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This question is related but I don't think it is a duplicate. I recently sent the abstract of my first paper to a call-for-papers for a conference. I received an email thanking me for the submission and then about a month later I received a longer email stating my submission was not selected.

What should I do now? I presume I could just leave it at that, or I could reply to them at least acknowledging their email.

However the conference is one I would be interested in keeping up to date about. Since they don't seem to have a website yet I am wondering if it would be appropriate to email back in order to acknowledge their email and request some information on how to keep up to date (maybe they have a mailing list) with the conference?

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    In many conferences, if you submit a paper, you are automatically included in a mailing list, whether the paper is accepted or not. If the organizing committee changes from year to year, the mailing list is passed along to the new committees. You know, conferences want participants ;-)
    – Massimo Ortolano
    Oct 24, 2014 at 17:15
  • I don't get the question here. a) acknowledging the rejection is pointless and a waste of time. b) asking for information/to be subscribed to mailing-list seems ok and harmless, if possibly unnecessary, assuming you're already on the mailing-list. So what problems do you foresee with any of this?
    – smci
    Jul 28, 2015 at 6:32

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Whether or not you should respond to their e-mail depends on how you want to be involved with the current meeting and the community supporting the conference.

Acknowledgement of a rejection e-mail from conference organizers is generally not necessary unless they have requested confirmation or further information.

You mentioned an interested in "keeping up to date" with this conference, presumably with the intention of presenting here in the future. However, it may still be possible to participate in the current meeting if you make an effort to politely contact the organizers as soon as possible.

Every conference is a little different, since they are organized according to the preferences and constraints of the core group of researchers that plan and organize the meeting. Often there are poster sessions or other opportunities to present your work in lieu of a presentation if it is suitable for the conference.

Before you decide to contact the organizers, you should carefully re-read the original call and conference description. Since your paper was not selected for presentation at the conference, there may be a problem with: (1) the perceived quality of your submitted manuscript, (2) the format of your submitted work, or (3) the topic that your paper addressed. Check the call and double-check your submission to make sure there are no obvious discrepancies that would disqualify your work. Make sure your paper is on-topic, in the correct format, and of suitable length.

If you are new to a subject area, or a particular conference, your impression of what it is all about may not match up with the actual meeting as well as you might expect. It may be that your submission was off target for this conference and could be amended with a little communication.

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  • This is a once-off conference in the Humanities so there are no poster sessions etc so contacting them about another way to present was not part of my question. By keeping up to date I meant that I would have some avenue to know papers that are to be presented etc in absence of a website.
    – gman
    Oct 24, 2014 at 15:42

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