Technical Papers

2023 Technical Papers Submission Guidelines

Do you have an aviation-related topic you'd like to explore in a technical paper? 

This year we’re once again highlighting conference proceedings at ATCA’s Tech Symposium, April 25-27, 2023, in Atlantic City, N.J. All submissions will be reviewed by the ATCA Tech Paper Review Committee, and the top three papers will be presented at the ATCA Tech Symposium. 

The three finalists will present their papers during a separate conference session that's open to all attendees, and the audience will vote on a winner. The winner’s paper will be published in the fall issue of ATCA’s flagship publication, The Journal of Air Traffic Control! Young aviation professionals are encouraged to submit papers – we want to hear from our future aviation leaders.

Here are the general guidelines, which will also serve as the committee’s evaluation criteria:

• Technical Merit: Think more technical capability, less procedural changes.
• Impact on Aviation: How will your topic affect change? Is it being embraced by a larger segment of the aviation industry?
• Timeliness: Does the topic properly reflect a current or future issue within our industry?
• Impact to the NAS: How will this help increase the safety, capacity, and/or efficiency of the National Airspace System?

Editorial Guidelines

Article length is flexible, but should not exceed 3,000 words.

Please submit articles as Microsoft Word files as email attachments. Submissions should include separate files for any artwork (photos, graphs, charts, etc.). All images should be a minimum resolution of 300 dpi and must be royalty free.

The Journal of Air Traffic Control follows Chicago style. For complete references, please consult The Chicago Manual of Style. However, please embrace the oxford comma in your submission.

For the selection process, all company names, branding, and author/presenter names will be redacted to keep the review as objective as possible.
Please focus on the technical and leave the marketing aspects behind.

Important dates:
March 7 - Deadline for paper submissions
March 31 - Authors contacted
April 26 - Finalists present their papers at the ATCA Tech Symposium 

Please submit your paper to: clarence.butcher@atca.org

For additional information, please contact Clarence C. Butcher, Jr., Programming, Air Traffic Control Association,
225 Reinekers Lane, Suite 400, Alexandria, VA 22314, 703.299.2430 x311, clarence.butcher@atca.org.

You must be an ATCA member in good standing to be selected.
Not a member? Learn more about the benefits of ATCA membership HERE.