CSCW 2026: Conference Overview, Research Topics, Paper Awards, and Publication Opportunities

1. General Information About CSCW 2026

The conference brings together researchers, designers, developers, and practitioners who study the relationship between technology and collaborative human activity.

CSCW is closely connected to the fields of human-computer interaction (HCI), computer-supported cooperative work, and social computing. Its research examines how technology affects groups, organisations, communities, and networks.

The conference has an interdisciplinary audience. Its participants study collaborative systems from technical, social, cultural, organisational, and ethical perspectives.

Sources: Official conference website and venue information.

2. Aims and Scope of CSCW

CSCW focuses on the design, development, use, and evaluation of technologies that support or influence cooperative and collaborative activities.

Researchers investigate how people coordinate work, communicate across distances, share knowledge, organize communities, and use digital systems in their everyday lives.

The 2026 call for papers covered research in workplaces, homes, education, healthcare, the arts, entertainment, and other social settings.

2.1 Computer-Supported Cooperative Work

Computer-supported cooperative work examines how people coordinate activities through technology. Researchers study shared documents, workplace communication, collaborative planning, task management, and other systems that help groups work together.

For example, a study could examine how remote employees use shared digital workspaces to coordinate tasks across different time zones.

2.2 Social Computing and Online Communities

Social computing research examines how digital systems support communication, social relationships, community participation, and collective activity.

Relevant topics include online forums, social media, virtual communities, collaborative knowledge platforms, online gaming, and crowdsourcing.

A researcher might investigate how online communities establish rules, manage disagreements, or maintain participation when members have different interests.

2.3 Artificial Intelligence and Human Collaboration

AI has become an important research area within CSCW. Researchers examine how AI systems affect teamwork, shared decision-making, communication, and collaborative problem-solving.

Topics may include AI-assisted teamwork, collaborative chatbots, automated interviewing, human-AI coordination, and the effects of AI on existing online communities.

For example, researchers could investigate whether an AI chatbot helps people contribute to an online programming community or discourages them from asking questions and learning from other members.

CSCW 2026 encouraged research on AI, machine learning, robotics, and augmented or virtual reality when the work addressed cooperative, collaborative, or social computing.

2.4 Remote and Distributed Collaboration

Many teams work across different locations, time zones, languages, and cultural settings. CSCW research examines how technologies support communication and coordination under these conditions.

A study could explore how international project teams manage misunderstandings during online meetings or how shared digital tools help colleagues coordinate tasks when they cannot work at the same time.

2.5 Healthcare and Collaborative Care

Healthcare often involves coordination between patients, family members, clinicians, administrators, and other professionals.

Research in this area may examine shared medical records, patient-controlled data sharing, digital health systems, caregiving technologies, and communication between healthcare teams.

For example, a study could investigate how patients and healthcare providers manage consent when sharing medical information between institutions.

2.6 Education and Collaborative Learning

CSCW includes research on digital learning environments, online group projects, educational communities, and tools that support collaboration between students and teachers.

Researchers may investigate how students divide responsibilities in group assignments, how digital platforms support peer learning, or how AI tools change the way people learn together.

2.7 Ethics, Privacy, and Technology Policy

Collaborative technologies raise questions about privacy, fairness, surveillance, accessibility, consent, and the distribution of power.

CSCW research may examine how workplace monitoring affects employees, how online platforms manage harmful content, or how automated systems influence decisions in organisations.

The conference also encourages research that examines technology in relation to race, Indigenous communities, gender, and the environment, provided that the work addresses relevant social or collaborative computing questions.

The complete scope is available in the official CSCW 2026 call for papers.

3. Types of Research Accepted at CSCW 2026

CSCW welcomes different research methods and theoretical approaches. The central requirement is that the work contributes to an understanding of social, cooperative, or collaborative aspects of technology.

The 2026 call for papers identified several broad research approaches.

