ICNP, the IEEE International Conference on Network Protocols, is the premier conference covering all aspects of network protocol research, including design, analysis, specification, verification, implementation, and performance. ICNP 2021 will be held in Dallas, Texas as a virtual event between November 1-5, 2021.

Scope

The conference is soliciting paper submissions with significant research contributions to the field of network protocol research. Both experimental studies as well as formal investigations are equally welcome. Topics traditionally of interest include, but are not limited to:

• All aspects of network protocol research including design, specification, verification, implementation, measurement, testing, and analysis.
• Protocols for wireless networks, cellular networks, software-defined networks, data center networks, social networks, sensor networks, vehicular networks, and Internet of Things.
• Domain-specific solutions, including protocols for network security, routing, user privacy, and network management.
• Network protocols meet AI/ML, e.g., application of AI/Machine Learning to improve network protocols and operations; networking and protocols for improving the performance of AI/Machine Learning systems.
• Contributions to network architecture, e.g., algorithms and protocols for network virtualization or future Internet architectures.
• Contributions to other areas of data communications to the extent that they articulate a strong connection to network protocols, for example by discussing potential implications on the design or performance of certain types of network protocols.

Authors who are unsure whether or not their submissions might fit the scope of the conference are welcome to contact the Program Committee co-Chairs.

Paper Formatting

Paper submissions should adhere to the IEEE Conference formatting requirements using the templates available here, and should not exceed 10 pages excluding references. It is the authors' responsibility to produce readable submissions that comply with the formatting constraints. Violating the formatting requirements to squeeze in additional materials will result in a submission being returned without being reviewed.

Submission and Anonymity Policy

Papers submitted to the conference will be reviewed through a double-blind review process, where the identities of the authors are withheld from the reviewers (and that of the reviewers from the authors). Achieving this goal requires some care to, on the one hand, preserve the anonymity of your submission, and on the other hand ensuring proper coverage of related past work, including your own. While this requirement may seem challenging, the few basic steps listed below will go a long way towards achieving the desired outcome:

• Remove all authors' identifiers, e.g., names, emails, and affiliations, from the title page.
• Remove acknowledgments of and identifiers of funding sources.
• Use anonymous names for your files, as source file names are often embedded in the final output you generate, and therefore accessible as comments.
• When referring to your own related work, refer to it in the third person as you would with any other related work by another author.

Besides anonymizing your submission, double-blind reviewing also imposes additional requirements on both authors and reviewers. Specifically, while it is permissible for authors to give local talks on their work and release their paper on a non-peer-reviewed location, e.g., an institutional repository or even arXiv, care should be exercised to limit public exposure as much as possible. This requirement includes refraining from advertising the work on mailing lists and public forums, and in general limiting as much as possible the odds that program committee members be exposed to the work and the authors’ identity. Conversely, program committee members will be advised to neither actively seek to “reverse engineer” the authors’ identity, nor to directly share with other program committee members any such information they may have acquired. All questions regarding possible breaches of the anonymity covenant that underlies the double-blind review process will be adjudicated by the Program Committee co-Chairs.

All papers will be provisionally accepted and the final acceptance of any paper will be subject to shepherding by a member of the program committee.

Submission and Plagiarism Policy

Papers must present original contributions and can neither be previously published nor under review by another conference or journal. Papers containing plagiarized materials will be subject to the IEEE plagiarism policy and possible penalties and will be rejected without being reviewed.

Best Paper Award and Fast-Track Journal Publication

One of the accepted papers will be selected for the Best Paper award, and will be fast tracked to the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, with a streamlined journal review process.

Presentation and Registration Requirements

IEEE ICNP requires that at least one of the authors of any accepted paper must register for the conference at the full rate and be available to present the paper at the conference. While we anticipate ICNP 2021 will be held physically in-person in Dallas, TX, in the unlikely event that the conference is held virtually or partially virtually due to health considerations, we will accommodate requests by authors to present papers remotely, without physical attendance, and subsequently to include the paper in the conference proceedings and in IEEE Xplore. However, any paper that is not presented by an author of the paper, either in-person or remotely, will be withdrawn from the proceedings and thus from IEEE Xplore. At least one author from each accepted paper will be expected to register at the full rate whether presenting remotely or in person.

Technical Program Chairs

Y. Charlie Hu (Purdue University, USA)
Xiaowei Yang (Duke University, USA)

Important Dates

Title / Abstract registration	May 17, 2021 (8:00 p.m. EDT)
Full paper submission	May 24, 2021 (8:00 p.m. EDT)
Notification of acceptance	August 3, 2021
Camera ready version	August 24 September 7, 2021