veeramanikandanr48_research-paper-writer/references/acm_formatting_specs.md

ACM Paper Formatting Specifications

Complete formatting guide based on ACM conference/journal paper template.

Page Setup

Page Size and Orientation

• Size: US Letter (8.5" × 11") or A4 (210mm × 297mm)
• Orientation: Portrait

Margins

• Top: 1 inch (25.4mm)
• Bottom: 1 inch (25.4mm)
• Left: 0.75 inch (19.05mm)
• Right: 0.75 inch (19.05mm)

Column Layout

• Abstract: Single column
• Body: Two columns
• Column separation: 0.33 inches (8.38mm)

Typography

Font Family

• Primary: Libertine (Linux Libertine)
• Monospace: Inconsolata or Courier
• Fallback: Times New Roman acceptable

Font Sizes and Styles

Title:

• Size: 17pt
• Weight: Bold
• Alignment: Left
• Spacing: 12pt after

Subtitle (if any):

• Size: 14pt
• Weight: Regular
• Alignment: Left

Author Names:

• Size: 12pt
• Weight: Regular
• Alignment: Left
• Format: One author per line or comma-separated

Author Affiliations:

• Size: 10pt
• Weight: Regular
• Alignment: Left
• Format: Institution, City, Country
• Email: 10pt, monospace font

Abstract:

• Single column
• Size: 10pt
• Weight: Regular
• Alignment: Justified
• Heading: "ABSTRACT" in bold, small caps

CCS Concepts:

• Section after abstract
• Format: Bulleted list with concept hierarchy
• Size: 9pt

Keywords:

• After CCS Concepts
• Format: Comma-separated list
• Size: 9pt

Section Headings (Level 1):

• Size: 11pt
• Weight: Bold
• Case: Title Case
• Alignment: Left
• Numbering: 1, 2, 3...
• Spacing: 12pt before, 6pt after

Subsection Headings (Level 2):

• Size: 10pt
• Weight: Bold
• Case: Title Case
• Alignment: Left
• Numbering: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3...
• Spacing: 9pt before, 3pt after

Sub-subsection Headings (Level 3):

• Size: 10pt
• Weight: Italic
• Case: Title Case
• Alignment: Left
• Numbering: 1.1.1, 1.1.2...
• Spacing: 6pt before, 3pt after

Body Text:

• Size: 10pt
• Weight: Regular
• Alignment: Justified
• Line spacing: Single (1.0)
• Paragraph spacing: 6pt after
• First paragraph after heading: No indent
• Subsequent paragraphs: 0.5 inch indent OR no indent with spacing

Figure Captions:

• Size: 9pt
• Weight: Regular
• Format: "Figure X:" in bold, followed by caption
• Alignment: Left (below figure)
• Spacing: 6pt above caption

Table Captions:

• Size: 9pt
• Weight: Regular
• Format: "Table X:" in bold, followed by caption
• Alignment: Left (above table)
• Spacing: 6pt below caption

Footnotes:

• Size: 8pt
• Weight: Regular
• Numbering: Superscript numbers
• Placement: Bottom of column with separator line

References:

• Size: 9pt
• Weight: Regular
• Alignment: Left
• Numbering: [1], [2], [3]...
• Indentation: Hanging indent
• Spacing: 2pt between references

Document Structure

Title and Metadata (Single Column)

1. Title
2. Subtitle (optional)
3. Authors and affiliations
4. Abstract
5. CCS Concepts
6. Keywords
7. ACM Reference Format

Body (Two Columns)

8. Main content sections
9. Acknowledgments
10. References

Special Sections

Abstract

Format:

ABSTRACT
Context-aware systems have become increasingly important...

• Heading in bold, small caps
• 150-250 words
• Single paragraph
• No citations

CCS Concepts

Required section listing ACM Computing Classification concepts.

Format:

CCS CONCEPTS
• Human-centered computing → Ubiquitous and mobile computing;
• Software and its engineering → Context specific languages.

• Use official ACM CCS taxonomy
• Organized hierarchically with bullet points
• 3-6 concepts typical

Keywords

Format:

KEYWORDS
context-awareness, ubiquitous computing, adaptation, personalization

• 4-8 keywords
• Comma-separated
• Lowercase (except proper nouns)

ACM Reference Format

Appears at end of first page or after keywords:

Format:

ACM Reference Format:
John Smith and Jane Doe. 2025. Title of Paper. In Proceedings of
Conference Name (CONF '25), Month Day-Day, Year, City, Country.
ACM, New York, NY, USA, XX pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/XXXXXX.XXXXXX

Numbering Conventions

Sections

1 INTRODUCTION
2 RELATED WORK
  2.1 Context Modeling
  2.2 Adaptation Techniques
3 PROPOSED APPROACH
  3.1 Architecture Overview
    3.1.1 Context Acquisition Module

Figures and Tables

• Figures: Numbered sequentially (Figure 1, Figure 2...)
• Tables: Numbered sequentially (Table 1, Table 2...)
• Equations: Numbered on right margin (1), (2), (3)...

