Shared Task proposals

Following the launch of shared tasks at RANLP-2025, we are pleased to invite proposals for shared tasks to be held at RANLP-2027. Shared tasks will take place on 9–10 September 2027, alongside the RANLP-2027 workshops.

We welcome proposals on any topic of interest to the NLP community, from fundamental problems to applied, industrial or commercial challenges. We particularly encourage tasks that use or evaluate the latest NLP methods, including Large Language Models and Generative AI, as well as tasks that release new datasets, cover multiple or low-resource languages, or address problems with social impact.

Onsite Presence of Organisers

At least one shared task organiser must be present in Varna. This organiser will present the task overview paper, coordinate the shared task session onsite, and liaise with the RANLP-2027 Organising Committee on venue arrangements. If no organiser can attend in Varna, the shared task will be cancelled. Where possible, its accepted papers will be moved to a related RANLP-2027 workshop.

Participation, Registration and Presentation

Each participating team that submits a system description paper must have at least one author register for RANLP-2027 and pay the registration fee. That author must present the system at RANLP-2027 in Varna. Papers from teams that do not register and present may be excluded from the proceedings.

Each accepted shared task receives one free full registration to RANLP-2027 for one of its organisers. It covers the summer school, tutorials, main conference, all workshops, the reception and the conference dinner. Any further organisers must register and pay the standard fee. The RANLP-2027 Organising Committee cannot provide any other financial support to shared task organisers or participants.

Please note that the free registration does not cover publication. At least one author of the task overview paper must register for RANLP-2027 and pay the standard fee for the overview paper to be included in the RANLP-2027 proceedings, as for system description papers.

Publication

The task overview paper and the accepted system description papers will be published as part of the RANLP-2027 conference proceedings, with ISBN numbers and DOIs, and included in the ACL Anthology. The RANLP proceedings are indexed by SCOPUS and DBLP.

Submission and Reviewing Platform

All RANLP-2027 shared tasks must use START for paper submission, reviewing and camera-ready collection. The RANLP-2027 proceedings for the ACL Anthology, covering the main conference and all workshops and shared tasks, are generated from START, so each shared task’s submissions, review records and proceedings must be managed there. The RANLP-2027 organisers will set up a START submission portal for every accepted shared task.

Important Dates

Shared task proposals due: 15 January 2027
Shared task selection notification: 25 January 2027
Task website and first call for papers (suggested): 15 February 2027
Training data release (suggested): 1 March 2027
Test data release and evaluation period (suggested): 1-15 April 2027
System description paper submission (suggested): 30 April 2027
Overview paper draft due to RANLP shared task chairs (suggested): 31 May 2027
Paper acceptance notification (suggested): 5 June 2027
Camera-ready papers (suggested): 30 June 2027
Final camera-ready papers due to RANLP publication chairs (firm): 31 July 2027
Shared task: 9–10 September 2027

All deadlines are 23:59 Anywhere on Earth (UTC-12).

Proposal Requirements

Proposals must be prepared using the RANLP-2027 shared task proposal template, available on Overleaf: https://www.overleaf.com/read/ybkqbbbrdgng#6dee3c. They should be no longer than five pages (including information about the organisers and references) and must include the following:

  1. Title, acronym, and a short description of the task, its motivation, and why it is timely and important for the NLP community.
  2. A precise task definition, including the input and output format and any subtasks or tracks.
  3. The data: source, size, languages, annotation procedure and quality control, licensing, and whether the training, development and test data are already available or still to be created.
  4. The evaluation: metrics, the evaluation platform (e.g. CodaBench, Kaggle), and the baseline systems that will be provided.
  5. The expected number of participating teams, the target audience, and how the task will be publicised.
  6. Related shared tasks held in the last three years (e.g. at SemEval, WMT, or RANLP-2025) and how the proposed task differs from them. If the task has run before, give the number of previous editions and the number of participating teams.
  7. A task timeline consistent with the important dates above.
  8. How system description papers will be reviewed in START (for example, peer review among participating teams, with additional reviewers if needed).
  9. Ethical considerations, including data privacy, consent, and potential misuse, where relevant.
  10. Names and contact details (web page and email address) of the organisers, with a description of their experience in the task topic and in organising shared tasks or related events. Name the organiser(s) who will be present in Varna.

Responsibilities of the Shared Task Organisers

  • Setting up and maintaining the task website, and distributing the calls for participation;
  • Releasing the training, development and test data and the baselines, and running the evaluation;
  • Running the submission and review of system description papers in START (teams are normally asked to review each other’s papers), and notifying authors;
  • Writing the task overview paper, which describes the task, the data, the participating systems and the results;
  • Checking camera-ready papers and delivering them, in the format required by the RANLP-2027 publication chairs, for inclusion in the RANLP-2027 proceedings no later than 31 July 2027;
  • Making sure at least one organiser is in Varna to present the overview paper, run the shared task session, and coordinate venue arrangements with the RANLP-2027 Organising Committee.

Responsibilities of the RANLP-2027 Organising Committee

  • Linking to the shared task web page from the conference website;
  • Providing a START submission portal to every shared task;
  • Publishing the overview and system description papers in the RANLP-2027 proceedings with ISBN numbers, registering DOIs for all accepted papers, and including them in the ACL Anthology;
  • Providing the venue for the shared task sessions;
  • Organising registration, audio/visual support, coffee breaks and Internet access.

Proposal Submission

Please prepare your proposal using the RANLP-2027 shared task proposal template and email it in PDF format to the Shared Task Co-Chairs, Tharindu Ranasinghe (t.ranasinghe@lancaster.ac.uk) and Saad Ezzini (saad.ezzini@kfupm.edu.sa), by 15 January 2027.

Template: https://www.overleaf.com/read/ybkqbbbrdgng#6dee3c

Evaluation

Proposals will be reviewed against the following criteria:

  • Relevance, importance and timeliness of the task;
  • Quality, availability and licensing of the data, and soundness of the evaluation;
  • Completeness, clarity and quality of the proposal;
  • Organisers’ experience in the task topic;
  • Viability of the task, including the expected number of participants and plans for onsite organisation in Varna.

Tharindu Ranasinghe, Lancaster University, UK (Workshops and Shared tasks Co-Chair, Summer School Co-Director)

Saad Ezzini, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Saudi Arabia (Sponsorship Chair and Shared tasks Co-Chair)

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