• Qualitative research: Interviews, ethnography, workplace studies, observations, and qualitative user studies.
• Quantitative research: Surveys, statistical analysis, behavioral datasets, and quantitative studies of technology use.
• Mixed-methods research: Combining qualitative and quantitative evidence to study a research question.
• Design research: Developing systems, design guidelines, interaction techniques, or methods for collaborative technologies.
• Theoretical research: Developing concepts, frameworks, or critical arguments about collaborative systems and social computing.
• System research: Designing and evaluating technologies that support social or collaborative activity.

For example, a researcher could interview remote employees, analyze their communication patterns, and develop design recommendations for a shared workspace. Another researcher might build a collaborative AI tool and evaluate how it changes participation in an online community.

Both approaches may fit the conference, provided they establish a clear contribution to CSCW research.

What makes a paper suitable?

A paper should connect its findings to relevant CSCW concepts, theories, and prior research. It should explain how the work improves understanding of collaborative activity or informs the design and evaluation of technology used by groups.

The 2026 call specifically cautioned against submissions focused primarily on benefits for a single individual. A study of an AI assistant that helps one person complete a task, for example, may fall outside the scope if it does not address collaboration, group activity, or social computing.

Similarly, an algorithmic paper needs to explain its relevance to cooperative or social computing rather than presenting technical performance results alone.

4. CSCW 2026 Programme and Main Activities

The conference programme included research presentations, workshops, panels, special interest groups, posters, demonstrations, and activities for doctoral students.

The online portion took place on 1 October, while the in-person conference ran from 10 to 14 October in Salt Lake City.

According to conference-related announcements, the 2026 programme included 139 paper presentations, 14 workshops, 10 panels and special interest groups, 93 posters, and 9 demonstrations.

You can review the official conference programme for session titles, presentation details, and scheduled events.

4.1 Research Paper Presentations

Paper sessions allow researchers to present findings, explain their methods, and discuss the implications of their work.

The 2026 programme covered subjects such as caregiving, virtual environments, creative work, trauma and harm, algorithms, social media, and AI-supported collaboration.

4.2 Workshops

Workshops provide a smaller setting for researchers to discuss emerging questions, compare methods, and develop ideas for future research.

CSCW 2026 held its workshops on 10 and 11 October. The workshop format supported focused discussion among participants working on related problems.

4.3 Panels and Special Interest Groups

Panels bring together experts to discuss questions of interest to the research community. Special interest groups, or SIGs, provide a setting for participants to develop shared research interests and discuss future directions.

These sessions can help researchers identify open problems, find potential collaborators, and develop research projects.

4.4 Posters and Demonstrations

Poster sessions allow researchers to present projects and discuss their work directly with attendees. Demonstrations provide opportunities to show how a system or interaction technique works.

For researchers developing collaborative software, AI-based tools, or interactive systems, a demonstration can make design decisions and practical limitations easier to understand.

4.5 Doctoral Consortium and Mentoring

The conference also provided opportunities for doctoral researchers to discuss their work and connect with more experienced members of the research community.

These activities can help PhD students refine research questions, receive feedback on study design, and learn about academic career paths.

5. CSCW 2026 Paper Submission and Review Process

CSCW 2026 used a two-round review process for its main paper track. The process allowed authors to revise promising submissions and have the revised papers evaluated by the same reviewers where possible.

The new-paper deadline for the 2026 edition was 14 May 2025. Authors whose papers received a revision decision had to submit revised versions according to the assigned deadlines.

The process is now complete for CSCW 2026. The following information explains how it worked and what prospective authors can learn from it.

5.1 Initial Submission

Authors submitted original research through the Precision Conference System.

The submission needed to explain the research question, methods, findings, and contribution to CSCW. Authors also had to explain how their work fit the conference’s scope.

5.2 Editorial Screening

Submissions underwent an initial screening process. Papers that were clearly outside the conference’s scope or too far from an acceptable standard could receive a desk rejection without proceeding to full external review.

This stage made scope an important part of the submission process.

