of-the-art research in selected topics of Reading Systems and Graphics Recognition. The School should aim to provide a stimulating opportunity for young researchers and PhD students in the field. Individuals and groups who are interested in Reading Systems and Graphics Recognition are invited to submit proposals for organizing and hosting the 2025 IAPR TC10 / TC11 Summer School. As the previous summer schools were organized in Asia, Europe, and the Sub-continent, organization teams from the Americas and Africa are encouraged to submit a bid in order to facilitate the envisioned rotational scheme of the IAPR TC10 / TC11 Summer School. In order to fully plan their bid, it is expected that proposers familiarize themselves with the guidelines for organizing the School first. The Guidelines can be found at the TC11 Web site or click [here](http://www.iapr-tc11.org/mediawiki/index.php/Guidelines_for_Organising_and_Bidding_to_Host_the_TC10_/_TC11_Summer_School). The submission of a bid implies full agreement with the rules and procedures for organizing the School. Especially, this means that organizers will apply for IAPR support and that the event will use the series title "IAPR TC10/TC11 Summer School on Document Analysis" with an optional sub-title denoting a special focus of the respective event. Please consider submitting a proposal for this increasingly important event for the TC10/TC11 community. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact the TC11 and TC10 SSDA representatives: Foteini Simistira Liwicki (TC11 Representative) and KC Santosh (TC10 Representative). **Previous events** As a reference, the 2023 Summer School on Document Analysis was held in Fribourg, Switzerland (URL: ) Call for Hosting Proposals: ICDAR 2028 ====================================== Deadline: January 31, 2025 Submission Method: Email to the TC10/11 chairs Andreas Fischer and Jean-Christophe Burie The International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR) is the flagship event of TC10/11. It has been established as a bi-annual conference in 1991 and is held annually since 2023. The aim of ICDAR is to bring together international experts to share their experiences and to promote research and development in all areas of Document Analysis and Recognition. The ICDAR Advisory Board is seeking proposals to host the 22nd International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition, to be held in 2028 (ICDAR 2028). Any consortium interested in making a proposal to host an ICDAR should first familiarize themselves with the "Guidelines for Organizing and Bidding to Host ICDAR" document which is available on the TC10 and TC11 websites ( and , respectively). **Important Notice (coordination with ICPR 2028):** To facilitate participation at ICDAR 2028 and ICPR 2028, organizing teams are requested to make sure that there is no overlap between the two conferences, and a gap of at least one month if they are organized in the same geographical region. The location of ICPR 2028 will be known in December 2024. A link to the most current version of the guidelines appears below. Please check on the website of TC11 for the latest version. *Note that the current guidelines still refer to a bi-annual event. An updated version is coming soon that will reflect the change to an annual conference.* The submission of a bid implies full agreement with the rules and procedures outlined in that document. The submitted proposal must define clearly the items specified in the guidelines (Section 5.2). It has been the tradition that the location of ICDAR conferences follows a rotating schedule among different continents. Hence, proposals from the Americas are strongly encouraged. However, high quality bids from other locations, for example, from countries where we have had no ICDAR before, will also be considered. Proposals will be examined by the ICDAR Advisory Board. Proposals should be emailed to the TC10/11 chairs Andreas Fischer and Jean-Christophe Burie by January 31, 2025. **ICDAR Advisory Board,** **Andreas Fischer (Chair, TC11), Jean-Christophe Burie (Chair, TC10), Anna Esposito (Chair, IAPR C&M), Koichi Kise, Dimosthenis Karatzas, Srirangaraj Setlur** New Math Information Retrieval Book *(repost)* ============================================== The first draft for a new book on mathematical information retrieval has been released. The book includes discussions on segmenting and recognizing formulas for use in math-aware search engines. The draft is available on arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.11646. The book is planned to appear in the series *Foundations and Trends in Information Retrieval* in the coming year. Please have a look if this is of interest, and any comments or questions would be greatly received at ***rxzvcs\@rit.edu***. Details are below. **Book Title:** Mathematical Information Retrieval: Search and Question Answering **Authors:** [Richard Zanibbi](https://arxiv.org/search/cs?searchtype=author&query=Zanibbi,+R), [Behrooz Mansouri](https://arxiv.org/search/cs?searchtype=author&query=Mansouri,+B), [Anurag Agarwal](https://arxiv.org/search/cs?searchtype=author&query=Agarwal,+A) Mathematical information is essential for technical work, but its creation, interpretation, and search are challenging. To help address these challenges, researchers have developed multimodal search engines and mathematical question answering systems. This book begins with a simple framework characterizing the information tasks that people and systems perform as we work to answer math-related questions. The framework is used to organize and relate the other core topics of the book, including interactions between people and systems, representing math formulas in sources, and evaluation. We close with some key questions and concrete directions for future work. This book is intended for use by students, instructors, and researchers, and those who simply wish that it was easier to find and use mathematical information. **Draft link:** https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.11646 Datasets ======== TC11 Datasets Repository ------------------------ ### Recently published datasets **HandwrittenWordsB**: Annotated Bangla Handwritten Word Images for Character Detection - Contributed: 2024-09-04 - Keywords: bangla writing, handwritten words, characters annotated, train YOLO - URL: https://tc11.cvc.uab.es/datasets/HandwrittenWordsB\_1 ### Where to share datasets Did you know it? We have two official places for datasets: - Our historical platform for storage and listing: http://datasets.iapr-tc11.org - A Zenodo community (if you choose to submit your datasets there): https://zenodo.org/communities/iapr-tc11 TC11 maintains a collection of datasets that can be found online in the [TC11 Datasets Repository](http://www.iapr-tc11.org/mediawiki/index.php/Datasets). If you have new datasets (e.g., from competitions) that you wish to share with the research community, please use the [online upload form](http://tc11.cvc.uab.es/upload/). For questions and support, please contact the TC11 Dataset Curator (contact information is below). **Joseph Chazalon (TC11 Dataset Curator)** ( ) Contributions and Subscriptions ================================== **Call for Contributions:** To contribute news items, please send a short email to the editor, [Nibal Nayef](mailto:n.nayef@gmail.com). Contributions might include conference and workshop announcements or reports, job opportunities, book reviews, or anything else of interest to the TC11 community. **Subscription:** This newsletter is sent to subscribers of the IAPR TC11 mailing list. To join the TC11 mailing list, please click on [this link](https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=iapr-tc11&A=1). To manage your subscription, please visit the [mailing list homepage](https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=IAPR-TC11). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IAPR TC11 HOMEPAGE: [http://www.iapr-tc11.org](http://www.iapr-tc11.org) The IAPR is the International Association for Pattern Recognition. IAPR's Technical Committee No. 11 (TC11) includes researchers and practitioners working with Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and more generally the analysis and recognition of information in documents.