# IAPR TC-11 (Reading Systems) Newsletter ## December, 2025 **Online, phone-friendly version:** [December 2025 Newsletter](http://www.iapr-tc11.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=IAPR_TC11_Newsletter_2025_12) **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 *(repost)* - ICDAR 2026 - Call for Papers *(updated)* - ICPR 2026 Calls for Papers, Tutorials *(updated)* - ICPRAI 2026: Call for Papers *(repost)* - Scientific Competitions - Competition News - ICDAR 2026 Competitions - ICPR 2026 Competitions - ICPRAI 2026 Competition Track - Job Postings - Two PhD Positions at dprl Lab, RIT, USA *(repost)* - Datasets - TC11 Datasets Repository Message from the Editor ======================= Dear TC11 members, The call for papers for our flagship conference ICDAR 2026 is here, and submissions are now open. Find also reposts of calls for papers for ICPR 2026 (extended deadline), ICPRAI 2026 and for ICPR conference tutorials. Participation in competitions is now open for ICDAR and ICPR. Note also that there is a new "competition track" in ICPRAI, where authors may submit 3-page discussion papers. This issue also contains a repost of offers for PhD students at dprl Lab, RIT, USA. With this last newsletter issue of the year 2025, I wish you happy peaceful holidays and a happy new year! **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 --------- **2026** - **Jan 10** ICPR paper submission (extended) - **Jan 15** ICPRAI paper submission - **Feb 13** ICDAR abstracts submission (hard deadline) - **Feb 15** ICPRAI competition papers (new track) - **Feb 27** ICDAR full papers submission (hard deadline) - **Feb 28** ICPR Tutorial proposals due Upcoming Conferences and Events ------------------------------- **2026** - [ICPRAI 2026](https://icprai2026.com/). Montréal, Québec, Canada (June 15-18, 2026) - [ICPR 2026](https://icpr2026.org/index.html). Lyon, France (August 17-22, 2026) - [ICDAR 2026](https://icdar2026.org/). Vienna, Austria (August 30 - September 4, 2026) Open Call for Organizing DAR Events *(repost)* ============================================== 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 **2029**) - **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; next possibility in **2026**) - **GREC**: International Workshop on Graphics Recognition (satellite event of ICDAR in odd years; next possibility in **2027**) - **SSDA**: Summer School on Document Analysis (biannually in odd years; next possibility in **2027**) 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. **KC Santosh (Chair, TC10)** **Andreas Fischer (Chair, TC11)** ICDAR 2026 - Call for Papers *(updated)* ======================================== The International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR) is the premier scientific venue in the field of document analysis and recognition. This conference brings together international experts from academia and industry to present their latest research results, share their experiences and to promote research and development in all aspects of recognition and analysis of documents, with a particular focus on document image analysis. The 20th edition of this flagship conference will be held as an in person event in Vienna, Austria, from August 30 to September 04, 2026. ***Submissions are now OPEN !*** **Topics:** Topics of interest to the conference include, but are not limited to: Document image processing, Physical and logical layout analysis, Text and symbol recognition, Handwriting recognition, Document analysis systems, Document classification, Indexing and retrieval of documents, Document synthesis, Extracting document semantics, NLP for document image analysis, Office automation, Graphics recognition, Human document interaction, Document Representation Modeling, Private and secure document understanding, Structured document generation, Multimedia document analysis, Mobile text recognition, Pen-based document analysis, Scene text detection and Recognition, Recognition of tables and formulas, Historical document analysis, Signature verification, Document summarization and translation, Document forensics and provenance, Medical document analysis, Document analysis for literature search, Gold-standard benchmarks and datasets, Foundation models for document understanding. **Conference Paper Submissions:** Authors are invited to submit full-length papers describing original work of not more than 17 pages including figures and references. 