COLT Author Response

COLT Author Response

Use this after COLT reviews arrive. The COLT 2026 CFP (checked 2026-07-08) stated that initial reviews are sent to authors before final decisions and that authors get an opportunity to address issues raised — a rebuttal phase, run through CMT in that cycle. Exact window length, character limits, and attachment rules are announced with the reviews; read that announcement before writing a word.

What a COLT rebuttal is for

A COLT review stands or falls on correctness first, then on the significance of the result and the novelty of the technique. The rebuttal is your one chance to:

• repair a perceived gap by pointing at the exact appendix line that closes it;
• concede a real gap and show the damage is contained (a weaker constant, an extra log factor, a mildly stronger assumption) with a sketch of the fix;
• correct a factual misreading of the model, the adversary, or the oracle access;
• defuse "this follows easily from known results" by naming precisely which step known techniques cannot deliver.

It is not a place to announce new theorems. A brand-new result in a rebuttal box is unverifiable in the time reviewers have, and theory reviewers discount it accordingly; promise it for the final version only when the argument is a routine extension.

The identity-reveal rule (distinctively COLT)

Under the 2026 policy, submissions are anonymized and names are withheld from reviewers, but the area chair knows author identities and may reveal them to a reviewer during the rebuttal period upon the reviewer's request, when the AC judges it necessary for a proper review — typically to check adjacency to the authors' own prior work. Consequences for drafting:

• Never write anything inconsistent with your identity becoming known mid-discussion.
• Do not play games with "the authors of [7]" phrasing that collapses if unmasked.
• You still must not de-anonymize yourself proactively; the reveal is the AC's call.

Objection playbook for theorist reviewers