---
name: aistats-review-process
description: Use when explaining or planning around AISTATS peer review, OpenReview review release, author-reviewer discussion, reviewer volunteer expectations, reviewer confidentiality, decision criteria, meta-review dynamics, and PMLR proceedings outcomes.
---

# AISTATS Review Process

Use this to reason about review-stage strategy. Reopen the current CFP, OpenReview group,
author instructions, reviewer instructions if posted, and code of conduct before making
process claims.

## Process model

- AISTATS uses OpenReview for submission and review workflow in recent cycles.
- Reviewers evaluate technical correctness, statistical and machine-learning contribution,
  empirical support, clarity, reproducibility, and relevance to artificial intelligence and
  statistics.
- Author discussion is limited. AISTATS 2026 used a discussion period after initial reviews,
  with text-only author-reviewer discussion and no links.
- Reviewer and author obligations include confidentiality, appropriate conflicts,
  professional conduct, and respect for anonymity.
- The most useful response is a decision-focused clarification that gives the area chair or
  meta-reviewer a clean rationale for acceptance or rejection.
- Accepted papers are published in PMLR, so final metadata and camera-ready compliance matter
  as much as the initial acceptance.

## Output format

```text
[Current stage] submitted / reviews / discussion / decision / camera-ready
[Decision actors] <reviewers/meta-reviewer/chairs>
[Likely leverage] <correctness/statistics/experiments/clarity/reproducibility>
[Forbidden moves] <identity leak / external links if forbidden / new unsupported results>
[Next response move] <one action>
```