WSTLUR 2017
Most submissions* are in for WSTLUR 2017, whose deadline was last Monday, October 31, 2016. The first official call for papers for the conference was announced in detail on January 11, 2016. As you can see on the attached graph, the number of submissions by day spike on the day of the deadline. So despite having almost 10 full months to work on a paper, the majority of submission are on the due date. While there is a certain rationality of taking as much time as possible to perfect a submission, or waiting to see what papers were accepted/rejected where or are near finished near the deadline, there is also a huge procrastination process here, as I am fairly confident the amount of time taken on papers would have been no different were the deadline on September 30 or November 30.
I discussed this previously for the 2014 conference. What is interesting is not only the huge ramp up to 10-31, but also the late submissions on 11-01. Now I am sure some people could have had problems with their computer, or the internet, or the dog ate their homework. I am sure a few Alaskans may have been on a different time zone, so early morning on 11-01 was still 10-31 there, and some people found out late about the conference, or changed their minds, and for some the work was just longer than anticipated, but there are also a class of people constitutionally incapable of submitting things on time.
* Some authors pre-arranged extensions with the organizers, this is, after all, academia.