Dreaming, or planning? 5 tips for your next CHI conference submission!

📢 Are you planning your next CHI conference submission? PSA as of time of this writing: the 2026 deadline is coming up:

2025-09-04 Abstract/Metadata Due
2025-09-11 Full Paper Due

Only 6 weeks to go! 📢

CHI* as a conference has a reputation for being incredibly fickle and rigid in their reviews. With an acceptance rate historically lower than 25%, submitting to CHI can be an exercise in repeated rejections more than anything else.

But, there are still things you as an author can do to help your paper show up as its best self for the review process.

I tell my students to focus on the story and the significance of the outcomes.

Therefore, as an author, put your effort where it is most needed: the Abstract, the Introduction, and the Discussion.

Each of these sections has an expected flow or structure that CHI reviewers / readers have come to expect. If you approach writing your CHI paper like designing a user interface, it will make sense to consider designing your paper to make it easy for readers to “use,” and therefore, understand, and therefore, be more likely to rate it more highly!

Writing Your CHI Conference Submission

Here are five key tips on writing CHI papers I give to my students:

1. Don’t get creative in your headings and organization. Use clear, standardized headings wherever possible; for example, “Methods” instead of “Setting up the Kariko Study.” You can also use this type of signposting in your paper to help your reader follow along by using the same terms consistently when referring to your conditions, variables, analyses, and codes.
2. Cut extra words that just bury your message. For example, “We were able to achieve this [level of performance] by working with users to…” can become “We worked with users to…” A related weakness is circular writing: “To understand the relationship between variables X and Y, we examined measure A which was higher in the treatment condition, thus showing a connection between variables X and Y.” The last clause (after the comma) is unnecessary.
3. Help the reader get on your team from the beginning. Avoid “hedge” words that imply you are not confident in your claims. For example, “We hope” becomes “We aim” or “We will”; “We expect this might” becomes “We expect this to” or “This will”; and “There is a possibility that” or “There is a chance that” become “We expect that this will” or “This will”.
4. Remember that “the reader is not like me.” You (and your co-authors) are very close to your work and your brain will likely fill in details that don’t appear in the text, but your reviewers / readers won’t be able to. Be precise. Ask someone less familiar with your work to help you read for transitions, linkages, explanations, and conclusions.
5. Even if your paper is just step 3 of a 438-step research plan, always start your story with the ‘blue-sky’ vision of what will be the end result. This doesn’t mean oversell the paper: always scope the context properly in the Abstract and Introduction. But in both places, describing the ultimate end goal appeals to the average CHI reviewer’s sense of novelty and impact.

Sound like a lot? Maybe you are a first-time CHI submitter, or a seasoned one with limited time. You could benefit from working with an editor with experience in your discipline and venues, like me. As a frequent publisher at CHI myself, as well as a 6-time member of the Program Committee, I know the in’s and out’s of writing a great CHI paper.

For a preview of the kinds of things I can help with, subscribe to my blog and get access to my (free) guide on writing a great Abstract. When you have your killer Abstract, you can use it as a guide to expand each sentence into its own more detailed paragraph in the Introduction.

If you want to learn more about my editing services and pricing—ranging from flat-rate in-depth editorial review, to per-word line editing for flow and clarity, to buy-what-you-need hourly consulting—contact me to get started! [Equity rates offered to those at PUIs, R2s, HBCUs, HSIs, and international authors.]

Turn your CHI dreams into CHI plans! ❤️

Screaming woman photo by Andrea Piacquadio under CC. Woman on bicycle photo by Andrea Piacquadio under CC.

*The ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems is lovingly referred to as “CHI” for historical and pronunciation reasons.

>What about potential conflicts of interest? I will not be serving as a reviewer or program committee member during this upcoming CHI 2026 cycle.