--- name: colt-submission description: Use when auditing a COLT (Conference on Learning Theory) submission for CMT readiness, the 12-page PMLR-format main body, single-PDF assembly with unlimited appendix, double-anonymous formatting, the parallel-submission ban covering journals and proceedings venues, and the ordered final-week checks before the AoE deadline. --- # COLT Submission Run this audit before uploading a learning-theory paper to COLT. Every number below was checked against the COLT 2026 Call for Papers on 2026-07-08; reopen the current CFP at learningtheory.org before trusting any of it in a later cycle, because COLT republishes its rules from scratch each year. ## What the 2026 cycle actually required - Platform: Microsoft CMT, not OpenReview. The COLT 2026 site pointed authors to `https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/COLT2026`. COLT has used other systems in the past, so never assume the portal — follow the link in the live CFP. - Deadline: February 4, 2026, Anywhere on Earth, for the 39th edition (June 29 to July 3, 2026, San Diego). One deadline for the whole manuscript; the 2026 CFP had no separate abstract-registration step, unlike NeurIPS-style venues. Confirm each year. - Length: main body at most 12 PMLR-formatted pages excluding references, with no page limit on references and appendices, all submitted as one PDF. - Anonymity: submissions must be suitable for double-anonymous review; the official LaTeX template's `anon` option suppresses author names. - Scope: theoretical aspects of machine learning at the intersection of computer science, statistics, and applied mathematics, explicitly including theory that explains empirical phenomena. ## The single-PDF discipline Because the appendix rides inside the same PDF as the body, COLT has no separate supplement portal to forget — but also no second chance to patch a broken proof file. Treat the appendix as reviewable text, not as an attachment: - Compile body plus appendix together and check the PDF page count where the 12-page boundary falls; references must start after the body, appendices after references. - Nothing decision-critical may exist only in the appendix. A reviewer who stops at page 12 should already believe the theorem statements and the proof strategy. - Anonymize the appendix with the same care as the body: acknowledgements, grant numbers, code URLs pointing at personal repositories, and PDF author metadata all leak. ## Illustrative template skeleton The exact style file name changes with the year (e.g., a `colt2026` package for the 2026 cycle). Shape, not filename, is the stable part: ```latex \documentclass[12pt]{article} \usepackage[anon]{colt2026} % 'anon' hides authors for review; drop it at camera-ready \usepackage{times} \title[Short Title]{Tight Rates for a Learning Problem} \coltauthor{\Name{Anonymous Author} \Email{anon@example.org}} \begin{document} \maketitle \begin{abstract}% One-paragraph statement of the problem, the main theorem, and the technique. \end{abstract} % <= 12 PMLR-formatted pages of body % \bibliography{refs} -- references excluded from the limit % \appendix -- full proofs; no page limit, same PDF \end{document} ``` Download the real template from the current CFP; do not reuse a prior year's file, and never alter margins, font size, or spacing — layout tampering is a desk-reject risk at any PMLR venue. ## Parallel-submission rules (verified for 2026) The COLT 2026 CFP barred submissions substantially similar to papers previously published, accepted for publication, or in parallel submission to other peer-reviewed conferences with proceedings or to journals. It also barred sending a paper under COLT review to a journal until decisions are released or the paper is withdrawn. | Situation | COLT 2026 reading | Safe action | |---|---|---| | Same results on arXiv | Preprints are standard in the theory community | Post freely; do not cite your arXiv version in a way that de-anonymizes | | Under review at a journal | Forbidden overlap | Withdraw one venue before the COLT deadline | | Extended abstract at a proceedings venue (e.g., STOC/FOCS/ALT) | Forbidden if substantially similar | Differentiate results substantially or pick one venue | | Non-archival workshop talk | Generally tolerated in theory culture | Verify the workshop is truly non-archival, then declare if the form asks | | Journal submission planned after COLT decision | Explicitly allowed once decisions are out | Calendar the journal submission after notification | ## Desk-reject and severity triage | Trigger | Severity | Window to repair | |---|---|---| | Body beyond 12 PMLR pages | Desk reject | Only before the deadline | | Author names or acknowledgements left in | Desk reject or chair flag | Only before the deadline | | Parallel-submission violation | Rejection at any stage, discoverable late | Withdraw the other venue now | | Main theorem provable only via a gap-ridden appendix | Review-stage rejection | Fix during the proof-verification pass | | Missing formal problem setup in the body | Review-stage damage | Fixable in the writing pass | ## Final-week sequence for a COLT paper 1. Freeze theorem and lemma statements; every later edit must be proofread against the appendix, because statement-proof drift is the classic COLT correctness kill. 2. Run a full proof-verification pass with a coauthor who did not write the proofs, checking each inequality and each invocation of an external result. 3. Rebuild the single PDF and verify the body/references/appendix boundary pages. 4. Sweep for identity: author macros, `\thanks`, metadata, repository links, and self-citation phrasing ("in our earlier work [3]" must become third person). 5. Enter CMT early — create the submission record days before February-style AoE cutoffs, since CMT accounts, conflict entry, and subject areas take time on first use. 6. Upload, re-download, and open the PDF that CMT stores; confirm it is the intended compile and the appendix rendered. ## CMT logistics worth doing early - CMT accounts are per-email; make sure every coauthor's CMT identity uses their canonical email, since conflicts and the informed-AC anonymity model key off these records. - Enter domain conflicts and coauthor conflicts completely — at a small venue an incomplete conflict list risks an actual conflicted reviewer, not a hypothetical. - Subject-area selections steer reviewer assignment; pick the narrow area that names your subfield over the broad one that flatters the paper. ## Cycle-volatility warnings - Deadline, portal, template name, page count, and anonymity mechanics are re-decided by each year's program chairs. The 2026 facts above are anchors, not permanent rules. - Whether COLT runs an Open Problems track in a given year, and its separate deadline and non-anonymous format, must be re-checked in the current CFP (待核实 for any cycle after 2026). ## Output format ```text [COLT readiness] Ready / Needs fixes / Not ready [Blocking checks] [Proof-integrity risk] [Desk-reject risk] [Fix order] ```