Written and maintained by CASRAI Editorial Board
Last updated
RECOMB is the annual International Conference on Research in Computational Molecular Biology, a peer-reviewed venue for algorithmic and methodological work in computational biology. The next edition, RECOMB 2027, runs 17-20 May 2027 in Toronto, Canada. In biology the word is also shorthand for “recombination” (see the FAQ below), but searches for “recomb” lead overwhelmingly to the conference, which this page explains. Facts below come from the conference’s own pages, checked on 2026-11-07.
What is RECOMB?
RECOMB stands for Research in Computational Molecular Biology. The conference site says it was founded in 1997 to provide a scientific forum for theoretical advances in computational biology and their applications in molecular biology and medicine. The 2027 edition is billed as the 31st Annual International Conference on Research in Computational Molecular Biology, and the site describes it as one of a series of algorithmic computational biology conferences that bridge computational, mathematical, statistical and biological sciences. Each edition has keynotes, peer-reviewed research presentations and poster sessions.
| Edition | Main conference | Location | Satellite meetings |
|---|---|---|---|
| RECOMB 2026 | 26-29 May 2026 | Thessaloniki Concert Hall, Thessaloniki, Greece (hosted by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) | 24-25 May 2026 |
| RECOMB 2027 | 17-20 May 2027 | Toronto, Canada | 15-16 May 2027 |
Who runs it and what it covers
The conference is run by its own organizing structure under the recomb.org site, with a separate committee list for each edition (the 2027 page links a Committees page). The 2027 call for papers asks for original theoretical and applied research in computational molecular biology with “a substantial computational contribution or methodological advance”. It states that work which only applies existing methods to new data, or assembles resources or pipelines without methodological novelty, is better suited to other venues. Adjacent areas such as agentic AI workflows for biology are welcome if they fit the computational and algorithmic scope. The 2025 call listed topics including sequence analysis, genomics, transcriptomics, single-cell omics, metagenomics, structural biology, systems biology, multimodal data integration, human disease, data privacy and security, and bioimaging.
RECOMB satellite meetings
Each edition is accompanied by satellite meetings in the days before the main conference. The RECOMB 2027 page lists these satellites: RECOMB-Seq, RECOMB-CCB, RECOMB-CG, RECOMB-Genetics, RECOMB-Privacy and RECOMB-Arch. These are the sub-series searchers often meet as “RECOMB-CG” or “RECOMB-Genetics”; each has its own page, so check the satellite’s page for its scope and dates.
How the review and publication model works
The model has changed between editions, so read the call for the year you care about.
- RECOMB 2027 call: full papers up to 10 Letter pages in PDF, excluding the bibliography, with an optional unlimited appendix; the main paper must be self-contained. Review is single-blind (authors need not anonymize). Each author may appear on at most four full-paper submissions. Papers presenting new software or methods must link a public code repository with a documented README. The call says a separate proceedings volume will not be produced: accepted papers are published on the conference website and indexed in DBLP. Accepted papers must post the final version to bioRxiv (or arXiv where appropriate).
- RECOMB 2025 call: accepted papers were published in the Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics (LNBI) series from Springer-Verlag, with an alternative of a four-page extended abstract plus an arXiv or bioRxiv preprint for authors who did not want LNBI publication.
- Journal special issues (2027 call): partners are Cell Systems, Genome Research and the Journal of Computational Biology. Authors of selected accepted papers are invited, but not required, to submit a revised and expanded version; all accepted papers not published elsewhere are offered publication in a Journal of Computational Biology special issue.
Practical consequence for citation: a 2025 and earlier RECOMB paper may sit in a Springer volume titled “Research in Computational Molecular Biology”, which the Springer conference page lists for 2005 to 2020 and 2022 to 2025. A 2027 paper is, per the call, indexed in DBLP rather than printed in a volume, so cite the website version and any later journal version. Background on how venues of this kind are classified is in our entries on conference proceedings and single-anonymized peer review.
How to find the call, program and deadlines
- Open recomb.org. The home page names the next conference and links each edition.
- Open the edition page, for example recomb.org/recomb2027/, for dates, location and satellite meetings.
