Skills Ensuring Theoretical Paper Reproducibility

Ensuring Theoretical Paper Reproducibility

v20260724
itcs-reproducibility
This guide outlines the standards for making pure theoretical claims independently verifiable. It demands complete, self-contained proofs for all central lemmas, explicit definitions for every symbol, and precise citation for all borrowed results. It ensures that the submitted paper, the full preprint version, and the mathematical arguments are perfectly consistent, addressing the highest level of academic rigor in theoretical computer science.
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Overview

ITCS Reproducibility

"Reproducibility" at a pure-theory venue means one thing: a competent, skeptical reader can verify every central claim from the paper alone. There is no code to rerun and no dataset to re-mine — the analogue of a reproducibility package is a complete, self-contained, correctly attributed proof. ITCS makes this concrete in its call: submissions must include complete proofs of all central claims (in an appendix if needed). This skill is the discipline that makes the mathematics checkable, which — since ITCS has no rebuttal — is also your only defense against a reviewer who gets stuck.

Completeness: every central claim is fully proved

  • No "proof omitted," no "proof is standard," no "see the full version" for anything a reviewer must check to believe the result. Deferring a routine calculation to an appendix is fine; deferring the load-bearing lemma is a reproducibility failure and, at ITCS, a likely reject.
  • Distinguish proved from assumed. Every step is either proved here or cited to a precise prior result. A theorem that quietly relies on an unproved claim is the theory analogue of a package that silently calls a missing dependency.
  • Prove the anchoring result in full. For a new-model paper, the separation/possibility result that shows the model is alive is exactly what a reviewer will try hardest to break — give it the most complete treatment in the paper.

Self-containment: definitions and notation

  • Define every symbol and model parameter before use. A reviewer should verify a theorem statement without opening your prior papers — which lightweight double-blind would expose anyway (see itcs-related-work).
  • State the exact model, not "the usual one." Small variations in a definition (adaptive vs. non-adaptive, worst-case vs. average, the quantifier order) change what is true; pin them down.
  • Restate borrowed results you rely on. Quote the precise statement (and its hypotheses) of an external theorem you invoke, so a reviewer sees exactly what you assume and can check the fit.

Dependency provenance: pin what you borrow

The theory analogue of "pinning versions" is precise citation of the results you build on:

  • Cite each borrowed theorem to a specific venue, year, and statement number — not a vague "it is known that."
  • Flag any dependency on a recent, unrefereed, or conditional result (an arXiv/ECCC preprint, a conjecture, an unpublished personal communication). A result standing on an unverified preprint should say so; its correctness is then explicitly conditional.
  • Separate assumptions (P != NP, a hardness assumption, a conjecture) from theorems, and make every conditional result's hypothesis unmissable in its statement.

The full version as the durable record

Under lightweight double-blind, authors are encouraged to post the full version to arXiv, ECCC, or the IACR ePrint Archive. Treat it as the permanent, complete record:

  • The full version and the submission must agree. Divergent theorem statements or proofs between the two invite a reviewer to trust the wrong one. Keep them in sync, and say in the submission that a full version exists.
  • Put genuinely long proofs in the full version and an appendix the PC can read — a proof a reviewer must consult to judge the paper cannot live only in an external preprint they are not obligated to open (see itcs-supplementary).
  • Keep the preprint's identity handling consistent with your strategy — posting is allowed and common, but the submitted PDF still omits author names.

The checkability passes (run before upload)

[Completeness]  every central claim has a full proof present (appendix ok)? no "omitted"/"standard"?
[Self-contain]  every symbol/model/parameter defined before use? theorem statements parseable alone?
[Dependencies]  each borrowed result cited to venue+year+statement number? unrefereed deps flagged?
[Assumptions]   every conditional theorem states its hypothesis in the statement?
[Consistency]   abstract bound = theorem bound = proof bound; quantifier order uniform?
[Full version]  submission and arXiv/ECCC/ePrint version agree? existence noted?

Common failure modes

Symptom Why it fails at ITCS Fix
Central lemma "proof omitted" Violates the complete-proofs requirement Include the full proof (appendix)
Theorem parseable only with your prior paper Not self-contained; anonymity risk too Define everything in-paper
"It is known that ..." with no cite Dependency unpinned; reviewer cannot check Cite venue/year/statement
Relies on a preprint silently Correctness is conditional but hidden State the conditional dependency
Preprint proof differs from submission Reviewer trusts the wrong version Sync the two

Output format

[ITCS checkability status] verifiable / gaps
[Completeness] central claims fully proved (list any "omitted")
[Self-containment] definitions complete? statements parseable alone? yes/no
[Dependencies] borrowed results pinned? unrefereed/conditional ones flagged? yes/no
[Full version] posted and consistent with submission? yes/no
[Fix queue] <ordered, load-bearing gaps first>
Info
Category Uncategorized
Name itcs-reproducibility
Version v20260724
Size 5.59KB
Updated At 2026-07-28
Language