USENIX - the Advanced Computing Systems Association - is not a journal publisher. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit society, founded in 1975 as the Unix Users Group and renamed USENIX in 1977, that runs several of the most selective publication venues in computer science: the USENIX Security Symposium, OSDI (Operating Systems Design and Implementation), NSDI (Networked Systems Design and Implementation), FAST (File and Storage Technologies), SOUPS (Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security), and SREcon, among others. In systems and security research, a paper at one of these conferences is a full, archival, peer-reviewed publication - for most researchers in these fields, the conference paper is the primary publication format, not a preliminary step toward a journal.

USENIX also publishes ;login:, its long-running magazine, which moved to a free, all-digital format in 2021. This guide covers what USENIX publishes, how its open-access model works, how peer review and submission differ from journal publishing, and what it costs (short answer: nothing to publish).

Note: the USENIX Annual Technical Conference (ATC), a fixture since the 1970s, held its final USENIX-run edition in 2025 (announced May 2025). The systems community has continued the ATC brand under ACM SIGOPS sponsorship, so post-2025 ATC papers are no longer USENIX publications.

• Conference proceedings - the core output. Every accepted paper is published in the open-access proceedings on usenix.org, with a permanent landing page, PDF, and (since 2011) free audio/video of the talk. Proceedings are indexed in DBLP and Google Scholar.
• ;login: magazine - practitioner-oriented articles on systems, security, and SRE. All-digital and openly accessible since 2021.
• No journals - USENIX does not operate any peer-reviewed journal, so journal-centric metrics such as the Journal Impact Factor do not apply. Venue prestige is judged by acceptance rates (often 15-20% at the flagships) and citation impact.

USENIX was an early open-access mover among computing societies: since 2008, all conference proceedings have been free to read on usenix.org, with no reader-side paywall and no author-side APC.

Authors retain copyright in their papers and grant USENIX the right to publish; posting the paper on your own site or an institutional repository is standard practice in the community. Because there is no APC, funder open-access mandates (Plan S, NIH, etc.) are generally satisfied automatically - but check your funder's licence requirements, as licences can vary by author choice.

• Model: double-anonymized review by a program committee (PC) is the norm at the flagship venues - anonymize your submission and follow the venue's anonymity instructions carefully; violations can mean desk rejection.
• Platform: most USENIX venues run submissions through HotCRP.
• Cycles, not rolling: unlike journals, submissions are due at fixed deadlines. USENIX Security operates multiple submission cycles per year; OSDI, NSDI, and FAST typically have one or two deadlines annually.
• Decisions: outcomes usually include accept, reject, and (at several venues) revise-and-resubmit within a defined window. Expect roughly 2-3 months from deadline to decision.
• Artifact evaluation: OSDI, FAST, and other systems venues run optional artifact evaluation, awarding badges for available, functional, and reproducible research artifacts.

1. Pick the venue and read its Call for Papers. Each conference publishes a detailed CFP on usenix.org with scope, deadlines, and anonymization rules.
2. Format with the USENIX template. Papers use the USENIX LaTeX style (two-column, numbered citations); page limits vary by venue. SciSpace hosts USENIX-compatible templates.
3. Anonymize. Remove author names, acknowledgments, and identifying self-citations per the CFP.
4. Submit via HotCRP before the cycle deadline (deadlines are firm).
5. Respond and revise. Some venues include author response or revision rounds; final camera-ready versions are due a few weeks before the conference.
6. Register and present. At least one author registers and presents; the paper then appears in the open-access proceedings.

USENIX venues enforce community-standard research ethics: human-subjects work must document IRB or equivalent review, and security papers must describe responsible/coordinated vulnerability disclosure. USENIX maintains an event code of conduct and conflict-of-interest rules for program committees. Plagiarism, simultaneous submission to another venue, and anonymity violations are grounds for rejection.