- Choose Call for Papers for submission rules, scope and review model.
- Choose Key Dates & Deadlines for the abstract registration, full-paper and notification dates. The 2027 call gives abstract registration on 28 October 2026, full papers on 4 November 2026 (both 23:59 AoE) and author notification on 22 December 2026; the final-version date is marked TBA.
- Choose Committees to see who reviews and organizes that year.
- Choose the Satellites links (RECOMB-Seq, RECOMB-CCB, RECOMB-CG, RECOMB-Genetics, RECOMB-Privacy, RECOMB-Arch) for each satellite’s own page.
Registration and the program for past editions, such as RECOMB 2026, sit under the same site structure. The conference’s contact address is listed on the home page.
Alternatives
RECOMB is one of several recurring computational-biology meetings. The rows below summarize each venue’s own official page as checked on 2026-11-07; check each site for scope, deadlines and review rules before choosing where to submit.
| Venue | Organizer | Latest edition | Location | Publication route stated on the page | Official page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RECOMB | RECOMB conference series (recomb.org) | RECOMB 2027, 31st edition, 17-20 May 2027 | Toronto, Canada | 2027 call: no separate proceedings volume; indexed in DBLP | recomb.org |
| ISMB (Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology) | International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) | ISMB 2026, 34th meeting, 12-16 July 2026 | Washington, D.C., United States | Call for Submissions lists Abstracts, Proceedings, Tech Track and Tutorials | iscb.org/ismb2026 |
| ECCB (European Conference on Computational Biology) | ECCB 2026 organizing team | ECCB 2026, 25th edition, 31 August-4 September 2026 | Geneva, Switzerland | Site lists “ECCB 2026 Proceedings – Bioinformatics Supplement” | eccb2026.org |
Practical difference: ECCB 2026 points to a Bioinformatics supplement for its proceedings, while the RECOMB 2027 call describes website publication with DBLP indexing and journal special-issue partners. For ISMB and ECCB review procedures, page limits and acceptance rates, consult their own sites.
Strengths and limits
- Strength: a long-running (since 1997) venue with a stated focus on methodological and algorithmic contribution, plus journal special-issue routes.
- Limit: the call explicitly sends pure application of existing methods elsewhere, so it is a poor fit for routine data-analysis papers.
- Limit: publication format differs by year (LNBI in the 2025 call; no separate volume in the 2027 call), so a reference list, institutional venue list or CV entry should name the year and format.
- Limit: check the current call for review details; this page does not state an acceptance rate.
Frequently asked questions
What is recomb?
RECOMB is the annual International Conference on Research in Computational Molecular Biology, founded in 1997 according to recomb.org. Its 31st edition is RECOMB 2027 in Toronto, 17-20 May 2027.
Where will RECOMB 2026 be held?
RECOMB 2026 was held 26-29 May 2026 at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall in Thessaloniki, Greece, hosted by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with satellite meetings on 24-25 May. The next edition is in Toronto in May 2027.
What is recombination in biology?
Recombination is a genetics term for the rearrangement or exchange of genetic material. It is a different subject from the conference: “RECOMB” is simply the conference’s abbreviation of Research in Computational Molecular Biology. For the biology, consult a genetics textbook or glossary.
What is recomb frequency?
Recombination frequency is a genetics measure, not a conference term. Searches for “recomb frequency” are about that genetics concept; this page covers the RECOMB conference series.
Sources
- RECOMB, home page: recomb.org (checked 2026-11-07).
- RECOMB 2026: recomb.org/recomb2026/ (checked 2026-11-07).
- RECOMB 2027 and its call for papers: recomb.org/recomb2027/, recomb.org/recomb2027/call_for_papers (checked 2026-11-07).
- ISCB, ISMB 2026: iscb.org/ismb2026 (checked 2026-11-07).
- ECCB 2026: eccb2026.org (checked 2026-11-07).
- RECOMB 2025 call for papers: recomb.org/recomb2025/call_for_papers.html (checked 2026-11-07).
- Springer, International Conference on Research in Computational Molecular Biology: link.springer.com/conference/recomb (checked 2026-11-07).
Related CASRAI entries: peer review, conference travel grants.
