Spanish Society for Natural Language Processing

The Spanish Society for Natural Language Processing, known by its Spanish name Sociedad Española para el Procesamiento del Lenguaje Natural and by the acronym SEPLN, is a scientific and professional association devoted to natural language processing and computational linguistics. Founded in 1983, it provides an institutional framework for researchers, educators, and technology developers working on the analysis and computational treatment of human language. Its remit includes teaching, research, technological development, dissemination, and the creation of links between Spanish research groups and the wider international community. SEPLN is particularly associated with work on Spanish and on the co-official and minority languages of Spain, including Catalan, Basque, and Galician. Its community has also addressed Asturian and Aragonese. Through its conferences, publications, and collaborative research culture, the society has helped coordinate a network of more than thirty research groups. This network has supported the creation and evaluation of language resources, tools, and models for languages that differ substantially in available data and technological infrastructure. The society’s activity is therefore both disciplinary and linguistic: it advances natural language processing as a field while helping strengthen the digital presence of several Iberian languages. Its best-known activity is the annual SEPLN congress. Held each summer since 1983 in Spanish locations with active computational linguistics research communities, the congress brings together academic and applied researchers to present new work, exchange methods, and discuss the direction of the field. The event functions as a recurring meeting point for work in information extraction, machine translation, text analysis, speech and language technologies, resources, evaluation, and related areas, although the precise program varies by year. SEPLN also publishes Procesamiento del Lenguaje Natural, an academic journal appearing twice each year, generally in March and September. The journal provides a regular outlet for research in natural language processing and is supported by editorial and review procedures intended to maintain scholarly quality and publication regularity. Reference materials identify quality recognition from the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology and inclusion in the Emerging Sources Citation Index in 2016. The journal has also been associated with the Spanish Scientific Journals Repository, known as RECyT. Beyond the congress and journal, the society maintains information and communication services for the field, including a web presence and an email-based forum or information service. These channels help circulate calls for papers, research announcements, community news, and other developments. SEPLN’s importance extends beyond Spain: its organized community is described as a reference point in Latin America and internationally, especially in relation to language technologies for Spanish, Catalan, Basque, and Galician. The society is an academic association rather than a commercial product brand, and its principal offerings are scholarly events, publications, community coordination, and dissemination.

SEPLN was established in 1983 to promote activities connected with natural language processing in Spain and internationally. The society’s founding period coincided with the consolidation of computational linguistics as a recognizable research area and with the need to develop language-specific resources and methods for Spanish and other languages used in Spain. Felisa Verdejo, then a professor at the University of the Basque Country in San Sebastián, served as the society’s first president. From its beginning, the organization developed an annual congress as its central community activity. The meeting has been held each summer since 1983, rotating among Spanish cities with active research groups. This format enabled the society to connect laboratories and universities across the country while giving emerging researchers a regular venue for presenting results. The conference community has focused especially on Spanish, Catalan, Basque, and Galician, and has also included work involving Asturian and Aragonese. SEPLN’s role expanded beyond an annual meeting. It supported the development of a continuing publication infrastructure through Procesamiento del Lenguaje Natural, a journal issued twice annually. The publication became a principal channel for disseminating research in the Spanish natural language processing community. Its editorial and review processes were intended to ensure quality and regularity, while its inclusion in Spanish and international scholarly indexing systems increased the visibility of work published through the journal. In 2012, the journal received a quality seal identified in reference material as ISO9001 recognition from the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology. In 2016, it was indexed in the Emerging Sources Citation Index, part of the Web of Science ecosystem. The journal was also included in the Spanish Scientific Journals Repository, RECyT, and was described as meeting recognized standards of scholarly excellence. Over time, SEPLN helped organize a broader national research community involving more than thirty groups. Their work contributed to the development of models, tools, and resources for Spanish and for several languages with smaller digital and research ecosystems. The coordinated attention to these languages helped improve their position in language technology. Later assessments of European language resources cited Spanish as one of the best-resourced official languages and placed Catalan, Basque, and Galician among the strongest-resourced non-official languages, alongside languages such as Welsh. The society’s continuing activities include the annual congress, journal publication, online information, and email-based communication for the research community. These functions allow SEPLN to serve simultaneously as a learned society, a publication sponsor, an event organizer, and a network for collaboration. Its international relevance is particularly visible in Latin America, where Spanish-language natural language processing creates shared research needs and opportunities. No evidence in the available material indicates that SEPLN is a commercial corporation, listed entity, or owner of a consumer-facing product portfolio.

• 2016

  Journal enters Emerging Sources Citation Index

  [1]Sociedad Española para el Procesamiento del Lenguaje Naturalen.wikipedia.org

  The society’s journal was indexed in the Emerging Sources Citation Index, increasing its visibility within international scholarly discovery systems.

• 2012

  Journal quality recognition

  [1]Sociedad Española para el Procesamiento del Lenguaje Naturalen.wikipedia.org

  Procesamiento del Lenguaje Natural received a quality recognition identified in reference material as ISO9001-related recognition from the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology.

• 1983

  SEPLN founded

  [1]Sociedad Española para el Procesamiento del Lenguaje Naturalen.wikipedia.org

  The Spanish Society for Natural Language Processing was established to promote teaching, research, development, and dissemination in natural language processing at national and international levels.

• 1983

  Annual congress begins

  [1]Sociedad Española para el Procesamiento del Lenguaje Naturalen.wikipedia.org

  SEPLN began its recurring summer congress, which has since been hosted in Spanish locations with active computational linguistics research groups.

A national scientific and professional association serving as a coordinating hub for natural language processing research, education, technological development, and scholarly communication in Spain, with particular expertise in Spanish and other Iberian languages.

• Academic conference · 1983

  SEPLN Annual Congress

  The society’s principal annual gathering for natural language processing and computational linguistics research. Held each summer in Spain since 1983, it brings together research groups working on Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Galician, and related language technologies. The congress provides a forum for presenting research, discussing methods and resources, and strengthening collaboration among academic and applied teams.

• Academic journal

  Procesamiento del Lenguaje Natural

  A scholarly journal associated with SEPLN that publishes research on natural language processing and computational linguistics. It is published twice a year, generally in March and September, and is supported by editorial and peer-review procedures. Reference material associates it with FECYT quality recognition, RECyT inclusion, and indexing in the Emerging Sources Citation Index from 2016.

• Research communication service

  SEPLN information and email services

  Online and email-based communication services that distribute information about natural language processing activities, announcements, and current issues. The email service also operates as an open forum for members and other participants in the field.

1. 1Sociedad Española para el Procesamiento del Lenguaje Naturalen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Official SEPLN websitesepln.org