Long and Regular Papers

We solicit papers that report original, novel, unpublished work relevant to all the scientific, technological, and application aspects of haptics.

Important Dates

• October 13, 2025 (11:59 p.m. AoE): Regular and Long Paper submission deadline (firm, no extensions)
• December 19, 2025: Regular and Long Paper acceptance notification
• January 23, 2026: Regular and Long Paper camera-ready deadline

Paper Length

Long Papers

The length is 8 to 12 pages plus up to 3 pages of references.

Regular Papers

The length is 4 to 6 pages plus up to 2 pages of references.

Paper Format

Technical papers should be prepared according to the formatting instructions available here .

For authors’ convenience, the templates for technical papers can be downloaded in Word or Latex format. Note that only the US Letter template will be accepted, not the A4 template.

Double-Blind Review Process

HS2026 is using a double-blind review process, which means that reviewers will not know any information about the authors who wrote the papers they are reviewing. The HS Editorial Board chose this reviewing model based on best practices to reduce reviewer bias and increase fairness in the review process. Therefore, authors must not include their names, affiliations, or other identifying information anywhere in the version of the paper they submit for review.

To comply with page length requirements, authors should use placeholder text for the author list and affiliations. When referencing prior work by the authors, take particular care to write in the third person (e.g., “Lastname et al.”), as is standard for citing external sources, and include full citations. Avoid using the first person (e.g., “we,” “I,” “our”) and refrain from disclosing institutional or geographic information within the manuscript text. All images and videos must be anonymized for initial submission by removing or obscuring identifiable elements such as faces, institutional logos, and other distinguishing features. Funding details and acknowledgments should also be anonymized for initial submission and included in full only after acceptance. Finally, ensure that all identifiable metadata is removed from the submitted PDF using Adobe Acrobat or other suitable editing tools.

Authors must confirm compliance with this double-blind policy during submission, and submitted papers will be checked for proper anonymization before review. Papers that have not been properly anonymized may be desk-rejected, or their authors may be required to make corrections before the submission can be sent out for review. Questions and comments about this double-blind review process should be addressed to editors@hapticssymposium.org .

Supplementary Video (optional)

Submission of videos is optional but strongly encouraged to help readers understand the paper.

Uploaded videos will be reviewed along with the paper. Videos will be submitted for publication to IEEE Xplore and may be used to promote the conference.

Guidelines

The video should be in MPEG-4 (.mp4) format, up to 2 minutes in length, with a resolution of at least 480p (progressive scan), and a file size no larger than 40 MB. Final (but not initial) video submissions will need to include some simple additional files for IEEE Xplore compliance.

Publication Policies

Ethical Conduct of Research

Haptics research frequently involves human participants in experiments and observational studies. Ethical treatment of human participants is a core value of the haptics community, as it is for the broader international scientific research community.

While we recognize that institutions around the world differ in their specific requirements, we expect the authors of all submitted papers to adhere to basic ethical guidelines for the treatment of human participants, as embodied in historical documents such as the Nuremberg Code and the Declaration of Helsinki.

Submitting authors are required to declare either that no human participants were involved in the research reported in their submission or that human participants took part in the reported research, and standard ethical practices were followed, as described in the submitted paper.

Use of Large Language Models

Text generated from a large-scale language model (LLM), such as ChatGPT, must be marked where such tools are used for purposes beyond editing the author’s own text. Please review the IEEE Guidelines for Generative AI Usage . The guidelines describe requirements for acknowledging the use of such tools and their allowable use. Please make sure that any LLM disclosure is available in your submitted version. While we do not anticipate using tools on a large scale to detect LLM-generated text, we will investigate submissions brought to our attention and desk-reject papers where LLM use is not clearly marked.

Accessibility

Accessible submissions are essential for reviewers and are good practice. Authors are expected to follow the IEEE Haptics Symposium Guide to Inclusive and Accessible Submissions . If you have any questions or concerns about creating accessible submissions, please contact the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Chair at edi@hapticssymposium.org .

Presentation and Publication

All accepted Long and Regular Papers will be presented orally in a podium presentation, either in a dual-track regular session or in a single-track featured session.

All accepted papers will be included in the electronically distributed conference proceedings and also published in IEEE Xplore.

Paper copyright will be transferred to the IEEE as part of the publication process.

Paper decisions will be announced on December 19, 2025.

Submission

The Haptics Symposium ’26 paper submission portal can be accessed at: Precision Conference System (PCS)

Under “Submissions”, please select:

• Society: Haptics Symposium
• Conference/Journal: HAPTICS 2026
• Track: HAPTICS 2026 Long and Regular Papers

You can use this same submission form for either long or regular papers. Then click “Go” to make a new submission. You will be able to edit the form until the deadline.

