The MetaCRiSP Workshop aims to create a dedicated venue for meta-science and critical reflections on the research practices and evaluation processes that shape our field. It is focusing on our very practices of conducting research as well as our procedures of reviewing and accepting research works. To that end, this workshop invites the security and privacy community to take a reflective pause:
How do we conduct, evaluate, and sustain our own research?
Our peer-review practices are rapidly evolving: shifting from single-cycle submissions to rolling review models with major/minor revisions, introducing meta-reviews for reviewer accountability, and requesting prior-review histories for author accountability – but they remain underexplored from a scientific perspective. At the same time, researchers are slowly beginning to systematically analyze and critique the research methods, metrics, and evaluation. These works, albeit still limited in number, highlight an emerging consensus: Critical reflection on how we conduct security research is essential to achieving validity, fairness, and long-term scientific soundness.
Together, the lack of introspective meta-research and the evidenced changes within our security peer review processes form the twin foundations of MetaCRiSP Workshop.
Meta-research—research about research—allows us, as a community, to examine trends in our research and make informed decisions regarding the course of our future research activities.
We welcome participation from researchers, reviewers, program committee members, artifact and ethics evaluators, and practitioners across academia, industry, and government.
The workshop's outcome will be the MetaCRiSP Challenges 2026 report that documents open problems, key takeaways, and a community call-to-action discussed throughout the entire workshop likely with the proceedings.
| Submission Deadline | February 12, 2026 (AoE) |
| Author Notification | March 12, 2026 |
| Camera Ready Due Date | approx. April 1, 2026 (TBD) |
| Workshop | May 21, 2026 (San Francisco, USA) |
MetaCRiSP invites all contributions on meta science in the field of security and privacy. In particular, we invite works that critically reflect on the following topics of interest, including but not limited to:
Aspects of Research Evaluation Processes
Meta-Research on Research Practices
All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another workshop or conference. The following paper types are welcome:
Short Paper: Up to 5 pages (including references and appendices) with a minimum of 2 pages. Preliminary work is welcome but not required. Short papers will be published in the workshop’s proceedings if authors opt to.
Full Paper: Up to 8 pages (excluding references and appendices). Full papers will be published in the workshop’s proceedings.
We invite submissions in the following categories:
Publication: MetaCRiSP26 proceedings will be published post-conference with the IEEE 2026. At least one author of each accepted paper must register for the workshop and present the paper.
Formatting instructions:
Important note: Simultaneous submission of the same work to multiple venues, submission of previously published work (except for extended work papers), and plagiarism are prohibited. Contact the chairs for any questions at metacrisp26@sp.ieee-security.org.
We thank Simon Birnbach (spacesec.info) for the initial template. Copyright © 2026 MetaCRiSP Workshop.