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. Authors will be given the opportunity to respond to reviews in a rebuttal phase. Submitted papers must adhere to the Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) format (Springer Guidelines/Templates). Detailed submission instructions for authors including the submission link can be found in the paper submission instructions. ICDAR 2026 will give awards for the best paper, the best student paper, best poster paper, and the best industry paper, all of which will be presented at the conference. ***Find here the detailed submission instructions: https://icdar2026.org/index.php/paper-submission-instruction/*** **Important Notes:** Manuscripts not adhering to the page limit (maximum 17 pages all included), the formatting guidelines (Springer Lecture Notes format) or the anonymization requirements will be rejected without review. Authors wishing to submit their manuscript to a pre-publication service (such as, for example arXiv.org) may do so. Likewise, links to GitHub websites for sharing data and code are permitted. Reviewers will be advised not to attempt to determine the identity of authors by searching for that information within online sources such as this. The authorship of submitted manuscripts is final. No changes to the list of authors will be allowed once a paper has been submitted! Dual submissions of manuscripts to other venues in parallel to ICDAR 2026 are prohibited! **Important Dates** - Abstracts Deadline: 13 February 2026 - Full Paper Deadline: 27 February 2026 - Reviews to Authors: 17 April 2026 - Rebuttal Deadline: 24 April 2026 - Acceptance Notification: 15 May 2026 - Camera-ready Deadline: 15 June 2026 All deadlines are strict at 23:59 AOE (Anywhere on Earth). ***There will be NO EXTENSIONS.*** **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. Papers need to be presented in person at the conference in order to be included in the published proceedings. **Contact:** pc-chairs\@icdar2026.org ICPR 2026 Calls for Papers, Tutorials *(updated)* ================================================= The International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR) is the leading event of the International Association for Pattern Recognition, recognized as a top conference in the field. It encompasses a wide range of topics where Pattern Recognition methods are applied in fields including Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Image Processing, Speech and Natural Language Processing, and Sensor Pattern Processing. The 28th ICPR, to be held in 2026, offers an excellent platform for students, academics, and industry researchers to foster new ideas and collaborations. **Main topics of interest:** - Artificial Intelligence, Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning - Computer and Robot Vision - Image, Speech, Signal and Video Processing - Biometrics and Human Computer Interaction - ***Document Analysis and Recognition*** - Biomedical Imaging and Bioinformatics The ***main call for papers*** for ICPR 2026 can be found [here](https://icpr2026.org/calls.html). The ICPR 2026 Organizing Committee invites proposals for workshops, competitions and tutorials in conjunction with the 28th International Conference on Pattern Recognition, which will be held at Lyon, France, during August 17-21, 2026. In the following, you may find the information on each type of event and links to the full calls. **Tutorials** The ICPR 2026 Organizing Committee seeks tutorials on emerging research topics, core techniques, and application areas that are of interest within the ICPR community. An effective and informative tutorial should provide a broad introduction to the chosen research area as well as in-depth coverage of selected advanced topics. Proposals that focus exclusively on the presenters' own work or commercial presentations are not acceptable. Submission guidelines and other important information related to tutorials are detailed [here](https://icpr2026.org/callTutorials.html). **Important Dates** (AoE (UTC-12)) - Competition proposals Due: November 1, 2025 (passed) - Workshop proposals due : November 30, 2025 (passed) - Conference paper submission : January 10, 2026 (extended) - Tutorial proposals due: February 28, 2026 - Doctoral consortium submission deadline: May 2, 2026 - Early bird registration deadline: July 31, 2026 - Workshop dates: August 21 and 22, 2026 - ICPR Main Conference dates: August 17-22, 2026 **Contact:** contact\@icpr2026.org ICPRAI 2026: Call for Papers *(repost)* ======================================= The CENPARMI (Centre for Pattern Recognition and Machine Intelligence) of Concordia University is organizing the 5th edition of the international conference on Pattern Recognition & Artificial Intelligence ([ICPRAI](https://icprai2026.com/)) to be held on June 15-18, 2026 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. Topics of interest include, but not limited to: ***Track 1:*** Recognition of different types of patterns, handwriting, document, text, face, fingerprint, iris, brain, and strategic objects and targets. ***Track 2:*** Computer vision and image processing, biomedical analysis, 2D and 3D images, tomography, graphics, robotics, and multimedia applications. ***Track 3:*** Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, neural networks, deep learning and classification techniques, speech and language processing semantic analysis, computational linguistics, e-learning and innovative teaching methods. ***Track 4:*** Security and forensic studies, mobile applications, big data, small sample size, data mining and performance evaluation, intelligent systems and various applications. **Notes:** 1. Best papers will be selected for a Special Issue in the International Journal of Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence., 2. Papers of general interest will be considered for a new book in the Book Series of Language Processing, Pattern Recognition, and Intelligent Systems (http://www.worldscientific.com/series/scpl). 