---
name: venue-submission-format
source: https://app.decimal.ai/s/venue-submission-format@1/SKILL.md
source_sha256: a69e383e00c1
---

# Venue submission format

## Contract

When a task names a specific academic venue (a conference, journal, grant agency, or
poster format), emit that venue's EXACT machine-checkable setup — LaTeX class/style
token, anonymization state, page limit, citation/bibliography style — never a generic
`article` default. The mapping from venue to format is arbitrary and venue-controlled;
guessing a plausible-looking default is wrong.

## Rules

### R1 — LaTeX class / style package (use these exact tokens)

| Venue | documentclass | style package |
|---|---|---|
| NeurIPS 2024 | `\documentclass{article}` | `\usepackage{neurips_2024}` |
| ICML 2024 | `\documentclass{article}` | `\usepackage{icml2024}` |
| ICLR 2024 | `\documentclass{article}` | `\usepackage{iclr2024_conference}` |
| CVPR | `\documentclass[10pt,twocolumn,letterpaper]{article}` | `\usepackage[review]{cvpr}` |
| ACL / EMNLP / NAACL | `\documentclass[11pt]{article}` | `\usepackage[review]{acl}` |
| IEEE conference | `\documentclass[conference]{IEEEtran}` | (class only) |
| ACM (camera-ready) | `\documentclass[sigconf]{acmart}` | + `\setcopyright{...}` |
| Springer LNCS | `\documentclass{llncs}` | (class only) |
| Elsevier journal | `\documentclass{elsarticle}` | (class only) |
| PLOS | `\documentclass[10pt,letterpaper]{article}` | (PLOS template) |

The ML conferences (NeurIPS/ICML/ICLR) share the plain `article` base class and differ
ONLY in the style package — the package name is the load-bearing token.

### R2 — Anonymization (submission/review version)

- NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, and the ACL family (ACL/EMNLP/NAACL) are **DOUBLE-BLIND**.
  The review version must contain NO author names, NO affiliations, NO email addresses,
  NO acknowledgments, and NO funding statement.
- De-anonymize ONLY for the accepted / camera-ready version, via the venue's toggle:
  NeurIPS `[final]`, ICML `[accepted]`, ICLR `\iclrfinalcopy`, CVPR / ACL drop `[review]`.
- Refer to your own prior work in the **third person** ("Smith et al. (2020) showed…"),
  never "in our previous work [x]" — first-person self-reference de-anonymizes.
- IEEE, ACM, Springer LNCS, Elsevier, and PLOS are **NAMED** (not anonymized): author
  names and affiliations appear in the submission.

### R3 — Page limits (main text; references usually excluded)

- NeurIPS 2024: 9. ICML 2024: 8. ICLR 2024: 9. CVPR: 8.
- ACL / EMNLP: 8 (long paper), 4 (short paper).
- References do NOT count toward these limits.
- NeurIPS also requires the **NeurIPS Paper Checklist**, which does NOT count toward the
  9 main-text pages.

### R4 — Citation / bibliography style

| Venue | Citation style | bibliographystyle |
|---|---|---|
| NeurIPS / ICML / ICLR | numeric via natbib (`\citep{}`, `\citet{}`) | — |
| ACL family | natbib (`\citep`, `\citet`) | — |
| IEEE | numeric in square brackets | `\bibliographystyle{IEEEtran}` |
| ACM | ACM Reference Format | `\bibliographystyle{ACM-Reference-Format}` |
| Springer LNCS | numeric | `\bibliographystyle{splncs04}` |
| Elsevier | numeric | `\bibliographystyle{elsarticle-num}` |
| PLOS | numbered Vancouver (numeric, NOT author-year) | — |

### R5 — Grants (agency format, NOT a LaTeX class)

- **NSF**: Project Description ≤ 15 pages; margins ≥ 1 inch on all sides; type size ≥ 10 pt;
  approved fonts include Times New Roman, Computer Modern, Arial, Palatino Linotype.
- **NIH R01**: Research Strategy ≤ 12 pages (R21 ≤ 6); Specific Aims = 1 page; font ≥ 11 pt
  (Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, Palatino Linotype); margins ≥ 0.5 inch.

### R6 — Posters

- A0 = 841 × 1189 mm. Use `beamerposter` or `tikzposter`; scale fonts large for
  distance reading.

## Worked examples

### R1 — class/style token

- **Task:** "Open the LaTeX file for our NeurIPS 2024 submission."
- BEFORE (base default): `\documentclass[11pt]{article}\usepackage{neurips}` — invents a
  plausible package name and a font option.
- AFTER (conforming): `\documentclass{article}` then `\usepackage{neurips_2024}` — exact
  package name, no font option.

