Systematization of Knowledge
Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why are we doing this?
There have been many discussions at Oakland, both in the formal business meetings and in informal discussions, about the fact that our community seems to lose memory of things that have been done in the past and produces too many incremental results that don't always lead to better general understanding. Some of this has been blamed on the lack of appropriate high-visibility venues in which to publish these types of papers since the top security venues (including Oakland research papers) emphasize novel research contributions. We hope the SoK call will lead to papers that provide a high value to our community, and that these papers will be widely read by students and researchers in security.

2. How many SoK papers will be accepted?
There is no set number of papers for this. We expect to accept 2-4 SoK papers, but there is no guarantee that any papers will be accepted. If none of the SoK papers are viewed as sufficiently valuable by the PC, we would rather accept no papers for this track than accept papers of questionable value. If there are more than 4 outstanding papers, we will accept more than 4 SoK papers.

3. Will SoK papers be competing with Research papers?
No. We will not be reducing the targeted number of research papers for this, and will be making room in the program and proceedings for SoK papers without putting any pressure on the number of research papers accepted. We will not be comparing SoK and Research papers at the PC meeting, but judging each on their own merits by their separate review criteria.

4. I noticed that the SoK deadline is 6 days after the Research paper deadline. Can I try to game the system by submitting a Research paper late as a Systematization paper?
No. Any late "research papers" that are submitted as Systematization papers will be rejected without review.

5. What are the length and formatting requirements for SoK papers?
Identical to those for Research papers. See the CFP for details.

6. How will the accepted SoK papers be presented at the conference?
Each SoK paper will be given a presentation slot in the main conference similar to the presentations of the research papers. Depending on other program constraints, the SoK papers may be grouped together into one or two sessions or they may be distributed throughout the program in sessions with relevant research papers.

7. How will SoK papers "count"?
So far as we know, there is no magic oracle that search and P&T committees use to decide what "counts" and what doesn't, and we can't impose any guidelines on how people might view these papers in future. That said, we hope that papers accepted as SoK papers will be viewed by the community as comparable to traditional Oakland research papers. SoK papers will undergo the same rigorous and competitive review process by the same PC as the research papers, and will be in the formal conference proceedings just like the regular research papers. We believe an SoK paper will be at least as valuable of a contribution to our research community as a typical Oakland paper, and expect these papers will be widely read and cited.