5.3 First Round of Review

Papers that advanced beyond the initial screening were assessed by members of the programme committee and external reviewers.

Reviewers considered the research contribution, methods, theoretical grounding, relevance, and presentation.

Possible outcomes included conditional acceptance with minor changes, revise and resubmit, or rejection.

5.4 Second Round of Review

Authors receiving a revise-and-resubmit decision had the opportunity to address reviewer feedback. The revised paper was evaluated again, with the same reviewers assigned where possible.

The final decision depended on whether the revision adequately addressed the concerns raised during the first round.

5.5 Final Acceptance and Presentation

Accepted papers were prepared for publication in PACM HCI and invited for presentation at CSCW 2026. The conference stated that presenting was encouraged but not mandatory.

The official CSCW 2026 paper guidelines provide the details of the review process.

6. CSCW 2026 Submission Statistics

The conference published a report on the final decisions for its May 2025 submission cycle. These figures provide a concrete picture of the review process.

Source: CSCW 2026 final review decisions.

The figures show that the conference received 637 complete submissions. After initial screening, 314 papers entered the first round of review. Of these, 209 were invited to revise and resubmit.

In the final round, 152 of those 209 papers were accepted, while 44 were rejected and 13 were withdrawn.

These numbers describe the review process for the revised papers and should not be mistaken for the complete acceptance calculation across every initial submission. To calculate the overall acceptance rate accurately, consult the conference’s full final-decision report.

For prospective authors, the main lesson is practical: a paper needs a clear contribution, a strong connection to CSCW research, and a careful response to reviewer feedback.

7. CSCW 2026 Paper Awards and Recognised Research

The conference announced its paper awards in September 2026. The selected papers cover AI-supported collaboration, civic decision-making, public-sector data work, healthcare, workplace communication, and online communities.

7.1 Best Paper Awards

The official awards page lists the following papers among the Best Paper Award recipients.

Bridging Instead of Replacing Online Coding Communities with AI through Community-Enriched Chatbot Designs

This paper examines ways to design AI chatbots that support existing online coding communities. Its focus is relevant to researchers studying how AI can assist communities without displacing the social relationships and knowledge-sharing practices that make them useful.

Voice to Vision: Enabling Shared Understanding in Civic Decision-Making through Participatory Data Infrastructure

This research examines how participatory data infrastructure can support shared understanding in civic decision-making. It connects collaborative technology design with public participation and civic processes.

Impasse of Data-Drivenness: Bureaucratic Data Work and Reproduced Siloed Governance in Coordinating Smart Cities

This paper investigates how data practices can reproduce organisational separation in smart-city governance. It is relevant to researchers studying coordination, public-sector technology, and the organisational effects of data-driven systems.

Expecting Too Much, Getting Too Little: Exploring the Challenges and Design Opportunities of Asynchronous AI Interviewers

This paper explores challenges associated with AI interviewers that operate asynchronously. It raises questions about the design and use of AI systems in interactions that traditionally depend on human communication.

We Need Granular Sharing of De-Identified Data, But Will Patients Engage? Investigating Health System Leaders’ and Patients’ Perspectives on a Patient-Controlled Data-Sharing Platform

This research examines how patients and healthcare leaders view patient-controlled data sharing. It connects healthcare technology design with privacy, participation, and the practical conditions required for information sharing.

From Mediation to Escalation: Buffer Spaces for Workplace Concern Reporting

This paper examines the role of workplace reporting systems and the ways their design may affect how concerns are raised and handled.

Postphenomenological Insights from an In-the-Wild Collective Sensing System Deployment for PTSD Therapy

This research examines a collective sensing system deployed in a real-world therapeutic setting. It illustrates how CSCW research can investigate the social and practical consequences of technology in healthcare.

YouCred: An Online Tool Co-Designed with Fact-Checkers for Misinformation Discovery on YouTube

This paper presents work on a tool designed with fact-checkers to support the discovery of misinformation on YouTube. It is relevant to research on online information, collaborative fact-checking, and platform governance.

