CALL FOR PAPERS
International Conference on Historical Cryptology (HISTOCRYPT 2027)
Tuesday, June 22, 2027 to Wednesday, June 23, 2027
https://histocrypt.org/
Paper submissions: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=histocrypt2027
AI-assisted cipher solution submissions: https://histocrypt.kopaldev.de/
The 10th International Conference on Historical Cryptology (HistoCrypt 2027) invites regular papers, short papers, and documented Artificial-Intelligence-assisted cipher solutions to its annual conference on historical cryptology. The conference will be held at Piperska muren in Stockholm, Sweden on June 22-23, 2027.
HistoCrypt 2027 will be preceded by the satellite event "Philology Meets AI: Second Workshop on the Analysis of Rare Scripts" held on June 21, 2027 at the same venue, which you are cordially invited to.
HistoCrypt addresses all aspects of historical cryptography, cryptanalysis, and the history of cryptology, including work in closely related disciplines such as history, history of science, computer science, Artificial Intelligence, computational linguistics, and image processing, where relevant to historical ciphertexts and codes. “History” is understood in the broadest sense, from ancient to contemporary history. The conference’s subjects include, but are not limited to:
* uses and practices of cryptography in the military, diplomacy, business, and other areas
* encryption methods and their evolution over time
* other techniques of information dissimulation, including steganographic techniques such as invisible ink, steganographic printing, and knot codes
* cipher machines
* the roots of modern ciphers in historical cryptology
* automatic methods, including Artificial Intelligence, in the field of historical cryptology
* linguistic aspects of cryptology
* cryptanalysis of historical cryptograms
* cryptanalytic methods and algorithms applied to historical cryptograms
* unsolved historical cryptograms
* cryptographers and cryptanalysts throughout history
* the influence of cryptography on the course of history
* cryptology within the history of science
* representations of cryptology in literature, film, education, and other media
We welcome everybody interested in historical cryptology to participate in the event. We invite submissions to HistoCrypt for presentation at the conference, which will be evaluated by the Program Committee. Conference participation is mandatory for at least one author of every accepted regular or short paper and every documented cipher solution selected for a poster presentation.
We particularly encourage early-career researchers (PhDs and postdocs) to submit their research.
SUBMISSIONS
We invite submissions in three distinct tracks:
+ regular papers up to 10 pages (including appendix and excluding references) on substantial, original, and unpublished research, including evaluation results, where appropriate;
+ short papers up to 4 pages (including appendix and excluding references) on smaller, focused contributions, system demonstrations, work in progress, negative results, surveys, tutorials, or opinion pieces;
+ AI-assisted cipher solution submissions documenting a verifiable solution to a previously unsolved historical cipher obtained with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence. These submissions are structured evidence records completed in the dedicated HistoCrypt cipher solution portal; they are not standalone papers or manuscripts.
Regular and Short Papers:
Regular and short papers may be assigned an oral presentation, lightning talk, poster, or demonstration. Authors may suggest a presentation format; final decisions will be taken by the Program Committee. Regular and short papers that meet the scientific standard set by the review process may be included in the HistoCrypt 2027 proceedings. The Program Committee may also accept a submission for presentation without publication in the proceedings.
The Program Committee reserves the right to reassign a submission from the regular or short paper track to the AI-assisted cipher solution track if its primary contribution is an AI-assisted or AI-generated solution to a historical cipher rather than a standalone research paper. In such cases, the authors will be asked to transfer the contribution to the dedicated cipher solution portal, after which it will be assessed and handled under the requirements and workflow of the third track.
AI Solutions:
For an AI-assisted cipher solution submission, the submitter creates an account in the portal and completes the guided online evidence record. The submission must identify all human solvers and provide precise source references, the ciphertext transcription, the proposed plaintext, the generated or reconstructed key, an alignment of ciphertext, key, and plaintext, a replicable description of the method and Artificial Intelligence systems used, a link to an approved public or permanent repository containing the complete supporting material, relevant references, and an analysis of unresolved or ambiguous parts. The method is entered in a dedicated portal field with a limit of 6,000 characters, approximately two normally formatted A4 pages; no separate manuscript is required. A plausible plaintext or agreement between Artificial Intelligence systems is not sufficient evidence on its own.
The portal manages the complete workflow for this track, including drafts, completeness checks, the author declaration and publication consent, final submission, requests for revision, resubmission, and the communication of the Program Committee's decision. Submitted records receive an internal AI-assisted pre-review using models hosted under the organisers' control. This pre-review only prepares the subsequent human assessment and is not visible to submitters. Automated checks do not determine acceptance: every editorial decision is made by the Program Committee. A submission may be accepted, accepted subject to revisions, or rejected. If revisions are requested, the submitter updates and resubmits the same record through the portal.
