Call for Papers
We received 79 submissions this year. We are delighted by the response and excited to see the community grow. Reviews are now under way.
Acceptance decisions 28 September 2026 (AoE)
Call for papers
Closed
Submission deadline
04 September 2026
AoE
Acceptance decisions
28 September 2026
AoE
Workshop day
Friday, 11 December 2026
Rooms MR C4.6 and C4.7
Submission and acceptance-decision deadlines are AoE.
About the workshop
What the workshop is about
Machine learning has transformed biology and chemistry, yet many models miss essential dynamics. First-principles methods like molecular dynamics offer physical grounding but remain costly. SIMBIOCHEM bridges that divide — integrating scalable ML with rigorous physical simulation to make methods faster, and more accurate, reliable and grounded in science.
“How can simulation, generative models, and agentic AI be fused into physics-aligned systems that learn from reality and accelerate biological and chemical discovery?”
Who can submit
A broad range of contributions across ML, computational chemistry, biophysics and materials science. We especially welcome work on how ML can accelerate physical simulation, and how simulation can inform and strengthen ML — from datasets and benchmarks to new models and algorithms.
Topics of interest
- • Physically-grounded architectures (symmetries, conservation laws).
- • Differentiable simulation & inverse design.
- • Next-generation learned potentials.
- • Data efficiency & scalability, foundation models, agentic ML.
- • Standardisation & reproducibility: benchmarks, datasets, metrics.
What to submit
Submission is entirely electronic, via the SIMBIOCHEM venue on OpenReview.
What we welcome
SIMBIOCHEM is a place for scientific discussion, not only for finished results. We actively welcome early-stage work: methods that look promising but are not yet validated in the lab, partial or negative results others can learn from, and early ideas that could steer where the community goes next.
Experienced and early-career researchers are equally welcome, from academia and from industry. Work being early is not a mark against it here — we only ask that you are clear about what has been shown and what has not.
Academic rigour still applies. Each paper receives three scores from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent):
- Novelty
- Does the paper present a genuinely new idea, direction or perspective?
- Clarity
- Is the paper easy to understand and assess? Are its claims, limits and figures clear?
- Impact
- Could the work meaningfully influence future research or practice?
Papers (5–8 pages)
- • 5–8 pages, excluding references, appendices and data-availability statements (which may take unlimited space).
- • Reviewers reserve the right to stop reading beyond 8 pages; extra content is at the author’s risk.
- • Six spotlight papers are selected from accepted submissions.
- • Must be fully anonymised using the provided template (see step 2).
Camera-ready (if accepted)
Accepted papers will be invited to submit a camera-ready version. Although the workshop is non-archival, camera-ready submissions are collated into a proceedings page on this website for download — with an opt-out at submission.
Posters (if accepted)
- • All accepted papers may present a poster in person.
- • 24″ (W) × 36″ (H), portrait, on lightweight paper (NeurIPS workshop size).
- • Mount with provided command strips only (command strips and painters tape are provided in the room). No adhesive-backed self-sticking posters or anything that could damage walls or boards.
- • Please take your poster down after your session.
- • NeurIPS will suggest preferred poster-printing options nearer the conference.
Slides (if spotlighted)
Six spotlight papers are chosen by the organisers with the committees. Each gets a 10-minute talk; presenters submit slides at least two days before the workshop.
Journal fast-track & awards
The organising committee is reaching out to journals about fast-track publication opportunities and a best-paper award for top accepted submissions. Any such pathway remains at the journal’s discretion and independent of the workshop review.
Non-archival. There are no proceedings and no rebuttal phase. We welcome work previously presented at other workshops or conferences, or currently under review elsewhere.
Get the template & prepare an anonymised PDF
Use the official NeurIPS 2026 LaTeX style and submit anonymised — omit the final and preprint options. For Overleaf, download the zip and upload it as a new project.
Anonymise carefully
- • Submissions must be fully anonymised as per the template instructions. Do not include author names, affiliations or acknowledgements.
- • Remove any identifying links — GitHub repositories, personal websites, and images/figures (or their metadata) that could reveal your identity.
- • Acknowledgements may be added only in the camera-ready version after acceptance.
- • Because the workshop is non-archival, reviewers are explicitly instructed to evaluate only the submitted PDF and not to search for external sources — please help preserve double-blind review by removing anything that could deanonymise you.
Non-anonymous papers will be desk-rejected.
Research integrity — no duplicate submissions
This year, we will take attempts to outsmart the review process very seriously. Duplicate and near-duplicate submissions are easy for us to identify. They waste reviewers’ time and damage trust in our community. They may be desk-rejected and reported to the organisers, OpenReview and NeurIPS as misconduct.
Please be mindful of everyone’s time. Submit one clear paper for one body of work, and help us make SIMBIOCHEM a welcoming and enjoyable community to collaborate with.
SIMBIOCHEM · NeurIPS 2026 template
Includes neurips_2026.tex, neurips_2026.sty and the required checklist.tex.
Checklist before you submit
- • 5–8 pages (references & appendices excluded).
- • Fully anonymised, no identifying links or images.
- • US-Letter page size; embed Type 1 / TrueType fonts.
- • COI declaration completed on OpenReview (step 3).
- • The paper checklist is encouraged but not enforced — please complete the AI/LLM disclosure item.
Check conflicts of interest
Complete before submission
Declare relevant conflicts before submission. This helps us assign reviewers fairly.
Domain conflicts
Keep every author’s OpenReview profile up to date. This helps us avoid assigning a reviewer with a potential conflict of interest.
Personal conflicts
Declare family or close personal relationships, PhD adviser–advisee relationships, and original-research co-authorship within the past three years. Disclose any other relationship that could compromise review fairness. If unsure, contact us.
Submission eligibility
Workshop organisers and anyone with a personal conflict with an organiser may not submit. A shared affiliation does not by itself mean that an author has a personal conflict with an organiser, nor does it prevent submission. Keeping affiliations up to date in OpenReview helps us assign reviewers fairly. Please indicate a potential conflict of interest with the organising committee if you are closely related to anyone listed below.
Review, prizes & reviewing
How review works
Review process
Up to three double-blind reviews per submission, with reviewer loads capped at three. Reviewers score Novelty, Clarity and Impact from 1 to 5 and provide detailed comments. There is no rebuttal phase.
Recognition & prizes
Best papers are selected by the organisers and advisors on Novelty, Clarity and Impact. The committee is reaching out to sponsors and journals about additional prizes and fast-track opportunities.
Programme Committee
The call for Programme Committee members is now closed. Reviewers will be listed on the website.
Programme Committee detailsUse of AI in papers and reviews
AI assistance is allowed under NeurIPS guidelines, but it is not encouraged. Research integrity remains central.
Authors
- • Disclose AI when it significantly contributes to writing, deriving new theory or experimentation.
- • Submit in good faith. You remain responsible for every claim, result and sentence.
Reviewers
Reviewers receive specific guidelines. Before submitting each review, they confirm in OpenReview that they have read the paper, take responsibility for their words and accept accountability for the review.
AI is an important tool. We still put research integrity first. We want this community to grow in knowledge, judgement and skill.
Call for papers closed
Thank you to everyone who submitted. We received 79 papers this year. Reviews are now under way, and acceptance decisions will be announced on 28 September 2026 (AoE).
Questions? Contact workshop@simbiochem.com