Special Elements

Equations

• Display equations: Centered on separate line
• Numbering: Right-aligned equation number
• Spacing: 6pt before and after

Example:

                    E = mc²                    (1)

Code Listings

• Font: Inconsolata or Courier (monospace)
• Size: 9pt
• Background: Light gray background optional
• Line numbers: Optional, on left margin
• Caption: Same format as figures

Example:

def context_aware_function(context):
    if context.location == "office":
        return set_work_mode()
    return set_personal_mode()

Algorithms

• Use algorithm environment
• Line numbering on left
• Keywords in bold
• Comments in italic

Lists

Bulleted lists:

• Use standard bullet (•)
• Indent 0.25 inches
• Spacing: 3pt between items

Numbered lists:

• Use (1), (2), (3) or 1., 2., 3.
• Indent 0.25 inches
• Spacing: 3pt between items

Description lists:

• Term in bold, followed by description
• Hanging indent for description

Figures and Tables

Figure Guidelines

• Position: Top or bottom of column
• Width: Single-column or double-column (spanning both)
• Quality: Vector graphics preferred (PDF, EPS)
• Resolution: Minimum 300 DPI for raster images
• Color: Full color acceptable for online; consider grayscale printing
• Format: PDF, PNG, JPG, EPS

Figure Captions

Format:

Figure 1: System architecture showing the main components
including context acquisition, reasoning, and adaptation modules.

• "Figure X:" in bold
• Caption text follows
• Place below figure
• Can span multiple lines
• Left-aligned

Table Guidelines

• Border: Minimal lines (top, bottom, below header)
• Header: Bold text
• Alignment: Numbers right-aligned, text left-aligned
• Font: Same as body or one size smaller
• Shading: Light gray for header row optional

Table Captions

Format:

Table 1: Performance comparison across three datasets

• "Table X:" in bold
• Caption text follows
• Place above table
• Left-aligned

Example table:

Table 1: Accuracy Results

Dataset     Baseline    Proposed
────────────────────────────────
Dataset A      87.3%      94.2%
Dataset B      89.1%      95.7%
Dataset C      85.7%      93.4%
────────────────────────────────

Citations and References

In-Text Citations

ACM uses numbered citations in square brackets:

Examples:

• "Recent work has shown [1]..."
• "Several studies [2, 3, 4] demonstrate..."
• "As Smith et al. [5] noted..."

Reference List Format

Section title: "REFERENCES" (all caps, bold)

Journal article:

[1] Author1 Name, Author2 Name, and Author3 Name. Year.
    Title of article. Journal Name Volume, Issue (Month Year),
    pages. DOI:10.1145/XXXXXXX

Conference paper:

[2] Author1 Name and Author2 Name. Year. Title of paper.
    In Proceedings of Conference Name (CONF 'YY), Month,
    City, Country. ACM, New York, NY, USA, pages.
    DOI:10.1145/XXXXXXX

Book:

[3] Author Name. Year. Book Title. Publisher, City, Country.

Book chapter:

[4] Author Name. Year. Chapter Title. In Book Title,
    Editor Name (Ed.). Publisher, City, Country, pages.

Website/Online:

[5] Author Name. Year. Page Title. Website Name.
    Retrieved Month Day, Year from URL

Technical report:

[6] Author Name. Year. Report Title. Technical Report Number.
    Institution, City, Country.

Rules:

• Full first and last names (not initials)
• Year after authors
• DOI required when available
• URLs should be hyperlinked
• Alphabetical by first author's last name
• Hanging indent format

Additional Front Matter Elements

Copyright Notice

Appears at bottom of first column on page 1:

Format depends on publication rights:

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work...
© 2025 Association for Computing Machinery.
ACM ISBN 978-1-4503-XXXX-X/YY/MM...$15.00
https://doi.org/10.1145/XXXXXX.XXXXXX

(Usually auto-generated by ACM template)

Conference Information

Top of first page:

CONF '25, Month Day-Day, Year, City, Country
© 2025 Copyright held by owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM.

Acknowledgments

• Separate section before references
• Heading: "ACKNOWLEDGMENTS" (not "ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS")
• No section number
• Thank funding sources, contributors, reviewers
• Brief (1-2 paragraphs)

Example:

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by NSF Grant No. XXXXXXX. We thank
the anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback.

