RuleML+RR 2026

General information

The 20th International Rule Challenge is the premier forum of the RuleML+RR conference, designed to benchmark and validate innovative rule-oriented tools, prototypes, and applications. It bridges the gap between theory and practice by fostering competition among solutions tailored to research, industry, and government.

Participants are invited to showcase solutions to complex, real-world problems, or drive the community’s research agenda by proposing new open challenges.

Accordingly, submissions are welcome in two main categories:

• Challenge Proposals: Papers defining rigorous benchmarks, industrial bottlenecks, or novel problems that require rule-based reasoning. Submissions must provide the necessary infrastructure for evaluation, including task descriptions, datasets, and success criteria, highlighting opportunities for rule-based approaches to provide solutions.

• Challenge Solutions: Papers providing empirical evidence of a system's performance such as benchmarking or comparative analyses of rule engines, evaluating rule-based machine learning, or presenting high-impact case studies. Submissions may also cover industrial experiences, rule- and model-driven engineering, or innovative applications. 

Key themes of the Rule Challenge include, but are not limited to the following: 

• Rule-based machine learning tools and techniques 

• Neuro-symbolic reasoning

• Large language models (LLMs) and rule learning 

• Rule-based approaches in Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

• Rule-based approaches for explainable AI

• Rule-based Complex Event Processing / Recognition (CEP/CER) 

• Stream reasoning 

• Business rules modelling 

• Rule standardization for research, industry and government

• Graph-relational data and knowledge systems 

• Higher-order logic and modal logic systems 

• Rule and ontology combinations 

• Distributed rule systems Multi-agent systems 

• Ontology-Based Data Access (OBDA) systems 

• Answer Set Programming (ASP) systems 

• Constraint Logic Programming (CLP) systems 

• (Controlled) Natural language interfaces 

• Rules and model-driven engineering

Submission and publication

The challenge seeks high quality, original papers, potentially referencing online material, and ranging between 8-15 pages. Accepted papers will be published as part of CEUR proceedings and should be in the CEUR-WS.org style template CEURART (1-column variant), available at: 

http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-XXX/CEURART.zip  

and 

https://www.overleaf.com/read/gwhxnqcghhdt  

Submitted papers must be original contributions written in English. 

Please submit your paper  via: 

https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/DAI2026/

to the Rule Challenge track.

To ensure high quality, submissions will be carefully peer-reviewed by at least 3 PC members and external reviewers. Submissions should address the following, when applicable: 

• Define the Problem: Provide a clear task description, relevant datasets, and evaluation criteria (e.g., performance, correctness, or completeness).

• Highlight Innovation: Explain the objectives and benefits, clearly stating how the work advances the state of the art in technology or its application domain.

• Illustrate Use Cases: Demonstrate results with a concrete example that balances conciseness and completeness.

• Accessibility: Preferably (but not necessarily) embed the tool in a web-based, distributed, or mobile environment.

• User Experience: Present end-user interactions through a usable interface that facilitates practical application.

• Open Science: Mention the availability of software and data, supported data interchange formats, and potential tool extensions.

• Resources: Provide a link to the project website, online demonstration, or download repository.

Important dates

• June 5th, 2026: Paper submission deadline 

• July 3rd, 2026: Notification of acceptance

Organisation

Chairs

Szymon Bobek, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland

Zeynep G. Saribatur, TU Wien, Austria

Program Committee

TBA