CSoNet 2026EXACT Competition
PIC: Quan Thanh Tho
Affiliation: Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), Vietnam
The EXACT Competition session features research and results from EXACT 2026: The 2nd International XAI Challenge for Transparent Educational Question-Answering, an IEEE IJCNN 2026 Competition focusing on explainable and transparent AI for educational question answering.
The competition addresses the development and evaluation of AI systems that can solve educational problems while providing transparent, interpretable, and human-understandable reasoning. EXACT 2026 includes two task types: Type 1: Logic-Based Educational Queries and Type 2: Physics Problems. These tasks provide challenging settings for studying logical reasoning, multi-step problem solving, and the interpretation of structured and visual information in educational contexts.
The session aims to provide a forum for participants to present their approaches, experimental results, and insights from the competition, as well as to promote discussion on emerging methods for explainable AI, educational question answering, large language models, multimodal learning, knowledge representation, and symbolic reasoning.
Topics of Interest
The scope of the EXACT Competition includes, but is not limited to:
- Explainable and transparent AI for education
- Educational question answering
- Logic-based and multi-step reasoning
- Physics problem solving
- Knowledge representation and knowledge-enhanced reasoning
- Symbolic and neuro-symbolic reasoning
- Reasoning over diagrams and structured information
- Trustworthy and reliable AI for education
- Evaluation of reasoning and explanation quality
- Human-understandable and evidence-based AI explanations
Contributions presenting competition methods, experimental studies, analyses, and new approaches to transparent educational question answering are especially encouraged.
Publication
Accepted papers will be published as part of the Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) proceedings of CSoNet 2026, subject to the conference review process and publication policies.
Important Dates
- Submission deadline: July 31, 2026
- Acceptance notification: September 20, 2026
- Camera-ready paper: September 30, 2026
- Registration and payment: September 30, 2026
Submission Instructions
Papers must be original and unpublished and must not be submitted concurrently for publication elsewhere. All paper submissions must adhere to the following guidelines:
- Papers must be formatted using the LNCS format (Springer LNCS Conference Proceedings Guidelines) without altering margins or the font point.
- The maximum length of:
- a regular paper (including references) is 14 pages
- an extended abstract is 2 pages.
- Proofs omitted due to space constraints must be placed in an appendix to be read by the program committee members at their discretion.
Submission Link: https://meteor.springer.com/CSoNet2026
When submitting through the CSoNet 2026 submission system, authors should select “Special Session: EXACT Competition” in the session field.
Special Issue on Next-Generation Computing and Communication Technologies
PIC: Tran Ngoc Thinh
Affiliation: Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), Vietnam
The evolution of digital technologies is driving the development of next-generation computing and communication systems that support complex, data-intensive, and intelligent applications. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and edge computing, high-performance computing, and next-generation communications are transforming how data is collected, transmitted, and processed. Additionally, the increasing number of connected devices and cyber-physical systems requires scalable, energy-efficient, and secure infrastructures capable of enabling robust real-time analytics, autonomous decision-making, and seamless connectivity.
The goal of this Special Issue is to create a platform for researchers, practitioners, and industry experts to share recent advances, innovative architectures, and practical applications in these related fields. It aims to showcase emerging technologies that combine advanced computing platforms with modern communication solutions to support future digital ecosystems.
Topics of Interest
The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to:
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning systems
- Edge and cloud computing
- High-performance and distributed computing
- Next-generation wireless networks (5G/6G)
- Satellite communications (SATCOM)
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Cyber-physical systems
- FPGA-based computing architectures
- VLSI design and hardware accelerators
- Embedded systems and real-time operation
- Intelligent communication networks
Contributions focusing on novel algorithms, architectures, system design, and real-world applications are especially encouraged.
Session Co-chairs
- Tho Quan, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), Vietnam
- Pham Trung Kien, HCMC International University, Vietnam
Publication
Full-accepted papers will be published in a special issue of the VNUHCM Journal of Engineering and Technology, a sub-journal of the VNUHCM Journal of Science and Technology, ISSN: 2615-9872.
Important Dates
- Submission deadline: October 5, 2026
- Acceptance notification: October 20, 2026
- Camera-ready paper: October 25, 2026
- Registration and payment: October 25, 2026
Submission Instructions
Papers must be prepared in PDF format, use a two-column layout, and not exceed eight pages. Detailed formatting guidelines are available here.
Submit papers through the VNUHCM Journal of Engineering and Technology submission system, then select Make a new submission.
At the first step of the submission process, select Special issue: The 15th International Conference on Computational Science and Network Intelligence in the Section field.
Please also send a copy of the PDF submission to the official conference email: conf.cse@hcmut.edu.vn.