### R2 — anonymization

- **Task:** "Write the title/author block for the PDF we upload to NeurIPS 2024 review."
- BEFORE: `\author{Jane Doe\\MIT\\jane@mit.edu}` plus an acknowledgments line — the model's
  default is to fill in author metadata.
- AFTER: anonymous block — `\author{Anonymous Author(s)}` (or omitted), no affiliation, no
  email, no acknowledgments, no funding statement.

### R3 — page limit

- **Task:** "What's the main-text page limit for ICML 2024?"
- BEFORE: "around 10 pages including references" — wrong number, wrong reference handling.
- AFTER: "8 pages of main text; references do not count toward the limit."

### R4 — citation style

- **Task:** "How do we cite references in our IEEE conference paper?"
- BEFORE: "use author-year citations, e.g. (Smith, 2020)" — generic academic default.
- AFTER: numeric square-bracket citations, e.g. `[1]`, with `\bibliographystyle{IEEEtran}`.

### R5 — grant format

- **Task:** "How long can the NSF Project Description be and what are the margins?"
- BEFORE: "usually 10–20 pages, standard 1-inch-ish margins" — vague, no enforceable number.
- AFTER: "≤ 15 pages; margins ≥ 1 inch on all sides; type size ≥ 10 pt."

### R6 — poster

- **Task:** "We need a standard large-format conference poster — package and A0 size?"
- BEFORE: "use the `poster` package; A0 is about 33×46 inches" — wrong package, imperial guess.
- AFTER: `beamerposter` (or `tikzposter`); A0 = 841 × 1189 mm.

## Edge cases & exceptions

- **Review vs camera-ready is the same class, different flag.** The double-blind venues do
  not change their class file between versions — they flip an option. Camera-ready NeurIPS is
  `\usepackage[final]{neurips_2024}`; the review version omits `[final]`. Never delete the
  package to "de-anonymize."
- **CVPR / ACL anonymize by package option, not by a separate class.** `\usepackage[review]{cvpr}`
  IS the anonymized state; dropping `[review]` (or using `[final]`) is the camera-ready state.
- **References are outside the page count** for the conference limits — do not pad your answer
  by counting them.
- **NeurIPS checklist is mandatory but free of the page budget** — it is required for the
  submission yet excluded from the 9-page main-text limit.
- **Grants are not a LaTeX class.** NSF/NIH constraints are agency rules on the compiled PDF
  (page count, margins, font, font size), not a `\documentclass`. Do not answer a grant question
  with a LaTeX class.
- **Short vs long ACL papers differ only in page budget** (4 vs 8) — same class, same package.
- **PLOS, IEEE, ACM, LNCS, Elsevier are named venues** — do NOT strip author identity for them;
  anonymization applies only to the double-blind set in R2.

## Do / Don't

- Never load `\usepackage{neurips}`; always load `\usepackage{neurips_2024}` (exact year tag).
- Never include author names/affiliations/acknowledgments in a double-blind review PDF; always
  anonymize them and de-anonymize only in the camera-ready via the venue's toggle.
- Never write self-citations as "in our previous work"; always use third person.
- Never answer a citation question with author-year for IEEE/ACM/PLOS; always use the numeric
  scheme the venue mandates.
- Never count references inside a conference page limit; always state references are excluded.
- Never give grant page/margin/font rules as a LaTeX class; always give the agency's numbers.
- Never guess A0 in inches; always give 841 × 1189 mm.

## Common mistakes

- Inventing a package name (`neurips`, `icml`, `iclr_conf`) instead of the exact tokens
  (`neurips_2024`, `icml2024`, `iclr2024_conference`).
- Adding a `[11pt]` / `[12pt]` font option to the ML-conference `\documentclass{article}` — the
  style package controls the font; the base class takes no font option.
- Filling in author/affiliation/email metadata on a double-blind review submission.
- Defaulting to author-year `(Author, Year)` citations everywhere, when IEEE/ACM/LNCS/Elsevier/PLOS
  require a numeric scheme.
- Confusing the review and camera-ready toggles (deleting the package, or shipping `[final]` to
  the review system).
- Treating an NSF/NIH grant as a LaTeX-class question instead of an agency page/margin/font spec.
- Reporting poster sizes in inches or naming a `poster` package that doesn't exist.

## Quick checklist

1. Did I emit the EXACT class + style-package tokens for this venue (not a generic `article`)?
2. Is the submission anonymized iff the venue is double-blind, with the right de-anon toggle noted?
3. Is the page limit the venue's exact number, with references excluded?
4. Is the citation/bibliography style the venue's mandated scheme (numeric vs author-year)?
5. For grants, did I give agency page/margin/font numbers — not a LaTeX class?
6. For posters, A0 = 841 × 1189 mm with `beamerposter`/`tikzposter`?