Author Information

Multiple Authors

Format options:

Option 1: List format

Author One
Institution
email@domain.com

Author Two
Institution
email@domain.com

Option 2: Inline format

Author One (email@domain.com), Institution;
Author Two (email@domain.com), Institution

Author Footnotes

• Use superscript symbols (*, †, ‡)
• Explain equal contribution, corresponding author, etc.

Special Content Types

Sidebars and Boxes

• Light background color
• Border around content
• Used for examples, definitions, or supplementary material
• Same font size as body

Theorems and Proofs

• Theorem: Bold heading, italic content
• Proof: Italic heading, regular content
• End proof with □ symbol

Definitions

• Format: Bold term followed by definition
• Numbered if multiple definitions

Color and Graphics

Color Usage

• Full color accepted for digital publications
• Consider colorblind-friendly palettes
• Ensure legibility in grayscale for printing
• Use patterns/textures in addition to color

Image Requirements

• Resolution: 300 DPI minimum
• Format: PDF, PNG (for screenshots), JPG
• Vector preferred: For diagrams, charts, graphs
• File size: Keep reasonable (< 5 MB per image)

Two-Column Formatting Rules

Column Breaks

• Columns should be approximately equal height
• Balance columns on final page
• Keep related content together (avoid splitting paragraphs)

Spanning Columns

• Figures and tables can span both columns
• Use when content is too wide for single column
• Place at top or bottom of page

Widows and Orphans

• Avoid single lines at top/bottom of columns
• Keep at least 2 lines of paragraph together

File Preparation

LaTeX

Use ACM Master Article Template:

\documentclass[sigconf]{acmart}

Common document classes:

• sigconf: Conference proceedings
• sigplan: SIGPLAN proceedings
• acmsmall: Small journal format
• acmlarge: Large journal format

Microsoft Word

• Use official ACM Word template
• Available from ACM website
• Includes styles for all elements

PDF Requirements

• PDF/A compliant preferred
• Fonts embedded: All fonts must be embedded
• Hyperlinks: Active and colored blue
• Bookmarks: Section headings as bookmarks
• Metadata: Include title, authors, keywords

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Missing required sections: CCS Concepts, Keywords, ACM Reference Format
2. Wrong font: Using Times instead of Libertine
3. Incorrect citation format: Not following ACM style exactly
4. Missing DOIs: References should include DOIs when available
5. Copyright notice: Modifying or removing copyright block
6. Column imbalance: Large white space in columns
7. Figure quality: Low resolution or pixelated images
8. Heading capitalization: Using all caps instead of title case
9. Author format: Not following ACM author format
10. Reference format: Using abbreviated names instead of full names

Checklist for Final Submission

• Correct document class for publication type
• Title and subtitle properly formatted
• All authors and affiliations included
• Abstract 150-250 words
• CCS Concepts section included with appropriate concepts
• Keywords section included (4-8 keywords)
• ACM Reference Format section included
• Two-column layout for body (single column for abstract)
• All section headings numbered and formatted correctly
• All figures have captions below
• All tables have captions above
• All figures and tables referenced in text
• All references follow ACM format
• Full author names in references (not initials)
• DOIs included for all references when available
• Acknowledgments section (if applicable)
• All fonts embedded in PDF
• Copyright notice included (if required)
• PDF hyperlinks working
• File size acceptable (< 25 MB typically)
• Spell-check completed
• Consistent terminology throughout

Template Variations

Conference Proceedings

• \documentclass[sigconf]{acmart}
• Two-column format
• Copyright block required
• Page limit enforced

Journal Articles

• \documentclass[acmsmall]{acmart} or acmlarge
• More flexible length
• Different heading styles
• May include received/revised dates

Extended Abstracts

• Shorter format (2-4 pages)
• May omit some sections
• Abbreviated evaluation

ACM-Specific Style Conventions

Terminology

• "Section" not "chapter"
• "Figure" not "Fig." in running text (though "Fig." in captions okay)
• Use em-dash (—) not double hyphen (--)
• Use proper quotation marks (" ") not straight quotes (")

Capitalization

• Section titles: Title Case
• Figure/Table captions: Sentence case after "Figure X:" or "Table X:"
• CCS concepts: Follow official taxonomy capitalization

Spacing

• One space after periods
• No space before punctuation
• Space after commas, colons, semicolons

Additional Resources

• ACM Author Center: https://authors.acm.org/
• ACM Templates: https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template
• ACM CCS Generator: https://dl.acm.org/ccs
• ACM Reference Format Guide: https://www.acm.org/publications/authors/reference-formatting
• LaTeX Template Documentation: https://www.ctan.org/pkg/acmart