Sogang University Professor Jeong Da-saem's research team has six papers simultaneously accepted at top music AI conference ISMIR 2026

A research team at Sogang University has achieved a remarkable feat, with all six of its submitted papers accepted at the International Society for Music Information Retrieval Conference 2026 (ISMIR 2026). This conference is considered a top-tier event in the field of music artificial intelligence.

The Music & Arts Learning Lab (MALer Lab), led by Professor Jeong Da-saem from the Department of Art & Technology, saw its rigorous research recognized by the highly competitive conference. ISMIR 2026 had a stringent acceptance rate, with only 141 out of 452 submitted papers (31.2%) being selected.

The research team's success includes significant contributions from graduate students who served as first authors. The lab also showcased successful collaborations with international researchers from institutions such as the University of Alicante in Spain, Carnegie Mellon University in the U.S., and the University of Cambridge in the UK.

ISMIR is a premier international academic conference for music information retrieval and music AI. It attracts submissions not only from universities worldwide but also from leading global companies like Spotify, Adobe, Sony, Yamaha, and Dolby. The conference is recognized for its high impact, boasting the highest h5 index in the Music/Musicology field according to Google Scholar.

This year's ISMIR 2026, themed 'Crossroads,' is scheduled to take place both online and in-person in Abu Dhabi, UAE, from November 8th to 12th. The accepted papers from MALer Lab span a wide range of subjects, including research on Korean traditional music like Jeongganbo and Pansori, comparative analyses of Korean and American music charts, recognition of string quartet scores, and the development of foundational technologies for aligning music audio with scores.