--- name: uai-workflow description: Use when planning a UAI cycle end to end, from venue-fit confirmation through the winter submission deadline, the spring review and author-response phases, the June decision, the July PMLR camera-ready, and the August conference, as one backward-planned calendar with named owners for anonymity, evidence, and packaging tasks. --- # UAI Workflow Use this as the project-management layer over the other UAI skills. UAI is a conference run by the AUAI: there is no editor-in-chief and no rolling submission — one deadline per year, per-edition chairs, and PMLR publication funded by registration rather than author fees. The 2026 calendar below is the verified anchor (checked 2026-07-08); substitute the current year's official dates before planning anything. ## The 2026 shape of a UAI year | Phase | 2026 anchor | Owner-side work | |---|---|---| | Fit decision | months before | Confirm uncertainty is the contribution (uai-topic-selection) | | Submission opens | Jan 25 | OpenReview profiles, conflicts, subject areas ready | | Paper deadline | Feb 25, 23:59 AoE | Single PDF (8pp main + appendix), ≤15 MB, ZIP ≤50 MB | | Bidding | Mar 2–9 | Nothing — routing was set by your abstract | | Reviews written | Mar 21 – Apr 11 | Prepare response infrastructure; draft anticipated objections | | Author response | Apr 23 – May 2 | Evidence-anchored replies (uai-author-response) | | Reviewer–AC discussion | May 2–8 | Silence; the response argues for you | | Notification | Jun 1 | Triage outcome; celebrate or re-route | | Camera-ready | Jul 27 | PMLR files, public artifacts (uai-camera-ready) | | Conference | Aug 17–21, Amsterdam | Tutorials Mon, main Tue–Thu, workshops Fri | ## Backward plan from the paper deadline Offsets assume a probabilistic-methods paper with theory and experiments; shift for your mix, and re-anchor to current official dates: - **T−10 weeks**: contribution sentence frozen; identifiability/guarantee target named; ladder of experiments designed (exact-truth, stress, real). - **T−8**: core theorem believed and sketched; assumption set labeled A1…An and no longer moving. - **T−6**: exact-truth experiments done; the theorem's prediction visibly matches or the paper's story changes now, not at T−1. - **T−4**: full draft in the UAI template; appendix skeleton mirrors main-text numbering; baselines tuned and logged. - **T−3**: internal mock review against the four criteria (correctness, novelty, backing, clarity) by someone outside the project. - **T−2**: stress and real-data experiments locked; determinism ledger and manifests in the artifact; supplementary ZIP assembled from a clean export. - **T−1**: anonymity sweep of PDF and ZIP; page/size caps verified mechanically; OpenReview form fields drafted. - **T−0**: upload early in the day AoE-wise; re-download and cold-read. ## Role assignments that prevent the classic failures ```yaml # uai-cycle-owners.yaml — one name per row, no shared ownership anonymity_sweep: # PDF + ZIP + metadata; leaks are unfixable after the deadline evidence_map: # every claim -> exhibit; updated when any result changes appendix_integrity: # body statements == appendix statements after every edit artifact_build: # clean-export ZIP, manifest files, size cap openreview_form: # profiles, conflicts, subject areas, abstract == PDF abstract response_marshal: # archives submitted PDF; drafts objection bank before reviews camera_ready: # PMLR forms, de-anonymization, public repo tag presentation: # poster, spotlight, registration, travel/visa timeline ``` The two most damaging single points of failure at UAI specifically: an unowned anonymity sweep (appendices inside the reviewed PDF widen the leak surface), and an unowned appendix-integrity check (deadline-week edits to body theorems silently orphan their proofs). ## Between decision and conference - Accepted: the June-to-July window carries camera-ready, artifact publication, and registration simultaneously — assign them to different people on day one. - Rejected: run the axis triage from `uai-review-process` within a week while context is fresh; the natural re-route targets (AISTATS, NeurIPS/ICML, CLeaR, or a journal) have their own calendars, and reviews in hand are an asset that depreciates. - Either way: at least one author may be called to review for UAI — the volunteer agreement signed at submission — so protect reviewing bandwidth in March–April. ## The cycle archive One deadline per year means institutional memory is the compounding asset. At each transition, file into a shared, dated directory: - The exact uploaded PDF and ZIP (deadline day) — responses must quote these. - The OpenReview form contents as submitted (screenshot or export). - All reviews, your responses, and the meta-review (decision day). - The camera-ready as published, plus the PMLR entry once the volume is live. - A one-page retrospective: which criterion drew fire, which anticipated objection materialized, what the next cycle should do differently. Groups that skip the retrospective re-learn the same reviewer objection annually. ## Contingency table | If this happens | Then | Because | |---|---|---| | Theorem breaks at T−3 | Demote it to a conjecture + empirical study, or pull the paper | A wrong proof fails correctness; a scoped claim can still pass backing | | Key experiment unfinished at T−1 | Cut the claim, not the caveats | Claims without exhibits fail the backing criterion | | Coauthor conflict list incomplete at deadline | Fix profiles before the form, even if tight | Conflict errors poison assignment invisibly | | Reviews arrive harsher than expected | Run axis triage before drafting anything | Emotion-first responses waste the short window | | Accepted but presenter cannot travel | Check the current remote-presentation rules immediately | 2026 said "physically or remotely", but details were 待核实 | | Rejected with fixable-axis reviews | Target the next honest-fit deadline within the month | Review memory and momentum decay fast | ## First-cycle notes For a group's first UAI attempt: budget one extra week for OpenReview profile setup and conflict entry across all authors; expect the two-column template to shrink an apparently-fitting draft by half a page; and have the mock reviewer score the four posted criteria explicitly — first-time submissions most often lose on backing, not on correctness. ## Standing warnings - Never inherit dates from this file or from memory; the official important-dates page is the only calendar. - Registration fees, in-person requirements, and remote-presentation options were not fully verifiable for 2026 at pack-check time (待核实) — confirm before booking travel or promising remote attendance. - One-deadline venues punish schedule slips brutally: a week late here is a year late. ## Output format ```text [Cycle position] fit / build / submitted / response / decided / camera-ready / conference [Next hard date] [Critical path] [Owner gaps] [Re-route plan] ```