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ISMB stands for Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology. It is the annual conference of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) and describes itself as the world’s largest bioinformatics and computational biology conference. This page is for researchers deciding where to submit or what to attend: it explains the name, the organiser, the two main submission routes with the 2026 dates, and where papers end up.
What is the ISMB conference?
ISMB is a yearly meeting on bioinformatics and computational biology. ISCB’s own 2026 page states that the 34th ISMB runs July 12-16, 2026 at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., with virtual access through ISCB’s Nucleus platform. Wikipedia’s history of the series records that the first ISMB was held in 1993 at the US National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, and that ISCB was formed in 1997 to manage it.
What is the meaning of ISMB?
ISMB = Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology, the name the conference has carried since its first meeting.
Who runs it and what it covers
ISCB, a US-based 501(c)(3) society founded in 1997 (iscb.org, About ISCB), organises ISMB. The 2026 programme listed on iscb.org includes:
- Proceedings Presentations: full papers accepted through the proceedings track.
- COSI tracks: Communities of Special Interest, including 3DSIG, BioInfo-Core, BioVis, CAMDA, DREAM, EvolCompGen, HiTSeq, MICROBIOME, MLCSB, NetBio, RegSys, SysMod, Text Mining, TransMed and VarI.
- Tutorials, Tech Track and Posters.
- Other sessions such as the Student Council Symposium, Youth Bioinformatics Symposium, Industry Workshop and Computational Biology Careers Symposium.
ISMB has also been held jointly with the European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB). Wikipedia records the first joint meeting in 2004 in Glasgow, and joint meetings in Europe in alternate years from 2007. Glasgow is therefore a past joint venue, not the 2026 location.
Which submission route: proceedings paper or abstract?
The key difference for authors is that the proceedings route produces a journal publication, while the abstract route produces a presentation slot. ISCB’s 2026 call for submissions states:
| Route | Output | 2026 dates (ISCB) |
|---|---|---|
| Proceedings paper | Published in the ISMB proceedings in the journal Bioinformatics (Oxford University Press); must use the OUP Bioinformatics template | Deadline January 20, 2026, 23:59 AoE, no extensions |
| Abstract (talk or poster, including COSI tracks) | Conference presentation | Abstract deadline April 9, 2026; talk and poster notifications May 5; late poster deadline May 7 |
Dates are for the 2026 cycle as read on iscb.org on 2026-11-08. Each year has its own call, so use the current year’s page when planning; ISMB 2027 dates are not stated here.
How to find what you need on the ISMB site
The ISMB 2026 site on iscb.org uses a side menu with these sections:
- Open the conference home page, Home – ISMB 2026, on iscb.org.
- Use Call for Submissions for Abstracts, Proceedings, Tech Track and Tutorials.
- Use Scientific Programme for COSI Tracks & Other Abstracts, Posters, the Downloadable Schedule and the Tech Track.
- Use What’s Happening for Agenda at a Glance, Distinguished Keynotes, Proceedings Presentations and Track Details.
- Use the KEY DATES and REGISTER banner links for deadlines and registration.
- Use General Info for venue, accommodation and travel, conference fellowships and presenter information.
Earlier years (for example ISMB 2024 and ISMB 2022) have their own pages on the same site.
Strengths and limits
- Strength, scale and breadth: ISCB describes it as the world’s largest conference in the field, with 600+ scientific talks expected in 2026 and more than 20 COSI tracks.
- Strength, a journal route: accepted proceedings papers are published in the journal Bioinformatics (Oxford University Press).
- Limit, early proceedings deadline: the proceedings deadline falls about six months before the meeting, much earlier than the abstract deadline.
- Limit, no published figures: the ISCB pages give no acceptance rate and no impact factor for the proceedings, so neither is quoted here. The impact factor of the journal Bioinformatics is not a conference metric.
Alternatives
| Conference | Relationship to ISMB |
|---|---|
| RECOMB | Separate computational molecular biology conference; see the CASRAI guide. |
| ECCB | European Conference on Computational Biology; held jointly with ISMB in some years (first in 2004). |
| IEEE EMBC | Engineering in medicine and biology conference with its own proceedings and indexing. |
For the underlying field see what is bioinformatics and what is systems biology. Proceedings papers go through peer review; authors who post a preprint should check the journal’s policy first.
Frequently asked questions
What is the meaning of ISMB?
Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology, the annual conference run by the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB).
What is the ISMB conference?
A yearly bioinformatics and computational biology meeting organised by ISCB. The 34th edition was scheduled for July 12-16, 2026 in Washington, D.C., with virtual access.
Is ISMB a good conference?
This page gives no quality verdict. The verifiable facts: ISCB calls it the world’s largest in its field, it has run since 1993, and its proceedings papers are published in Bioinformatics. Judge fit by your field’s norms and your institution’s evaluation criteria.
What is the difference between ISMB and ISMC?
ISMB is the ISCB conference described on this page. ISMC is a different acronym and does not appear on ISCB’s ISMB pages; confirm the organiser and subject area of any “ISMC” event before comparing the two.
What are the ISMB acceptance rate and impact factor?
The ISCB pages do not publish either figure for the proceedings track.
Sources
- ISCB, ISMB 2026 home page: https://www.iscb.org/ismb2026 (read 2026-11-08)
- ISCB, ISMB 2026 call for submissions, Proceedings: https://www.iscb.org/ismb2026/call-for-submissions/proceedings (read 2026-11-08)
- ISCB, About ISCB: https://www.iscb.org/about-iscb
- Wikipedia, Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (history): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_Systems_for_Molecular_Biology (read 2026-11-08)
