The International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) is the world’s longest-running and premier academic meeting dedicated to artificial intelligence research, founded in 1969. IJCAI functions as both an annual scientific conference and an independent non-profit academic organisation, bringing computer scientists, roboticists and computational theorists together to present peer-reviewed advances across the full breadth of AI and machine learning.
What is IJCAI and who runs it?
IJCAI is governed by the IJCAI Board of Trustees and a permanent Secretariat. Historically held biennially in odd-numbered years until 2015, the conference moved to an annual schedule thereafter. Unlike narrowly specialised workshops, IJCAI covers the entire spectrum of intelligent systems, including knowledge representation, automated reasoning, heuristic search, constraint satisfaction, natural language processing, computer vision, multi-agent systems, robotics and ethical AI governance.
Recent and upcoming locations (2024–2027)
IJCAI rotates through major international research hubs. Recent and scheduled locations listed in the conference materials are:
– IJCAI 2024: Jeju Island, South Korea (33rd conference)
– IJCAI 2025: Montreal, Canada (34th conference, August 16–22, 2025)
– IJCAI-ECAI 2026: Bremen, Germany (35th conference, August 15–21, 2026)
– IJCAI 2027: Kyoto, Japan and Hengqin, China (36th conference)
IJCAI 2027 will be organised in a two-site international format: the main conference program in Kyoto, Japan from August 7 to August 13, 2027, followed by an official satellite symposium in Hengqin, China from August 15 to August 17, 2027.
Submission tracks, page limits and the Primary Paper Initiative
The IJCAI program is organised into multiple submission tracks. The Main Track accepts archival research reporting novel, significant and previously unpublished technical results. Special Tracks address themed interdisciplinary challenges such as AI for Social Good (AI4Good), Human-Centred AI, AI and Health, AI and Robotics, and Critical Enabling Technologies (AI4Tech). The Survey Track publishes comprehensive syntheses of mature or rapidly evolving subfields. Invited and non-archival formats include the Journal Track, Sister Conferences Track, Demonstrations Track and the Doctoral Consortium.
Main Track manuscripts must not exceed nine pages in total: up to seven pages for the technical body and contributions, plus up to two pages reserved exclusively for references and optional ethical impact statements.
Beginning with the IJCAI-ECAI 2026 cycle, IJCAI introduced the Primary Paper Initiative and a USD 100 submission fee that applies to submissions in the Main Track, Survey Track and Special Tracks. The fee is fully waived for “primary papers,” defined as manuscripts for which none of the co-authors appear on any other paper submitted to that same conference cycle. All proceeds from non-primary paper fees are dedicated to the Peer Reviewers Recognition Policy, funding honoraria, registration subsidies and formal recognition for program committee reviewers. The Journal Track, Sister Conferences Track, Competitions, Demos and the Doctoral Consortium are exempt from the fee.
Peer review process and resubmission transparency
IJCAI uses a double-blind review system managed through CMT or OpenReview and conducts review in two phases. Phase 1 is a summary-reject screening handled by two Program Committee (PC) members; papers failing this stage are rejected early without an author rebuttal. Papers that pass Phase 1 proceed to full evaluation by multiple PC reviewers, Senior Program Committee (SPC) members and Area Chairs (ACs), and include an author response period.
IJCAI requires resubmission transparency: authors who submit manuscripts previously rejected by another peer-reviewed venue within the preceding 12 months (for example NeurIPS, ICML or AAAI) must declare the prior venue and upload past reviews along with a detailed response explaining revisions.
Standing, access and related journals
IJCAI is classified as an A* conference under the CORE rankings, placing it among the top ~4% of computer science venues globally. Accepted papers are published open access in the official IJCAI Proceedings repository (ijcai.org/proceedings/) without download fees or reader paywalls. Outstanding Main Track papers may receive invitations for expedited review in leading archival journals.
The source material also names prominent AI journals as reference venues: the Artificial Intelligence Journal (AIJ), the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research (JAIR), IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (TPAMI) and Machine Learning. Through the IJCAI Journal Track, authors who recently published unpresented papers in AIJ or JAIR are invited to present at IJCAI.
Alternatives and comparative notes
IJCAI is one of several top-tier AI conferences. ICML and IJCAI are both A* conferences under CORE; ICML specialises in empirical and theoretical machine learning while IJCAI covers broader artificial intelligence topics. The materials note that acceptance rates for these top venues typically range between 15% and 22%. Other comparative venues referenced include AAAI, NeurIPS and ECAI, each with distinct regional or topical emphases.
The article has presented IJCAI’s institutional role, upcoming venues through 2027, submission structure, the Primary Paper Initiative and the conference’s peer-review and publication practices as described in the provided source.