The conference also recognised papers through honorable mentions, method awards, poster recognition, and a people’s choice demonstration award.

The complete list of recipients is available on the official CSCW 2026 awards page.

7.2 Lasting Impact Award

The 2026 Lasting Impact Award went to Harnessing the Wisdom of Crowds in Wikipedia: Quality Through Coordination, by Aniket Kittur and Robert E. Kraut of Carnegie Mellon University.

The recognition reflects the paper’s lasting contribution to research on collective knowledge production and coordination in online communities.

For students and researchers, these award-winning papers provide useful examples of how CSCW research can connect a specific technical or organisational problem to broader questions about collaboration, participation, and social computing.

8. Publication Venue and Open-Access Policy

Accepted CSCW papers are published in the Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (PACM HCI), in the CSCW journal track.

This means CSCW is a conference and research community, while PACM HCI is the journal publication venue for its accepted papers. The two should not be treated as interchangeable names.

ACM Open Access

CSCW 2026 papers were scheduled for publication under ACM’s open-access model.

Under the ACM Open institutional model, the corresponding author’s affiliation with a participating institution can determine whether the article processing charge is covered.

For eligible article types where no author is affiliated with a participating institution, an APC may apply. ACM announced a temporary 2026 subsidy for eligible authors whose institutions were not participating in ACM Open:

• $250 for ACM or SIG members.
• $350 for non-members.

These were the subsidised APC rates announced for 2026, not conference registration fees. Eligibility, waivers, and applicable publication terms depend on ACM’s rules.

Authors should consult the CSCW 2026 submission page and the ACM Open programme for the relevant conditions.

9. Conference Registration and Attendance

CSCW 2026 offered in-person and online registration options. Its in-person programme took place at the Salt Lake Marriott Downtown City Creek, while the online conference day took place on 1 October.

The published registration fees varied by membership status, registration date, and attendance type.

Source: Official CSCW 2026 registration page.

The conference also offered discounted registration for participants residing in countries covered by ACM’s designated economic-development categories. The discount depended on the applicable category.

These figures are historical rates for the 2026 event. They should not be used to estimate the cost of attending CSCW 2027 or a later edition.

Researchers interested in future attendance should follow the relevant conference website for dates, registration, accessibility, visa support, travel assistance, and student opportunities.

10. How to Prepare a Strong CSCW Paper

If you plan to submit to a future CSCW edition, use the 2026 guidelines and accepted papers as a starting point. The next submission cycle may use different dates or procedures, so check the current instructions before preparing a manuscript.

Step 1: Identify a clear collaborative or social problem

Start with a question about how people work together, communicate, share information, or coordinate activity through technology.

For example, you might study how community moderators manage conflict in online forums or how nurses coordinate patient care through digital systems.

Step 2: Connect your research to CSCW literature

Read papers on similar problems and identify what remains unexplained. Explain how your research builds on, challenges, or extends existing concepts and findings.

Your contribution should be clear to readers who already work in CSCW and social computing.

Step 3: Choose appropriate methods

Use methods that fit your question. Interviews and ethnography can help you understand practices and experiences. Surveys and statistical analysis can examine patterns across larger groups. Design research can investigate how a proposed system supports collaboration.

Mixed methods may be useful when one approach cannot fully explain the problem.

Step 4: Explain your contribution

Describe what the paper adds to research and practice. This could be a new theoretical explanation, a design approach, an empirical finding, a methodological contribution, or a critical analysis of a technology.

Avoid relying on a claim that the system is new or technically advanced. Explain why its design or use matters for cooperative or social activity.

Step 5: Address ethics and privacy

If your research involves people, workplace activity, online communities, or personal data, explain how you handled consent, confidentiality, and other relevant ethical issues.

For studies using platform data, consider whether participants could be identified from quotations or data samples, even when names have been removed.

