Paper and Submission Guidelines

Paper Format

Papers should follow USENIX paper formatting guidelines using the USENIX template:

• Length should be 6-10 pages, inclusive of tables, figures, and references.
• Should fit on USA-style 8.5x11 inch paper. All text and figures must fit a text block 6.5" wide x 9" deep.
• All text must be 10 point type on 12 point (single-spaced) leading, two-column format, and Times Roman or a similar font for the body of the paper.
• All pages must be numbered.
• Figures and tables should be legible when printed, without requiring magnification.
• Paper must be submitted in PDF format. Do NOT submit files in Word, WordPerfect, LaTeX or other word processing format.
• If using Microsoft Word or LaTeX, use the appropriate USENIX template and sample first pages (two-column format) from the USENIX templates page.

Paper Content

Papers should provide details sufficient that the validity of the study or experiment(s) conducted can be verified, and for experiments, such could be repeated by peers.

Papers should include an concise abstract of about 150-350 words that captures the essence of the paper contents. Authors are encouraged to use a structured-abstract format, where applicable, that contains concise statements telling the whole story of the study. Use of a consistent structure will help readers quickly assess whether the paper may meet the reader’s needs and warrant reading the full paper. Essential elements of structured abstracts include:

• Background. State the background and context of the work described in the paper.
• Aim. State the research question, objective, or purpose of the work in the paper.
• Method. Briefly summarize the method used to conduct the research, including the subjects, procedure, data, and analytical method.
• Results. State the outcome of the research using measures appropriate for the study conducted. Results are essentially the numbers.
• Conclusions. State the lessons learned as a result of the study and recommendations for future work. The conclusions are the “so what” of the study.

Additional relevant sections may be included as the author deems relevant to capturing the whole of the paper. This structure also provides the author with a good outline for creating slides to present the work. See LASER 2014 or LASER 2013 for example structured abstracts. LASER recognizes that some studies may not reasonably fit this format. In such cases, authors should modify the format as needed to capture their own paper contents.