Call for Highlight Papers

Please note that the submissions deadline has passed. The call for Highlight Papers is closed.

Highlight Papers track chair: Ana Conesa

The ECCB2022 Programme Committee invites the submission of full papers that have been published since the 1st of March 2021 or which are already accepted for publication and accessible through the journal website, for a highlight presentation.

The organisation of the conference presentations will be according to six main topics:

Topic	Keywords
Data	Organisation, management, categorisation, integration, analysis of data, knowledge discovery
Genomes	Sequence analysis, alignment, evolution, phylogeny, genetics, epigenetics, 3D conformation
Genes	Expression, function, regulation, transcription, translation, geno-phenotype
Proteins	Structure, function, alterations, assemblies, interactions, design, proteomics
Systems	Systems biology, pathways, molecular networks, dynamics, signalling, multi-scale modelling
Climate crisis and health	Air quality, heat stress, infectious diseases

Authors should indicate one of the six topics. The Programme Committee will determine to which topic a submission is assigned taking authors preferences into consideration. The topic assigned will be used to streamline the review process and to group the conference presentations in appropriate thematic sessions.

All papers published in peer-reviewed journals between the 1st of March 2021 and the submission deadline are eligible to be presented as highlight talks. Papers in press are acceptable only if already available through the journal website.

The submission should include a 250-word ‘scientific justification’ that explains how the work of the submitted paper is impacting the field and why it would make a valuable addition to ECCB2022. Note that this is different from the abstract of the paper, which should also be supplied upon submission. The presenters are encouraged (but not required) to also present more recent work and indicate this fact in the scientific justification. Acceptance or rejection for a highlight talk will only be based on the scientific justification, publication(s) and general suitability for presentation.

Selected highlight paper submissions will be presented in person from the venue of the conference in talks distributed in parallel tracks. The presentations should be no longer than 15 minutes and will be followed by 3-minute discussions. Presenters should focus on the chosen paper, and are encouraged to include more recent results. In fact, closed stories that conclude with a particular publication not bearing follow-up perspectives might not constitute the best highlight presentations.

Taken together, the ultimate goal of the Highlight Papers track is to attract exciting and thought-provoking seminars that will both contribute to the success of the conference and to the impact the meeting has on advancing computational biology and bioinformatics.

The submissions will be evaluated by the ECCB2022 Programme Committee, which is integrated by the chairs of all ECCB2022 tracks. The submissions will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

1. Relevance, interest, and value of the topic to conference attendees.
2. Impact of the paper on biology and/or medicine. Note that while the impact of papers on science is not fully reflected by ISI/Google-like impact factors or a high number of downloads, high values for such metrics will count favourably.
3. “Presentability” of the work to a large, diverse audience.
4. The seniority of the presenting author.
5. Submissions that allow the presentation of related interesting unpublished new results will be reviewed favourably.
6. We aim to balance across topics, presenters gender and seniority level, and we may factor these aspects into the acceptance decisions.

None of the criteria above are “hard”. The ultimate decision of acceptance for a highlight paper talk lies with the ECCB2022 Programme Committee. Moreover, it should be stressed that reviews of highlight paper submissions will not include a review of the paper itself.

Accepted presenters for the Highlight Papers track are required to deliver the presentation in person from the venue of the conference and must register and pay to attend the conference.

For each presenting author, only one submission to the Highlight Papers track will be considered. The same limitation applies to the senior author.

The submissions must be sent through EasyChair via the Highlight Papers track submission site (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=eccb2022) including the following:

1. Name, affiliation and email of the presenting author (note that the presenter cannot be changed because the identity and ability to present of that person will be an essential selection criterion).
2. Names, affiliations and emails of all co-authors that appear on the paper. Note that all co-authors must agree to the submission. It is the responsibility of the submitter to guarantee that all co-author email addresses are correct (email notifications of the submission will be sent to all co-authors).
3. Title.
4. At least three keywords (also known as key phrases or key terms) to characterise your submission.
5. Application domain (choose one):
   • Health
   • Agro-Food
   • Biotechnology
   • Biodiversity
   • Fundamental (Fundamental/basic research with no immediate application domain)
6. Topics (choose one):
   • Data: Organisation, management, categorisation, integration, analysis of data, knowledge discovery.
   • Genomes: Sequence analysis, alignment, evolution, phylogeny, genetics, epigenetics, 3D conformation.
   • Genes: Expression, function, regulation, transcription, translation, geno-phenotype.
   • Proteins: Structure, function, alterations, assemblies, interactions, design, proteomics.
   • Systems: Systems biology, pathways, molecular networks, dynamics, signalling, multi-scale modelling.
   • Climate Crisis and Health: Air quality, heat stress, infectious diseases.
7. 150-word description of the presentation for promotion on the conference website. ^A)
8. 250-word scientific justification that explains the impact and importance of this work and its relevance for the conference. ^A)
9. Source of original publication (year, journal, volume, pages, DOI).
10. PDF of the published/accepted paper. ^B)
11. PDF of the supplementary material (if any). ^B)

A) Please note there is no word count available on the EasyChair form, but you can check the number of words using a tool like e.g. https://wordcounter.net. Submissions that exceed the maximum number of words will not be admitted to the review procedure.

B) Please note that only PDF submissions are acceptable. It is the responsibility of the submitter to verify that the PDF is completely viewable/printable by all major operating systems (LINUX, macOS, Windows).

For any questions regarding the Highlight Papers submissions please contact the technical secretariat: eccb2022@bcocongresos.com