Step 6: Follow the current submission instructions

Check the required format, paper length, supplementary materials, review procedure, and scope statement. The 2026 call stated that papers shorter than 5,000 words or longer than 12,000 words would receive additional scrutiny, particularly where the length did not match the contribution.

Do not assume those length guidelines automatically apply to a future edition. Use the instructions for the specific track and year you are targeting.

11. Opportunities for Students and Early-Career Researchers

CSCW can be useful for students and early-career researchers who want to develop a research profile in HCI, social computing, digital collaboration, or human-centred AI.

Several parts of the conference can support this work.

• Read accepted papers: Study how researchers define problems, justify methods, and connect results to existing CSCW scholarship.
• Attend workshops: Participate in focused discussions about emerging topics and research methods.
• Explore posters and demonstrations: Learn how researchers present early-stage work, design prototypes, and practical findings.
• Join mentoring activities: Look for mentoring and doctoral opportunities announced by future conference organisers.
• Build research collaborations: Connect with scholars working on similar questions across different disciplines.
• Follow publication opportunities: Monitor the CSCW conference website and the PACM HCI journal track for future submission information.

You do not need to build a new software system to produce a relevant CSCW paper. A carefully designed qualitative study, a strong empirical analysis, a theoretical contribution, or a critical examination of an existing technology may be appropriate if it addresses a clear collaborative or social computing problem.

12. Preparing for CSCW 2027 and Beyond

The submission arrangements for CSCW 2026 have concluded. Researchers planning future work should consult the conference’s page for 2027 and beyond rather than relying on the previous year’s deadlines.

The conference’s published guidance for future editions describes a rolling publication and review model. Papers can be submitted through the relevant journal publication tracks, including PACM HCI/CSCW and, where the paper meets the applicable scope requirements, the ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI).

Accepted papers can then be considered for presentation at a future CSCW conference, depending on the publication and programme arrangements.

This differs from the single initial submission deadline used for the CSCW 2026 paper cycle. Always check the current CSCW 2027 and beyond guidelines before planning a submission.

13. Conclusion

CSCW 2026 brought together researchers studying how technology affects collaboration, communication, work, and social life. Its research covered AI-supported teamwork, online communities, civic participation, healthcare data sharing, workplace communication, and other questions involving collaborative technology.

The conference’s review statistics, programme, and award-winning papers provide useful material for anyone preparing research in computer-supported cooperative work and social computing.

If you plan to publish in this area, start with a clear question about collaborative or social activity. Ground your argument in relevant CSCW literature, choose suitable methods, explain your contribution, and address the ethical implications of your research.

For the latest information on future editions, submission arrangements, and publication requirements, consult the official CSCW website and the CSCW 2027 and beyond page.

References and Research Sources

1. ACM CSCW. CSCW 2026: Official Conference Website. https://cscw.acm.org/2026/
2. ACM CSCW. Call for Papers and Submission Guidelines. https://cscw.acm.org/2026/papers.html
3. ACM CSCW. Final Decisions for the CSCW 2026 May 2025 Paper Cycle. https://cscw.acm.org/2026/blog/finaldecisions.html
4. ACM CSCW. CSCW 2026 Awards and Recognition. https://cscw.acm.org/2026/awards.html
5. ACM CSCW. Registration Information. https://cscw.acm.org/2026/registration.html
6. ACM CSCW. Venue and Accommodation. https://cscw.acm.org/2026/venue.html
7. ACM SIGCHI. CSCW 2026 Conference Programme. https://programs.sigchi.org/cscw/2026/program
8. ACM CSCW. CSCW 2027 and Beyond: Paper Submission Guidelines. https://cscw.acm.org/rolling.html
9. ACM. ACM Open Access Programme. https://libraries.acm.org/acmopen

Research checked on 24 October 2026. Conference dates, review policies, awards, registration fees, and publication arrangements relate to the 2026 edition unless stated otherwise. Verify future deadlines and requirements on the official conference website.