Camera-Ready Instructions

There are four steps for preparing your final publication-ready submission:

1. Submit the IEEE eCopyright form via the online publishing rights system. (A separate email will be sent to the corresponding author for this.)

2. De-anonymize and revise your paper . Please be sure to address the reviews you have received and also de-anonymize and revise any supplemental material (e.g., the video).

3. Check the formatting of your PDF via IEEE PDF eXpress to ensure it is compatible with IEEE Xplore. You should have the option to check a generated PDF or generate one from your source documents.

4. Submit the compatible PDF to PCS by January 23, 2026.

Detailed instructions follow below. Please also remember to register at least one author for the whole conference by the early-bird registration deadline of February 16 so they can present your paper in person in Reno, NV, during March 29 - April 1.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email the Publications Chair .

1. Submit the IEEE eCopyright Form

Submitting the copyright form is mandatory for all accepted papers. Note that this step must be completed before creating your PDF eXpress version ( step 3 ).

• The material submitted for presentation at IEEE Haptics Symposium 2026 must be original, not published, and not being considered for publication elsewhere. All accepted papers will appear in the conference proceedings and on a password-protected page (shared with conference registrants before the conference) containing PDF files of all conference papers.
• IEEE will hold the copyright of the material presented at the conference. One of the authors should complete the Copyright Transfer Form using the electronic copyright form (eCF).
• A separate email will be sent to the corresponding author with the copyright link - check your email!

2. De-anonymize and Revise your Paper

Your paper must be de-anonymized and revised for the camera-ready submission the following steps.

• De-anonymization
  • Enter the name and IEEE membership of each author as a list under the title
  • Enter the affiliation and contact information of all the authors in the first footnote
  • Update or delete the following text in the LaTeX or Word template as needed “\thanks(Identify applicable funding agency here. If none, delete this.)” In the LaTeX template, this is right after the title. In the Word template, this is at the bottom of the first page.
  • Add information about ethical review for all reported user studies, such as the Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval number, to the paper as appropriate.
  • Add any other scientific details that were omitted for double-blind review, such as direct connections to your prior work or the language in which a user study was conducted.
  • Add acknowledgments to the end of your paper as needed.
  • If your paper includes a supplementary video or supplementary materials, please also de-anonymize them. For the video, please include a title page at the start of the video with the final paper title, authors, affiliations, conference name (IEEE Haptics Symposium), and year. The same information can optionally be included at the end of the video. Please also remove any submission information (e.g., submission number) from the video.
• Revision
  • Edit your paper to address the feedback provided by the reviewers and Associate Editor. Please consider improvements to all aspects of your submission, including the title, abstract, figures, text, references, and optional video and supplementary video.
  • Please prepare a separate summary of the changes you made and enter this summary in the “Summary of Edits” box on PCS (see FINAL SUBMISSION section below). We reserve the right to reject camera-ready papers that are not sufficiently improved based on the reviews.

3. Check the Formatting

After de-anonymizing the content and addressing reviewer comments, you need to update the formatting of your materials for the following guidelines. Please consult the IEEE Editorial Style Manual for Authors if you have any question about specific formatting or style.

3.1 Paper Format

• Your camera-ready paper must adhere to the page limit specified for your paper category: regular papers (4-6 pages, plus up to 2 pages of references) or long papers (8-12 pages, plus up to 3 pages of references).
• Ensure you use the most recent Word or LaTeX template for your final submission. Refer to the following link for the appropriate templates: https://www.ieee.org/conferences/publishing/templates
• The paper must be in US Letter size.
• The paper must be submitted in PDF format and must have all fonts embedded in the PDF file.
• Do not change any style or formatting settings of the template.
• Do not include any page numbers, headers, or footers.
• Do not use footnotes and references in the abstract.
• Follow the title and heading capitalization in the template. Specifically, the title and headings must be capitalized in title case, and all section headings must use small caps. Do not change the capitalization.
• Ensure that all figures and tables have captions.
• The text in figures and tables must be larger than or equal to 8 pt.
• Use only scalable font types (like Type 1, TrueType) – bit-mapped font types (like Type 3) are not acceptable,
• Include all diagrams embedded in vector graphics. If this is not possible, use a high- resolution bitmap format of at least 300 dpi.
• All units must be consistently separated from their values with a narrow space (e.g., 33 GB). In LaTeX, this can be written as 33\,GB. Furthermore, units should be in normal font, not math font.
• The last page must have balanced columns if the page is not filled.
• Use the microtype package for improved typesetting.
• Limit the use of boldface and bright colors in the text. Do not use underlining in the text.
• Attribute all third-party material appropriately (mention author, copyright holder, and origin).

