The Voynich Manuscript has been described as one of the most mysterious books in the world. The manuscript is written in an unidentified script from an unknown language and contains illustrations of plants, bathing women, mysterious creatures, and what appear to be Zodiac signs and astrological symbols. The manuscript was radio-carbon dated to the 15th century and is held at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. The manuscript has, so far, resisted all attempts at decipherment and interpretation.
Research on the Voynich Manuscript is truly a multidisciplinary effort.
We invite papers reporting on research on the Voynich manuscript from numerous areas such as (but not limited to):
– History of the Voynich Manuscript (historical approaches, ciphers).
– Natural Language Processing techniques applied to the Voynich Manuscript.
– Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques applied to the Voynich Manuscript.
– Image Processing of the Voynich Manuscript folios.
– Works around whether or not it is a hoax, a natural language, or enciphered.
– Works that draw on methods from Digital Humanities.
Note: Proposed “solutions” will not be accepted.
The initial submission should be a (maximum) 750 word abstract/summary of the paper that is intended to be submitted.
Upon notification of acceptance the authors will have 1 month to submit the full paper [5-9 pages] for additional review.
Review Process
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The goal of the conference is to publish exciting new work that has not been published elsewhere. Therefore, by submitting a manuscript for consideration to the conference the authors acknowledge that it is not a previously published work nor has it been accepted for publication in a similar form in a peer-reviewed forum including journals, conferences and workshops.
The review process itself (both abstract and submission of paper) will entail a double blind process with volunteer reviewers. Every effort will be made to match the most appropriate reviewers to the submission received.
The submission process entails two phases.
Abstract/Summary: Provide an abstract/summary for the work that is to be submitted. This should be no longer than 750 words. Please use the abstract submission component of the EasyChair submission link below to input your abstract/summary directly. If your submission has figures/diagrams or uses a Voynich font you can also upload your submission as a PDF (in addition to the text abstract/summary). Be specific with contribution, findings and methodologies used. Successful submissions will be invited to submit a paper (5-9 pages) for the conference.
Paper Submission: A paper (of length 5-9 pages) will be submitted. It is requested the authors use the CEUR-ART templates as the conference proceedings will be published on the CEUR-WS open access website. They support both LaTeX and LibreOffice (Word support for templates was dropped).
The authors will also agree that if the paper is accepted at least one of the authors will register for the conference and present the paper and participate in the relevant Q&A session. The conference presentation format will consist of a pre-recorded video presentation from the author(s) of the paper followed by a question and answer session with the author(s).
In the event a submission is received where there is nexus with any PC member(s) a member who is not involved will be responsible for selecting the reviewers for it. This will be transparent and the member(s) with a connection to said submission will not be involved in the review process in any fashion nor be aware of who the reviewers are.
AI Policy
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– The use of generative AI to write any part of an article’s text or notes or to generate ideas is strictly prohibited
– AI cannot be considered an author of submitted works, as AI tools cannot take ethical or legal responsibility for their output or enter into legal agreements
– If prohibited AI use is discovered, even after an article has been accepted, the article will not be published and the offence will be treated as plagiarism
– Authors must fully disclose and cite their use of any content created by AI tools in their manuscripts at the time of submission. This includes data, images, figures, or any other type of content
– Authors must accept full responsibility for accuracy, originality, and citation of content created using generative AI systems, including factual and citation accuracy
– Hi Software that assists with grammar, spelling, or translation of your own words is not considered generative AI and doesn’t require disclosure
Important Dates
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Conference Date: Wednesday December 9, 2026
Format: Online
Abstract/Summary Deadline – June 30, 2026 (11:59 Central European Summer Time)
Acceptance of Abstract/Summary submission notification – July 24, 2026
Full Paper Submission [4-9 pages] – Aug 31, 2026 (11:59 Central European Summer Time)
Acceptance Notification: October 1, 2026
Provision of Paper Presentation video deadline: November 9, 2026
Submissions will be carried out on the EasyChair platform. The link will be provided in January.
For full papers to be submitted please use the templates provided below to format your submission. Templates are provided for both LibreOffice and LaTeX formatted submissions (support for Microsoft Word has been dropped). These templates will be available in early 2026.
I’ve just completed my first annual report as the new editor of Speculum. If you’re a glutton for punishment, you can read the whole thing under Proceedings in the July issue. But in the meantime, I’d like to share some statistics with the whole MAA membership. During my first eight months on the job we received 65 submissions, of which we accepted 5, rejected 43, and offered 10 authors a chance to revise and resubmit. As of March 1, nine articles are still under review. (Two contributors have already resubmitted their pieces, accounting for the discrepancy.) So our acceptance rate of fully reviewed submissions is only 8.6%. It’s wonderful to be so selective—but we’re very much on the lookout for first-rate articles! So please consider submitting your work.
