ML Paper Writing

Overview

Publishing at top machine learning venues—NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, AAAI, and similar conferences—requires not only strong technical contributions but also clear, persuasive writing that follows community conventions. The reviewing process at these venues is highly competitive (acceptance rates of 15-30%), and the difference between a borderline accept and a borderline reject often comes down to how well the paper communicates its contributions.

This skill provides a comprehensive guide to writing ML/AI research papers that meet the expectations of reviewers at top venues. It covers paper structure, the specific writing conventions of the ML community, common reviewer complaints to avoid, and practical templates for each section.

The guidance here is based on published reviewer guidelines from NeurIPS, ICML, and ICLR, as well as widely-cited advice from established researchers in the field.

Paper Structure and Section Guide

Title

Your title should be specific and informative. Avoid generic titles like "A Novel Approach to X." Include:

• The key technical contribution or method name
• The problem domain or task
• Optionally, a hint at the result