3.2 Video Format

Authors may choose to submit a video figure to be included as a supplementary file with their paper in the IEEE proceedings. This can be the de-anonymized version of a video submitted during the review, a revised version that reflects the comments from reviewers, or a new video. To include a video, follow these guidelines:

• We recommend that the video begins and optionally ends with a title page with the paper title, authors, affiliations, conference name (IEEE Haptics Symposium), and year.
• Submit a zip archive that contains a README.txt, a SUMMARY.txt, and a video in mp4 format (the archive should not contain any (sub-)directory).
• See more information on the IEEE Author Center page for supplementary materials .
• Video
  • MP4 format.
  • Maximum duration: 5 minutes.
  • Minimum resolution: 1080 pixels wide. - Size: less than 100 MB.
  • Frame rate: between 25 and 30 fps.
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9 (widescreen).
• SUMMARY.txt
  • This text will be shown in the digital library for your video.
  • Include up to 5 sentences describing the contents of the video (approximately 25 to 50 words in total).
  • You can only use ASCII text.
• README.txt: Include the following sections in a README file for your playable multimedia object.
  • Description: An overall description of the video and what the audience can expect to gain by downloading it.
  • Size: The total size of the video, in kilobytes if less than one megabyte in size, or in megabytes if one megabyte or greater in size. This will allow IEEE to provide IEEE Xplore users with information that helps them make informed decisions about downloading.
  • Player Information: Provide the minimum version of the player software required to play the submitted files. Include the name of the software, the version number, and any special requirements for the player. For non-standard applications, please include what platform(s) is required, along with more detailed information about interacting with this video.
  • Packing list: Complete list of all the files included in the set of multimedia objects.
  • Contact Information: The author should provide contact information in case users have questions regarding the extended material. IEEE will not provide any technical support.
  • Format your README file in PDF or text format for easy accessibility. All supplemental files, including the README file, will be available as a .zip file with the rest of the article on IEEE Xplore.

3.3 Check with PDF eXpress

This step helps you create IEEE Xplore-compatible PDFs using PDF eXpress and is mandatory for all accepted papers.

• Make sure you submitted a valid copyright form before proceeding to this task.
• Before creating a PDF, proofread your source document thoroughly to ensure you have handled the reviews you received; make any additional revisions needed to create your final version.
• Log in to the IEEE PDF eXpress site: https://ieee-pdf-express.org/
• First-time users should select “Create account” and enter 66823X for the Conference ID. Proceed to enter your email address, a password, and other information as prompted. An online confirmation will be displayed, and an email confirmation will be sent verifying your account setup.
  • Note: HAPTICS26 is still being added to PDF eXpress, so please check back if you encounter an error with the provided Conference ID.
• Previous users of PDF eXpress need to follow the above steps, but should enter the same password that was used for previous conferences. Verify that your contact information is accurate and up to date.
• If you face difficulty, contact PDF eXpress Support. To do so, visit the Publications Support Center for IEEE PDF eXpress and use the “Find Answers” or “Ask A Question” tabs. Your question will be forwarded to IEEE PDF Support and answered within 3 business days. If you encounter trouble here, please contact the Publications Chair for assistance.

4. Submit the Compatible PDF to PCS

The contact author must log in to PCS using the email address at which they received this message: https://new.precisionconference.com/haptics26a

Find this accepted paper on the “Submissions” tab and click the action link to submit the camera-ready paper.

• Complete the form, entering your final paper title and abstract.
• The author list is carried over from the initial submission of your paper and cannot be edited on PCS. If you wish to change the author list for your accepted paper, please email a detailed summary of your request to the Conference Editorial Board , giving your paper submission ID and explaining exactly how and why you want to make this modification. We take such requests seriously and will aim to respond within two business days.
• You also need to enter a summary of the changes you made to address the reviews you received in the “Summary of Edits” box.
• Upload the camera-ready PDF file from PDF eXpress and your optional supplementary video by January 23.
• When done, press the “Record Changes” button at the bottom of the page. You can return to this page and resubmit until the deadline.

Remember to Register for HAPTICS26!

You can find information about conference registration on the registration page .

At least one author must register to attend the whole conference and present your accepted long or regular paper in person in Reno, NV, during March 29 - April 1. At least one author must register by the early-bird registration deadline of February 16.

Paper presentation formats and times will be assigned by the Program Chairs and are expected to be announced in February before the early-bird registration deadline.