Requirements for in-cooperation

In-cooperation status is a formal agreement between an event and ACM/SIGHPC. That means your event must advertise its relationship with SIGHPC on all event materials, such as the call-for-papers, event website, advertisements, proceedings, etc. 

If you would like SIGHPC in-cooperation status for a technical meeting, you will need to meet the ACM guidelines and submit the appropriate paperwork. The first step is to review the information here and make sure your event meets the requirements

ACM imposes a set of standard requirements for in-cooperation meetings. SIGHPC adds a few more to ensure that our members' needs are met. It may seem like a long list, but many of the items actually help your event:

What Sponsorship Means

Not-for-profit organizations like ACM interpret the word "sponsor" very narrowly. The sponsor of an event has legal and financial responsibility, including liability if someone is injured during the event. For most HPC workshops and conferences, a host university or government agency serves as that sponsor. To maintain its not-for-profit status, ACM cannot enter into arrangements with meetings that are sponsored by corporate (for-profit) entities, such as computer hardware/software manufacturers.

Before submitting a proposal, consider the relationship of your event to companies that are providing support, such as donations, receptions, travel support for speakers, etc. As long as your website and printed materials refer to them as "financial supporters," "donors," "supporters," or something like that, you pass requirement #5. But if you use the term "sponsor," "sponsored by," etc. to list companies, your meeting does not qualify for in-cooperation status. 

What Publisher Means

Legally, the "publisher" of a proceedings is the copyright holder. ACM is not normally the publisher for in-cooperation events. That is the responsibility of the sponsoring organization or host university, or you may choose to use a publishing company (such as Elsevier).

A condition for in-cooperation events is that the conference organizers must obtain written permission from the publisher for ACM to distribute the materials through the ACM Digital Library. That should be easy to arrange with a host university or government agency, and trivial for a publisher (like Elsevier) that supports "open access." If you are planning to use a more traditional publishing firm, you will want to include ACM re-distribution as one of the terms of your contract with the publisher.

In some cases, SIGHPC can help arrange for ACM to be publisher of your proceedings, as part of the International Conference Proceedings Series (ICPS). There is no charge for this service, but it involves some extra paperwork and approvals. Please contact us at meetings@sighpc.org for more information. To see other in-cooperation events that are using this mechanism, see the Workshops and Conferences listings.