North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics

The North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (NAACL) provides a regional focus for members of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) in North America as well as in Central and South America, organizes annual conferences, promotes cooperation and information exchange among related scientific and professional societies, encourages and facilitates ACL membership by people and institutions in the Americas, and provides a source of information on regional activities for the ACL Executive Committee.[1]

NAACL was formed in 1998 for the purposes of encouraging and facilitating membership in the Association by persons and institutions in North America, providing a regional focus for members of the Association in North America and a source of information on North American activities for the Association Executive Committee, disseminating of Association and Chapter publications and information materials, and promoting cooperation and information exchange among related scientific and professional societies within North America.[2]

The NAACL hosts an annual professional conference in a North American city during alternating years in which the ACL holds its annual conference elsewhere. The conference has about a 22% acceptance rate of papers, and highlights its Best Paper awards each year.[3]

The current (2021) officers of the NAACL include Colin Cherry (chair), Heng Ji (secretary), Jonathan May (treasurer), and Julia Hockenmaier (past chair).