3. The conference proceedings will be published in Lecture Notes in Computer Science (Scopus-indexed) **Important Dates:** Note: All times are in Eastern Standard Time (GMT-04:00) - Paper Submission: January 15, 2026 - Acceptance notification: March 7, 2026 - Camera ready papers & Copyright Form: March 13, 2026 - Early Registration: until April 30, 2026 - Regular Registration: May 1 - June 18, 2026 - Conference: June 15-18, 2026 **Important Links:** Website: https://icprai2026.com/ Paper Submission: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icprai2026 Contact Secretariat: icprai26\@encs.concordia.ca Scientific Competitions ======================= Competition News ---------------- ### ICDAR 2026 Competitions ICDAR competitions are now online and open for participation. Please find the list of competitions and their details here: https://icdar2026.org/index.php/competitions/ ### ICPR 2026 Competitions Among the ICPR competitions, there is a competition on ***"Low-Resolution License Plate Recognition"***, the challenge focuses on recognizing license plates in surveillance settings where images are often low-resolution. This involves scientific challenges related to our document analysis field such as: super-resolution of document images, robust Optical Character Recognition (OCR) techniques, capable of operating effectively despite low-quality input conditions, document image quality assessment and enhancement. ***Competition website*** (full details, rules, and registration): https://icpr26lrlpr.github.io/ The top five teams will be invited to contribute to the competition summary paper to be published in the ICPR 2026 proceedings. ***Competition Organizers:*** Rayson Laroca (PPGIa-PUCPR) Valfride Nascimento (PPGInf-UFPR) David Menotti (PPGInf-UFPR) ***Contact:*** menotti\@inf.ufpr.br ### ICPRAI 2026 Competition Track [The 5th ICPRAI](https://icprai2026.com/) is introducing "Competitions" in its Program with three prizes of CAD\500 each, to bridge classical PR methods and modern AI challenges, to raise the awareness of the general public about the important role of "PR", and to boost the image and visibility of "PR". Participants are invited to submit a ***3-page discussion paper*** on one or more of the following topics to our new TRACK "Competition": - Why a lot more people know "AI" than "PR"? - The important role "PR" plays in "AI" applications - Do "AI" and "PR" really need guardrails? And what about remedies when something goes wrong? All participants are encouraged to submit discussion papers with illustrations to the competition 'TRACK' before February 15, 2026. Authors of the "Best Discussion Papers" will receive cash prizes and their papers will be displayed at a distinct Notice Board at the conference. When uploading your paper to EasyChair, select the Competition track. ***Organizers:*** ICPRAI 2026 Best Paper Award Committee Job Postings ============ Two PhD Positions at dprl Lab, RIT, USA *(repost)* -------------------------------------------------- **Description** The Document and Pattern Recognition Lab [(dprl)](https://www.cs.rit.edu/~dprl/index.html) at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Rochester, NY, USA, is currently looking to recruit two PhD students to start their studies in Fall 2026. The primary focus of the labs' work is multi-modal retrieval incorporating graphics and text, with graphics including math notation, chemical diagrams, and music. A summary of past and ongoing projects in the lab can be found [here](https://www.cs.rit.edu/~dprl/projects.html). Members of the lab have gone on to faculty positions at US universities, as well as Research Scientist positions at Apple and Meta. Our work has appeared in a number of top-tier venues including SIGIR, CHI, and CVPR. **Qualifications** - BSc or MSc in Computer Science - Well-developed reading, writing, and communication skills - Strong programming skills and experience preferred - Solid mathematical foundations (e.g., discrete math, calculus, probability and statistics) - Previous experience with experimental design and execution a helpful bonus **Applications** Please submit a short resume, (unofficial) transcripts and the names of 3 references to Dr. Richard Zanibbi (rxzvcs\@rit.edu). Please feel free to send any questions that you may have to rxzvcs\@rit.edu as well. Datasets ======== TC11 Datasets Repository ------------------------ **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.