Computational Linguistics in Bulgaria (CLIB) is an international conference aiming to explore novel approaches and methods in computational linguistics and natural language processing (NLP), particularly their application to small and less-resourced languages such as Bulgarian, and to bridge the gap between large and small languages in language technologies.

IMPORTANT DATES

Tutorial/Workshop submission deadline: 15 February 2026

Tutorial/Workshop notification deadline: 28 February 2026

Abstract submission deadline: 15 March 2026

Paper submission deadline: 15 April 2026, 23:59 EEST (UTC/GMT+3)

Author notification deadline: 22 May 2026

Camera-ready PDF due: 15 June

Official proceedings publication date: 7 September 2026

Tutorials/Workshops: 7 September 2026

Conference: 8 – 9 September 2026

TOPICS OF INTEREST

CLIB invites contributions on original research, including, but not limited to:

Theories and models:

  • morphology, word segmentation;
  • tagging, chunking, syntactic parsing;
  • semantics, semantic role labelling, textual inference, etc.;
  • discourse and pragmatics;
  • NLP evaluation methodologies;
  • large language models;
  • retrieval-augmented language models;
  • safety and alignment in LLMs;
  • ethics, bias, and fairness;
  • language grounding for computer vision and robotics;
  • low-resource methods for NLP;
  • multilinguality and language diversity.

NLP applications:

  • domain-specific applications (BioNLP, social media, journalism, etc.);
  • document classification, topic modelling, information retrieval;
  • information extraction, text mining, knowledge graph derivation;
  • machine translation for spoken/written/sign languages and translation aids;
  • sentiment, stylistic, opinion, and argument analysis;
  • speech recognition, synthesis, and spoken language understanding;
  • natural language generation, summarisation, and simplification;
  • question answering;
  • offensive speech detection and analysis;
  • computer-aided learning, training, and education;
  • AI / LLM agents;
  • human-AI interaction/cooperation.

Natural language resources – design, creation, and use:

  • standards, methodologies, and tools for LR construction and annotation;
  • corpora, treebanks, semantic nets, wordnets, framenets;
  • ontologies, terminology, and knowledge representation;
  • LRs in various fields of application;
  • LRs in the era of deep neural networks;
  • open, linked, and shared data and tools; open and collaborative architectures.

CLIB 2026 also solicits submissions presenting project reports, new data resources, system demonstrations, position papers.

PAPER TYPES AND FORMAT

Long papers must present substantial, original, completed, and unpublished work. Where appropriate, authors should include concrete evaluation and analysis, analysis of the impact of theories on technologies, and/or the contribution of technologies to the advancement of theory. Long papers may contain up to eight (8) pages of content, plus unlimited pages for references and appendices in the accepted format.

Short paper must present original and unpublished work with a small, focused contribution. Short papers may contain up to four (4) pages of content, plus unlimited pages for references and appendices.

Both types of submissions allow an unlimited number of pages for references and appendices.

Final versions will be allowed one additional page of content (up to nine (9) pages for long papers and up to five (5) pages for short papers) to accommodate reviewers’ comments.

SPECIAL SESSION ON WORDNETS, FRAMENETS AND ONTOLOGIES

A Special Session on Wordnets, Framenets and Ontologies will be held at CLIB 2026. The session aims to bring together researchers interested in the principles, theory, practice and applications of wordnets, ontologies, related linguistic resources and their interoperability, and seeks to establish a dedicated community and foster joint initiatives in this field.

There will be two categories of research papers: oral and poster presentations.

All accepted papers will be included in the Conference Proceedings.

Additional information and the CLIB 2026 style guidelines and templates are available in the Instructions for Authors section.

PAPER SUBMISSION

Papers must be submitted anonymously in English.

Reviewing will be double-blind. Each submission will be reviewed by at least two anonymous reviewers.

Authors are invited to submit a provisional title and a brief abstract of approximately 150 words in PDF format by 15 March 2026. The abstract must be anonymous. Submission of papers and abstracts will be managed online via the EasyChair conference management system through the CLIB 2026 EasyChair account.

BEST STUDENT PAPER AWARD

To encourage talented young researchers, the best paper presented by a Master’s or PhD student at the conference will receive a prize and a certificate.

CLIB PROCEEDINGS INDEXING

The Proceedings from CLIB 2016, CLIB 2018, CLIB 2020, CLIB 2022, CLIB 2024 are indexed in ISI Web of Science.

As of November 2020 the Proceedings are indexed in Scopus.

All CLIB Proceedings are included in the ACL Anthology.

CALL FOR TUTORIALS AND WORKSHOPS

CLIB 2026 invites proposals for tutorials and workshops in all areas of computational linguistics, natural language processing and related fields, which will be held in conjunction with the conference.

Both tutorial and workshop proposals should not exceed 4 pages of content (plus unlimited pages for references) using CLIB paper templates. Proposals should be submitted as PDF documents through the CLIB 2026 EasyChair account using the CLIB 2026 style guidelines and templates, available in the Instructions for Authors section.

Tutorial and workshop proposals are not anonymous.

TUTORIALS

Proposals should contain the following:

  • A title, authors, affiliations, and contact information.
  • A brief description of the tutorial content and its relevance to the computational linguistics community.
  • The type of tutorial: cutting-edge or introductory.
  • A description of the target audience and any prerequisite background.
  • An outline of the tutorial structure and content for a two- to eight-hour slot.
  • An explanation of how the tutorial incorporates previous research.
  • Recommended reading, a bibliography, and if relevant, a list of programmes or applications.
  • A one-paragraph summary of each instructor’s research interests, expertise, and teaching experience.
  • An estimate of the expected audience size, including information on previous iterations of the tutorial if applicable.
  • A description of any special requirements for technical equipment.
  • A statement of what materials will be available to the attendees: slides, video records, etc.
  • A statement on whether the tutorial materials can be made publicly available on the CLIB 2026 website.

Each tutorial proposal will be evaluated according to its clarity and preparedness, the novelty or timely character of the topic, the instructors’ experience, likely audience interest, open access of the tutorial instructional material.

Accepted tutorial presenters will be notified by the notification deadline. They must then provide abstracts of their tutorials for inclusion in the conference registration material. Tutorial speakers must provide tutorial materials (e.g., slides, bibliography) at least two weeks prior to the date of the tutorial. After the conference, the presenters will be invited to update their slides on the conference website.

WORKSHOPS

Workshop proposals must include:

  • A title and a brief description of the workshop topic and content.
  • A list of invited speakers, if applicable, with an indication of which ones have already agreed.
  • An estimate of the number of attendees.
  • A discussion of measures planned to ensure the workshop is successful and productive for both in-person and virtual attendees.
  • (Optional) A description of any shared tasks associated with the workshop and an estimate of the number of participants.
  • A description of special requirements and technical needs.
  • If the workshop has been held before, a summary of where it was held, the number of submissions and acceptances, and the number of attendees.
  • The names, affiliations, and email addresses of the organisers, with a brief statement on their research interests, expertise, and organizational experience.
  • A list of Program Committee members, with an indication of which members have already agreed. Organisers should ensure the PC is large enough to handle the expected number of submissions.

The workshop proposals will be evaluated according to their originality and impact, and the quality of the organising team and Programme Committee. The organisers of accepted proposals will be responsible for publicising and running the workshop, including reviewing submissions, producing the camera-ready workshop proceedings, etc.

The timeline for workshop paper submission, reviewing, and camera-ready preparation will be announced after the workshop proposals have been accepted after coordinating deadlines with the CLIB organisers.

Workshop submissions should be ready to be turned into a Call for Papers to the workshop within one week of notification.