JCDL 2026 Special Issue (International Journal on Digital Libraries)
A special issue of the International Journal on Digital Libraries (IJDL) will gather extended versions of strong work presented at the 2026 ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries. The collection is open for submissions through the journal’s editorial system.
Manuscripts are reviewed as they arrive rather than held until the deadline.
About the Special Issue
Scope
JCDL is an annual international, interdisciplinary conference that — alongside ICADL and TPDL — serves as one of the three leading venues connecting the digital library, computer science, and library and information science communities. JCDL 2026 is a hybrid conference in Dallas, Texas, USA, from October 13–16, 2026, with a program spanning long and short research papers, an undergraduate research symposium, posters, demos, and a resource track. The special issue reflects the conference’s increasing engagement with artificial intelligence, machine learning, and large language models alongside established digital library methods.
Who Will Be Invited
Invitations reach further than the award-nominated papers alone. The Program Committee may also invite authors whose papers received strong nominations without reaching the final award shortlist, authors of relevant workshop papers, and authors of work that was not originally submitted to the conference. Papers judged not yet conference-ready — for instance, those needing a further review round or exceeding the proceedings page limit — are encouraged to be submitted to IJDL for consideration.
Extension and Review Requirements
Following the practice of previous special issues, invited authors are asked to extend the conference paper by at least 30%. Substantive additions are expected, such as:
- Expanded experiments or additional case studies
- A fuller treatment of related literature
- Deeper discussion of results and their implications
- Refined methodology and strengthened conclusions
Every extended submission goes through the standard IJDL peer-review process, which may draw on the same reviewers who assessed the original conference paper, and is assessed a second time to confirm that reviewer feedback has been addressed.
Unifying Themes
Accepted papers will be organized under three themes:
- LLM-augmented discovery and understanding of large-scale digital collections
- Trust, quality, and integrity in AI-driven digital library systems
- Equity, access, and the human experience of digital libraries
Key Dates
Timeline
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Manuscript submission deadline | July 31, 2027 |
| Initial review | Begins upon submission |
| First decision | September 30, 2027 |
| Revised submission | November 30, 2027 |
| Second decision | January 15, 2028 |
| Final version due | February 15, 2028 |
Because review starts as soon as a manuscript arrives, early submissions receive decisions earlier in the cycle.
How to Submit
Submission Process
Submit through Editorial Manager for the International Journal on Digital Libraries and select the JCDL 2026 Special Issue collection when prompted for the article type. Review the journal’s submission guidelines for formatting, length, and policy requirements before you submit.
Links
- Special issue: https://link.springer.com/collections/bddbbehaba
- Submission system: https://www.editorialmanager.com/ijdl/
- Submission guidelines: https://link.springer.com/journal/799/submission-guidelines
Guest Editors
Contact the Guest Editors
Questions about the special issue can be directed to the guest editors.
Haihua Chen (Lead Guest Editor)
University of North Texas, USA
Haihua.chen@unt.edu
Jiqun Liu
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, USA
jiqunliu@uwm.edu
Jim Jansen
Peking University, China
jjansen@acm.org