Increase your visibility and expand your network. Reach thousands by being published in the world's largest collection of optics and photonics research. The information on this page will facilitate the preparation and submission of your work to the Proceedings of SPIE. These guidelines include formatting standards and templates, instruction for including multimedia files with your manuscript, submission instructions, and policies and best practices for your consideration in the preparation for publication on the SPIE Digital Library.
| Abstracts due | 7 May 2025 |
| Registration opens | July 2025 |
| Authors notified and program posts online | 14 July 2025 |
| Submission system opens for manuscripts and poster PDFs* | 18 August 2025 |
| Poster PDFs due for spie.org preview and publication | 24 September 2025 |
| Manuscripts due | 1 October 2025 |
| Advance upload deadline for oral presentation slides** | 17 October 2025 |
*Contact author or speaker must register prior to uploading
**After this date slides must be uploaded onsite at Speaker Check-in
Format your manuscript
Papers should include elements of a full-length technical manuscript, including:
DO NOT include:
Templates and style files
SPIE manuscript template for Microsoft Word - US-Letter size (.docx):
SPIE manuscript template for Microsoft Word - A4 size (.docx):
LaTeX Style files:
Overleaf:
Submit your manuscript
Add multimedia files
You may submit up to ten short video or audio files with your manuscript to better communicate your paper's main points. Video/animation and/or audio published with your manuscript can help demonstrate more dynamically to your audience than is possible through a static paper alone. Follow two easy steps to submit and represent the multimedia file(s) in your manuscript:
Publication policies
Guidelines for ethical publishing
ChatGPT and AI tools authorship policy
Because authorship attribution requires accountability for the submitted work, SPIE does not allow Chat GPT and other Large Language Models (LLMs) to be listed as authors on a manuscript. If authorsuse AI tools when writing a manuscript, it should be disclosed along with all other tools used in the study in the Materials and Methods section of the paper. This section should describe which AI tool was used and how it was used. SPIE follows the guidance of COPE on this topic, which further advises that authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics.
Policy regarding the use of the Lena image
SPIE prohibits the use of the Lena (Lenna) image. Authors are advised to use other suitable images to illustrate and compare image processing algorithms. Authors who submit new manuscripts containing the Lena image will be asked to replace the image with a substitute image. SPIE reserves the right to deny publication of the Lena image and manuscripts, posters, videos containing this image.
Presentation and publication
Papers and posters not presented at the event will not be published in the Proceedings of SPIE. If unforeseeable circumstances prevent you from attending the meeting and keeping your presentation commitment, please arrange for a coauthor or colleague who is attending to give the presentation. If you have no options for a substitute presenter, contact your SPIE coordinator as soon as possible to arrange for cancelation of the presentation.
Cancelations and no-shows
Arbitrary cancelation or no-show of a presentation after the program has been finalized is viewed as unprofessional by SPIE and its volunteers. Presenting authors are encouraged to communicate with SPIE staff as early as possible if they are unable to attend the event and give a scheduled presentation. Cancelations and no-shows are recorded in the presenting author's presentation record, and papers and posters not presented at the event will not be published in the Proceedings of SPIE.
Company or government clearance
Company or government clearance must be finalized at the time of submission. Government employees or contractors are advised to allow a minimum of 60 days for clearance. Authors are recommended to wait to submit the paper until all necessary permissions and clearances have been obtained, and keep their SPIE coordinator informed of any expected delays beyond the due date.
Review information
Conference chairs/editors review proceedings for technical merit, suitability of content, and clarity, and may require revisions before approving publication. SPIE and its volunteers reserve the right to reject for publication any manuscript, poster, or video that does not meet content or quality expectations set forth by SPIE and its editors.
Proceedings of SPIE provide rapid reporting on ideas, techniques, and results of current research. Papers may be status reports of work in progress or descriptions of completed research. Many papers are acceptable as submitted. Reviewers are tasked to verify that every published item in the conference proceedings
Privileged information or ideas obtained through review access to conference abstracts and manuscripts before presentation and publication must be kept confidential and not be used for competitive gain.
Web posting policy
SPIE grants to authors (and their employers) of papers, posters, and presentation recordings published in Proceedings of SPIE the right to post an author-prepared version or the officially published version (preferred) on an internal or external repository controlled exclusively by the author/employer, or the entity funding the research, provided that (a) such posting is noncommercial and the publication is made available to users without charge; (b) an appropriate SPIE attribution and citation appear with the publication; and (c) a DOI link to SPIE’s official online version of the publication is provided. This authorization does not extend to third-party websites not owned and maintained by the author/employer such as ResearchGate, Academia.edu, YouTube, etc.
SPIE content published under a Creative Commons CC-BY license is exempt from the above requirements.
