Balisage: The Markup Conference
Submission Instructions

Papers will be published in the proceedings of the conference. Talks, based on the accepted papers, will be 30 minutes long, followed by 20 minutes for questions.

Please read and observe all the following instructions. If you have difficulty understanding or following these guidelines, let us know and we will do our best to address your needs.

The Deal - Summarized

• Submissions must be:
  • Full papers or very extensive draft papers
    (Note: Authors or groups that have presented at previous Balisage events and have not provided full papers on time must provide full papers for peer review. These preliminary versions of their papers will be published in the conference proceedings if the submission is accepted and a revised paper reflecting the peer reviewer comments is not received on time.)
  • In XML, according to the Balisage tag set (a subset of DocBook V5 available in DTD, XSD, and RNG formats), or in another format IF AND ONLY IF you consult with the conference committee in advance
  • All new material (or previously presented only at small, local events; not previously published)
  • Received by 5 April 2024.
• Accepted speakers are expected to:
  • Provide a complete paper,
    • revised from the initial submission, taking into consideration the comments and suggestions of the peer reviewers
    • On or before 12 July 2024
    • In XML using the conference vocabulary
      or, if you have arranged for help, your full paper in another format for conversion to XML by the conference committee
  • One or more of the authors of the paper are expected to:
    • Present a 30 minute talk, live (not recorded), in English, based on the paper, at Balisage 2024
    • Answer questions, in English, about the paper after the presentation
    • Attend the entire conference
    • Pay the speaker registration fee (see Registration Forms)
  • All authors must sign the Balisage Non-exclusive Publication Agreement
• Balisage will:
  • Peer review all reasonable submissions (described on the Peer Review page)
  • Tell authors if their submissions have been accepted on or about 22 May 2023
  • Publish all accepted papers in the online conference proceedings
  • Publish speaker's on-site materials (e.g., slides) in the conference proceedings after the conference

Details

All papers must be submitted in XML using the Balisage Tag Set (which is a small subset of DocBook V5) and submitted using the file naming conventions described in the Instructions for Authors.

Dates

We must receive your submission by 5 April 2024. Especially if your paper contains complex formatting requirements (many graphics, unusual characters, large tables, equations) or if you are not experienced creating prose documents in XML we urge you to get the paper to us as soon as possible. (If it is not practical for you to provide your paper in XML according to our tag set, please consult with us about available support at info@balisage.net.)

We will notify chosen speakers and provide peer comments by 16 May 2024. Final papers will be due 12 July 2024.

Copyright Release

All presenters at Balisage 2024 will be required to sign the Nonexclusive Publication Agreement & License, which is available for review at: BalisagePublicationAgreement.pdf.

Instructions On Draft Paper Submission

Draft papers should be detailed enough to allow peer reviewers to judge the relevance of the topic, the interest of the results, and the quality and technical merit of presentation. No less than in final versions, bibliographic references to relevant work should be provided; claims that there is no relevant published work may be cause for skepticism from peer reviewers.

If the peer reviewers find that your draft paper has insufficient detail to evaluate your presentation, there will not be time for you to revise your submission before the end of the peer review period. In other words: if you don't send in a paper with enough substance to be evaluated, your submission will not be accepted, however exciting the ideas may be.

Authors of Balisage papers, especially those who have not participated in Balisage before, may be interested in descriptions of the Balisage Peer Review and Paper Selection processes.

Questions/Problems

If you have any questions on any of the above, or any problem creating your paper, please send email to info@balisage.net.

Please help us make Balisage: The Markup Conference exciting and lively.
We look forward to seeing you at Balisage.

Debbie Lapeyre
Jim Mason
C. M. Sperberg-McQueen
B. Tommie Usdin
Norm Walsh