~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CLiC-it 2026 - Twelfth Italian Conference on Computational Linguistics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

14 - 16 September 2026, Palermo, Italy
https://clic2026.unipa.it/

Conference Announcement and First Call for Papers
Over the years, CLiC-it has evolved into an important forum for the Italian community of researchers in Computational Linguistics (CL) and Natural Language Processing (NLP). CLiC-it aims to promote and disseminate high-quality, original research covering different aspects of automatic language processing, involving both written and spoken language. Furthermore, it seeks to showcase cutting-edge theoretical findings, experimental methodologies, technologies, and application perspectives.

The spirit of the conference is inclusive. Recognizing the multifaceted nature of language phenomena and the need for interdisciplinary expertise, CLiC-it aims to bring together researchers from different fields including Computational Linguistics, Natural Language Processing, Linguistics, Cognitive Science, Machine Learning, Computer Science, Knowledge Representation, Information Retrieval, and Digital Humanities. CLiC-it welcomes contributions focusing on all languages, with a particular emphasis on Italian.

CLiC-it 2026 will be held in Palermo, from the 14th to the 16th of September. CLiC-it is organised by the Italian Association of Computational Linguistics (AILC -- http://www.ai-lc.it/).

CONFERENCE TOPICS
-----------------------

CLiC-it 2026 aims to have a broad technical program. Relevant topics for the conference include, but are not limited to:

- Machine Learning and Modeling for NLP
- Large Language and Foundation Models
- Interpretability, Analysis, and Explainability of NLP Models
- Resources, Benchmarks, and Evaluation
- Syntax, Morphology, and Phonology
- Semantics, Discourse, and Pragmatics
- Linguistic Theories, Cognitive Modeling, and Psycholinguistics
- Natural Language Generation and Summarization
- Dialogue Systems and Conversational AI
- Question Answering and Reading Comprehension
- Creativity, Style, and Narrative Generation
- Information Extraction and Text Mining
- Information Retrieval for NLP
- Sentiment Analysis, Opinion Mining, and Argumentation
- Multilingual and Cross-Lingual NLP
- Low-Resource NLP and Linguistic Diversity
- Computational Historical Linguistics, Social Science, and Cultural Analytics
- Speech and Spoken Language Processing
- Multimodal and Grounded Language
- Applied NLP and NLP Systems
- NLP for the Humanities
- Ethics, Fairness, and Societal Impacts of NLP

RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS
-----------------------

CLiC-it 2026 adopts a parallel submission policy for outstanding papers accepted in 2025 and 2026 by major publication venues, namely the major international CL conferences (workshops excluded) or international journals. These contributions can be submitted to CLiC-it 2026 as short research communications. Research communications will not be published in the conference proceedings, they serve primarily to promote the dissemination of high-quality research within the Italian CL community. Submitted research communications must be in the scope of the CLiC-it 2026 conference and must have been published (or accepted) in a top-tier venues, such as:

- A* conferences according to CORE Rankings
- Q1 Computer Science or Language and Linguistics journals according to SCImago
- Class A Linguistic journals in ANVUR

Other venues of comparable standing may be considered. The authors of papers that meet the above criteria are invited to submit a written (maximum) one-page abstract of the original paper, including the paper’s title and authors as well as a pointer to the original conference or journal where the paper was published, and a motivation regarding the importance of the journal/venue. If needed, research communications will undergo a selection process overseen by the conference chairs. Since these papers have already been reviewed, the selection criteria will primarily consider their original publication venue. Priority will be granted to papers that align most closely with the conference program, ensuring a balanced representation across various conference topics. The research communication papers will be presented at the conference either orally or as a poster according to the number of submissions received.

PAPER SUBMISSION
-----------------------

Submitted papers must describe substantial, original, completed, and unpublished work. Wherever appropriate, concrete evaluation and analysis should be included.

CLiC-it 2026 allows for a multiple-submission policy. In case of acceptance of the paper in other venues, the authors must communicate this information to the CLiC-it 2026 Chairs as soon as possible.

Page limits. Submissions must be up to 11 pages of main content, with unlimited pages for references and appendix. Upon acceptance, authors will be allowed one additional page of main content (i.e., up to 12 pages) to address reviewers’ comments; references and appendix remain unlimited.

Short vs. long papers (CEUR-style classification). For the proceedings, accepted papers will be labeled as short or long/regular based on their final length, following CEUR-WS conventions (short papers typically correspond to 5–9 pages, regular papers to 10 or more pages). The final classification will be determined at camera-ready time.

Papers will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

- soundness of approach
- relevance to computational linguistics
- novelty and clear positioning relative to existing literature
- quality of presentation
- quality of evaluation (if applicable)
- verifiability and ability to replicate (if applicable)

Papers can be either in English or Italian, with the abstract in English. Accepted papers will be published online and will be presented at the conference either orally or as a poster.

Reviews will follow a single-blind process, so there is no need to remove author information from manuscripts.

The required template for CLiC-it submissions must be compatible with CEUR (https://ceur-ws.org/) and MUST contain the Declaration on Generative AI section (https://ceur-ws.org/GenAI/Policy.html). Please note that submissions lacking this section will be desk rejected. You can download the conference-adapted version at the following links:

LaTeX template https://clic2026.unipa.it/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/CLiC_it_2026_CEURART_LaTeX_Template.zip
ODT template https://clic2026.unipa.it/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/CLiC_it_2026_CEURART_ODT_Template.odt

Should you encounter any issues with the compilation (as the CEUR template has historically presented some challenges and is not modifiable without risking exclusion from the proceedings), we provide a read-only Overleaf template:

https://www.overleaf.com/read/qmhnsrbyqskw#96f442

This template can be accessed and cloned to help resolve any technical difficulties.

AWARDS
-----------------------

To acknowledge the contribution of young researchers to the field, the title of "best paper" will be awarded to outstanding papers, provided that a Master's or PhD student is the first author and presents the work at the conference. Recipients of this award will be invited to submit an extended version of their papers to the Italian Journal of Computational Linguistics (IJCoL).

To recognize excellence in student research as well as promote awareness of our field, AILC is also conferring the “Emanuele Pianta” prize for the best Master Thesis (Laurea Magistrale) in Computational Linguistics submitted at an Italian University, and supervised by an AILC member. The prize consists of 500 Euros plus free membership to AILC for one year and free registration to the upcoming CLiC-it.


IMPORTANT DATES
-----------------------

- 29/05/2026: Papers submission deadline
- 10/07/2026: Notification to authors
- 31/07/2026: Camera-ready version of Accepted Papers
- 14-16/09/2026: CLiC-it 2026 Conference, Palermo

Conference Chairs:
-----------------------

- Valerio Basile (University of Torino)
- Danilo Croce (University of Rome Tor Vergata)
- Lucia Passaro (University of Pisa)
- Roberto Pirrone (University of Palermo)

Senior Program Committee:
-----------------------

TBA

Local Organizing Committee:
-----------------------

- Irene Siragusa (University of Palermo), Lead Organizer
- Germano Ammirata (University of Palermo)
- Salvatore Contino (University of Palermo)
- Luca Cruciata (University of Palermo)
- Francesco Foderà (University of Palermo)

FURTHER INFORMATION
-----------------------

Website: https://clic2026.unipa.it
Mail: clicit2026@unipa.it