Accepted cipher solutions will be credited in a cumulative overview article prepared by the Program Committee. The overview will list the title, solver, repository, and key for each included solution. The solutions will not be published as separate proceedings papers. Due to venue limitations, only selected contributions will be invited to a dedicated poster session.
SCHEDULE
+ Submission opens December 1, 2026
+ Submission deadline (all tracks) January 22, 2027
+ Notification of Acceptance March 31, 2027
+ Camera-Ready Manuscripts and repository updates April 30, 2027
+ Conference on Rare scripts June 21, 2027
+ Main Conference June 22 & 23, 2027
SUBMISSION FORMATS
Regular and short papers must follow the HistoCrypt 2027 style files, which are available on the HistoCrypt 2027 website:
https://histocrypt.org/instructions/
There are styles for LaTeX (preferred) and MS Word. Submissions shall be anonymous, i.e., not reveal author(s) on the title page or through self-references. Submissions that violate the requirements will be returned without review.
Regular and short papers must be submitted digitally, in PDF, and uploaded through EasyChair:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=histocrypt2027
The submission system will open on December 1, 2026 and close on January 22, 2027 at 23:59 CET.
AI-assisted cipher solutions must be submitted directly through the dedicated HistoCrypt cipher solution portal:
https://histocrypt.kopaldev.de/
The portal submission is the authoritative record for this track. Submitters must not upload a separate paper or PDF to EasyChair. After registering and verifying an email address, submitters complete the structured fields, link the required supporting repository, confirm the author declaration and publication consent, and submit the record through the portal. Drafts may be saved and updated before final submission. The portal checks whether the required material is present and prepares the submission for human review; a successful automated check does not constitute acceptance. Any requested revisions must likewise be completed and resubmitted through the portal. The same submission deadline applies.
USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Regular and short papers must include a section entitled "Use of Artificial Intelligence". Authors must identify any systems used, explain their role, describe how their outputs were checked, and state their own scholarly contribution. If no such systems were used, this must be stated briefly. AI-assisted cipher solution submitters provide the corresponding information in the dedicated portal field instead of adding a separate manuscript section. Artificial Intelligence systems cannot be listed as authors or solvers. Human authors and solvers remain fully responsible for their submissions. Manuscripts generated wholly or substantially by Artificial Intelligence without a demonstrable human scholarly contribution will be rejected.
PROCEEDINGS
Regular and short papers approved by the Program Committee for publication will be included in the HistoCrypt 2027 proceedings, published as part of the Northern European Association for Language Technology (NEALT) Proceedings Series (https://tekstlab.uio.no/nealt/index.php/proceedings/) by Tartu University Press and made freely available as Diamond Open Access. Submissions accepted for presentation only will not be included in the proceedings. Paper submissions that violate the submission format requirements will be returned without review. AI-assisted cipher solution submissions are not published as separate proceedings papers. Solutions selected for the cumulative overview article must retain their supporting material in the public or permanent repository supplied through the portal; where available, a DOI must be added by the camera-ready deadline.
ORGANIZATION
GENERAL CHAIR
Beáta Megyesi, Stockholm University, Sweden
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Reviewing of submissions and selection of the conference program will
be managed by the HistoCrypt 2027 Program Committee. All regular and
short paper submissions will receive at least two double-blind reviews
by experts in the field. AI-assisted cipher solution submissions will
be assessed through the portal workflow described above.
+ Nils Kopal, Hochschule Niederrhein, Germany (Program Chair: Cryptography and Cryptanalysis)
+ Eugen Antal, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia (Area Chair: Cryptography and Cryptanalysis)
+ Raphaela Heil, Stockholm University, Sweden (Area Chair: Computer Vision, Image Processing, and Artificial Intelligence)
+ Harald Lampesberger, FH Upper Austria, Research Center Hagenberg, Austria (Area Chair: Artificial Intelligence)
+ Benedek Láng, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary (Area Chair: History of Cryptography)
+ Cécile Pierrot, Inria Nancy, France (Area Chair: Cryptography and Mathematics)
To inquire about the submission and reviewing process or generally the
scientific program of the conference, please email
histocryptpc [at] kopaldev.de.
LOCAL ORGANIZATION
The HistoCrypt 2027 Local Organizing Committee:
+ Magnus Ekhall (co-chair), Sectra, Sweden
+ Micaella Bruton, Stockholm University, Sweden
+ Crina Tudor, Stockholm University, Sweden
For all practical inquiries, please email histocrypt2027 [at] ling.su.se.
SATELLITE EVENT
HistoCrypt 2027 will be preceded by the satellite event "Philology Meets AI: Second Workshop on the Analysis of Rare Scripts" on June 21, 2027 at the same venue. The workshop has a separate Call for Papers and Program Committee.
For more information, please visit
https://descrypt-project.github.io/PhilAI
Welcome to the 10th HistoCrypt in Stockholm, Sweden in June 21-23, 2027!
Nils Kopal (PC chair) & Beáta Megyesi (General chair)