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About the Cryptology ePrint Archive
<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no"> <link href="/css/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet"> <title>About the Cryptology ePrint Archive</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/eprint.css?v=10"> </head> <body> <noscript> <h1 class="text-center">What a lovely hat</h1> <h4 class="text-center">Is it made out of <a href="https://iacr.org/tinfoil.html">tin foil</a>?</h4> </noscript> <div class="fixed-top" id="topNavbar"> <nav class="navbar navbar-custom navbar-expand-lg"> <div class="container px-0 justify-content-between justify-content-lg-evenly"> <div class="order-0 align-items-center d-flex"> <button class="navbar-toggler btnNoOutline" type="button" data-bs-toggle="collapse" data-bs-target="#navbarContent" aria-controls="navbarContent" aria-expanded="false"> <span class="icon-bar top-bar"></span> <span class="icon-bar middle-bar"></span> <span class="icon-bar bottom-bar"></span> </button> <a class="d-none me-5 d-lg-inline" href="https://iacr.org/"><img class="iacrlogo" src="/img/iacrlogo_small.png" alt="IACR Logo" style="max-width:6rem;"></a> </div> <a class="ePrintname order-1" href="/"> <span class="longNavName">Cryptology ePrint Archive</span> </a> <div class="collapse navbar-collapse order-3" id="navbarContent"> <ul class="navbar-nav me-auto ms-2 mb-2 mb-lg-0 justify-content-end w-100"> <li class="ps-md-3 nav-item dropdown"> <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="#" id="navbarDropdown" role="button" data-bs-toggle="dropdown" aria-expanded="false"> Papers </a> <ul class="dropdown-menu me-3" aria-labelledby="navbarDropdown"> <span class="text-dark mx-3" style="white-space:nowrap;">Updates from the last:</span> <li><a class="dropdown-item ps-custom" href="/days/7">7 days</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item ps-custom" href="/days/31">31 days</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item ps-custom" href="/days/183">6 months</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item ps-custom" href="/days/365">365 days</a></li> <li><hr class="dropdown-divider"></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/byyear">Listing by year</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/complete">All papers</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/complete/compact">Compact view</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="https://www.iacr.org/news/subscribe">Subscribe</a></li> <li><hr class="dropdown-divider"></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/citation.html">How to cite</a></li> <li><hr class="dropdown-divider"></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/rss">Harvesting metadata</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="ps-md-3 nav-item dropdown"> <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="#" id="submissionsDropdown" role="button" data-bs-toggle="dropdown" aria-expanded="false"> Submissions </a> <ul class="dropdown-menu me-3" aria-labelledby="submissionsDropdown"> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/submit">Submit a paper</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/revise">Revise or withdraw a paper</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/operations.html">Acceptance and publishing conditions</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="ps-md-3 nav-item dropdown"> <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="#" id="aboutDropdown" role="button" data-bs-toggle="dropdown" aria-expanded="false"> About </a> <ul class="dropdown-menu me-3" aria-labelledby="aboutDropdown"> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/about.html">Goals and history</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/news.html">News</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/stats">Statistics</a></li> <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="/contact.html">Contact</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="dropdown ps-md-2 text-right order-2 order-lg-last"> <button class="btn btnNoOutline" type="button" id="dropdownMenuButton1" data-bs-toggle="dropdown" aria-expanded="false"> <img src="/img/search.svg" class="searchIcon" alt="Search Button"/> </button> <div id="searchDd" class="dropdown-menu dropdown-menu-end p-0" aria-labelledby="dropdownMenuButton1"> <form action="/search" method="GET"> <div class="input-group"> <input id="searchbox" name="q" type="search" class="form-control" autocomplete="off"> <button class="btn btn-secondary border input-group-append ml-2"> Search </button> </div> </form> <div class="ms-2 p-1 d-none"><a href="/search">Advanced search</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> <main id="eprintContent" class="container px-3 py-4 p-md-4"> <h2 class="mt-2 mb-5"> About </h2> <div class="row"> <section class="col-md-6"> <h3> Goals </h3> <p> The Cryptology ePrint Archive provides rapid access to recent research in cryptology. Papers have been placed here by the authors and did not undergo any refereeing process other than verifying that the work seems to be within the scope of cryptology and meets some minimal <a href="operations.html">acceptance criteria</a>. </p> <p> Policies for submission and harvesting are described on <a href="operations.html">the operations of ePrint</a> page. </p> </section> <section class="col-md-6"> <h3> Behind the Name </h3> <p> The name "Cryptology ePrint Archive" reflects the features of this form of publication: electronically distributed, rapidly published, recent work, and immediately accessible. It is different from other forms of scientific publishing, because work is placed here by the authors and undergoes almost no refereeing. </p> </section> </div> <h3 id="history"> History </h3> <p> The Cryptology ePrint Archive was preceded by the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/19980505054348/http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~tcryptol/">Theory of Cryptography Library</a>. Founded in 1996 by Oded Goldreich, the Theory of Cryptography Library was hosted by the Theory of Computation Group at the Laboratory for Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). </p> <p> In the fall of 1998, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/19990208005803/http://philby.ucsd.edu/">the Theory of Cryptography Library moved</a> to the University of California at San Diego (UCSD), with the Cryptography and Security Group at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. When the library moved to UCSD, Mihir Bellare and Bennet Yee took over as editors. During this time, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/19990203064241/http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/labs/theory/tcryptol/HTML/">a mirror site</a> was available in Israel and maintained by Michael Ben-Or. </p> <p> In August 1999, Christian Cachin and Eli Biham brought a proposal before the IACR Board of Directors to establish a cryptology pre-print server. Support for the idea was unanimous. The Cryptology ePrint Archive <a href="https://www.iacr.org/newsletter/v16n3/eprint.html">debuted in the fall of 1999</a>. By May 2000, the Archive had 20 papers, with numbers increasing to 50 in August. </p> <p> Bellare and Yee helped facilitate transfer of papers from the old Theory of Cryptography Library to the new Cryptology ePrint Archive. In 2000, roles had shifted slightly, with Bellare serving as editor and Cachin managing maintenance of the Archive. In 2001, Bellare, Cachin, and Yee were working together to maintain the site. Yee later dropped out. </p> <p> In the first five years of existence, the Cryptology ePrint Archive had collected just under 1,500 papers. By the ten year mark, that had more than doubled. The archive surpassed 10,000 papers in 2016. By the end of its twentieth year, the Cryptology ePrint Archive held over 15,000 papers and <a href="/stats">continues to grow</a>. </p> <div class="row"> <section class="col-md-6"> <h5> Past Editors </h5> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li>Mihir Bellare (2000 - 2001)</li> <li>Alexandra Boldyreva (2015 - 2019)</li> <li>Christian Cachin (2001 - 2014)</li> <li>Tal Rabin (2007 - 2015)</li> <li>Nigel Smart (2015 - 2016)</li> <li>Tancrède Lepoint (2016-2023)</li> </ul> </section> <section class="col-md-6"> <h5> Others Who Have Helped </h5> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li>Christian Cachin (technical support, 2000 - present)</li> <li>Orr Dunkelman (discussion forum moderator, 2013 - 2018)</li> <li>Tancrède Lepoint (technical support, 2016 - present)</li> <li>Anna Lysanskaya (discussion forum moderator, 2007 - 2013)</li> <li>Kevin McCurley (technical support and Python rewrite, 2005 - present)</li> <li>Kay McKelly (Python rewrite, 2021 - present)</li> <li><a href="https://thomwiggers.nl/">Thom Wiggers</a> (Python enhancements, 2024-present)</li> <li>Bennet Yee (technical support, 2000 - 2005)</li> </ul> </section> </div> </div> </main> <div class="container-fluid mt-auto" id="eprintFooter"> <a href="https://iacr.org/"> <img id="iacrlogo" src="/img/iacrlogo_small.png" class="img-fluid d-block mx-auto" alt="IACR Logo"> </a> <div class="colorDiv"></div> <div class="alert alert-success w-75 mx-auto"> Note: In order to protect the privacy of readers, eprint.iacr.org does not use cookies or embedded third party content. </div> </div> <script src="/css/bootstrap/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js"></script> <script> var topNavbar = document.getElementById('topNavbar'); if (topNavbar) { document.addEventListener('scroll', function(e) { if (window.scrollY > 100) { topNavbar.classList.add('scrolled'); } else { topNavbar.classList.remove('scrolled'); } }) } </script> </body> </html>