Citation formats
For any SPIE journal article, proceedings paper, poster, or presentation recording, you can view the publication page on the SPIE Digital Library to generate a citation. If you build this citation yourself, please follow this preferred format for publications in the Proceedings of SPIE:
Author(s), "Paper, Poster, or Presentation Title," Proc. SPIE Volume Number, Volume Title, Paper Number (Publication Date). https://dx.doi.org/DOI
Example:
Sarah Everton, Phill Dickens, Chris Tuck, Ben Dutton, "Evaluation of laser ultrasonic testing for inspection of metal additive manufacturing," Proc. SPIE 10352, Laser 3D Manufacturing II, 1035216 (March 16, 2022). DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2078768
and this preferred format for articles published in an SPIE Journal:
Author(s), "Article Title," Journ. Title, Vol(Iss), 6-digit Paper Number (Publication date). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/DOI
Example:
Blackberrie Eddins and Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell, “Design of a multifiber light delivery system for photoacoustic-guided surgery," J. Biomed. Opt. 22(4), 041011 (Jan 13, 2022). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.22.4.041011
Name changes
Authors may wish to change a name due to gender identity, marriage, divorce, religion, or other reasons. To support diversity, equity, and inclusion in research communities, SPIE allows authors to change their names and pronouns in previous publications. SPIE will not require proof or supporting documentation for this change. When an author requests a name change on a work or works published in the SPIE Digital Library, the paper(s) and/or posters(s) will be updated and republished online, while maintaining the same citation information. Name changes made under this policy do not require an erratum. It is recommended that co-authors are informed of the name change. Misspellings and/or errors in an author's name are not included in this policy and do require correction via erratum.
To request a name change, contact name_change_request@spie.org with your request. Include the paper DOI and the name change information. SPIE will update the paper and republish it online, redelivering it to all abstracting and indexing databases. Misuse of this policy is an ethical violation and will be investigated and acted upon.
Permission to Publish and Distribute Agreement
SPIE requires a Permission to Publish and Distribute Agreement that grants SPIE license to publish, archive, and distribute any Paper and/or Poster presented during an SPIE conference via the SPIE Digital Library or another SPIE-selected platform. Under this agreement the Author(s) retains all copyright ownership to the written content and any underlying research. SPIE retains the exclusive rights to distribute and market the Paper and/or Poster.
Rights and permissions
Prior to submission, authors should obtain all clearances, authorizations, and licenses needed for submission and publication. To obtain required permissions for reusing material from papers previously published with SPIE, contact permissions@spie.org. All reused work must be properly cited.
Publication of proceedings in the SPIE Digital Library
Increase your professional visibility and publish in the world's largest collection of optics and photonics research. Your peers access approximately 18 million papers, presentations, and posters from the SPIE Digital Library each year.
Please do not submit a draft of your paper with the intent of later submitting a revised final version. If you are under pressure to submit your paper, but need more time, contact your SPIE proceedings coordinator and ask if a deadline extension is possible.
Manuscripts, presentations, and posters will be officially published approximately 6 weeks after the event in the Proceedings of SPIE on the SPIE Digital Library.
If a revision to your manuscript or poster is requested, either by SPIE staff or by the chair/editor, you have three business days to submit your revision to SPIE. To submit a revision, sign in to your account, click on the name of the meeting, and click the 'Submit Manuscript Revision' link for your paper.
Manuscript submission is expected by the chairs/editors of the proceedings. In an effort to publish a conference proceedings that is as full and complete as possible, manuscript submissions are strongly encouraged for all presentations. The published manuscript is the only way to ensure that you are fully indexed in the Proceedings of SPIE on the SPIE Digital Library (http://spiedigitallibrary.org), the world's largest collection of optics and photonics research.
SPIE no longer requires transfer of copyright for publication in the Proceedings of SPIE. SPIE now requires a Permission to Publish and Distribute Agreement that grants SPIE license to publish, archive, and distribute any Paper and/or Poster presented during an SPIE conference via the SPIE Digital Library or another SPIE-selected platform. Under this agreement the Author(s) retains all copyright ownership to the written content and any underlying research. When submitting your manuscript or poster via your account at https://spie.org/myaccount, confirm the Permission to Publish and Distribute agreement by clicking the agreement checkbox.
SPIE publication policy permits manuscripts based partly or entirely on scientific content previously reported in the Proceedings of SPIE to be submitted to an SPIE journal. In most cases, it is anticipated that the journal submission will be a substantively expanded and revised manuscript relative to the proceedings paper to fully satisfy journal standards of originality, completeness, and inclusion of substantial conclusions and comprehensive references to other work. For more information: www.spiedigitallibrary.org/proceedings-to-journals
Disclosure requirement: If a manuscript (or portion of a manuscript) was previously published in a conference proceedings or is under consideration for publication in a proceedings, this information must be disclosed when the manuscript is submitted to an SPIE journal. Authors should also reference or acknowledge the prior proceedings paper within the submitted journal article.
SPIE partners with relevant scientific databases to enable researchers to find Proceedings of SPIE. Proceedings volumes are submitted for evaluation to be indexed in Web of Science, Scopus, Ei Compendex, Inspec, Google Scholar, Astrophysical Data System (ADS), CrossRef, and other scholarly indexes, and are widely accessible to leading research organizations, conference attendees, and individual researchers.