# 2022 RAS Student Paper Competition Announcement

RAS (Railway Applications Section), a subdivision of INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences), is sponsoring our student research paper contest on innovative analytics and fact-based decision making in railway applications with three cash prizes totaling US$1,750. First Prize:$1000
Second Prize: $500 Third Prize:$250

Rules:

1. The paper must be written by one or more BSc/MSc/PhD students enrolled in an academic institution at any time during the year ending on the submission deadline. For example, a student now employed who graduated earlier in the year is acceptable.
2. One or more advisers may appear as co-authors of a paper, but the student(s) must be the "primary author" and the content must be at least 80% attributable to the student authors. Advisers of finalist papers will be contacted to verify this information.
3. The paper must demonstrate a subject area of OR/MS that is representative of INFORMS subjects, and may apply to any railway system (freight rail, passenger rail (incl. urban/suburban heavy or light rail), etc.).
4. The paper must represent original research (not literature reviews) and have not been previously published in a peer-reviewed journal, book, or published conference proceeding.
5. If the paper is under review by any publishers, please let us know where and when it was submitted, and at what stage of the review process it is. Please consider that the paper is eligible if not published at the date of paper submission deadline.
6. The paper is expected to follow a general structure and length suitable for a high-impact journal publication. The judges may reject papers that are excessively long or inappropriately formatted.
7. The judges reserve the right to reject papers at an early stage in the competition due to irrelevant subject matter or fundamental errors in composition.
8. Papers must be written in US or UK English, as deemed appropriate for scientific works.
9. In the event of any disagreement over the enforcement of the rules, the decision of the judges is final.
10. RAS student paper award recipients must present their paper at the 2022 INFORMS Annual Meeting (In the case of not being able to travel due to covid19, an online presentation could be allowed on an individual request. For the details and eligibility, please contact the competition chair)

## How to enter:

Deadline for submission is July 15, 2022 July 20, 2022

Your submission should include full contact information, supervisor’s name and contact, affiliations, manuscript and cover letter describing its merits.

Please refer in the subject of your email to 2022 INFORMS RAS Student Paper.

Manuscript formatting: The manuscript length should not exceed 10,000 words including tables and figures (figures and tables would be counted as 250 word each). Therefore, the suggested paper length is less than 30 pages, including references. Additional relevant material can be submitted as an appendix file. The line spacing should be double-spaced. First page: paper title, authors’ name(s) and affiliation(s). Second page: paper title and abstract (max 300 words). Third page through the final page: paper title and the main text.

Important dates:

• March 2, 2022 Competition announced
• July 15, 2022 July 20, 2022 Paper submission deadline
• September 15, 2022 Winners announced
• October 16-19, 2022 Presentation at 2022 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, IN, USA.