Skills Soft Skills Structuring Research Papers for Academic Submission

Structuring Research Papers for Academic Submission

v20260724
neurips-supplementary
A comprehensive guide on structuring research papers for top-tier AI conferences (like NeurIPS). It teaches authors how to strategically allocate contributions, proofs, data details, and code artifacts across the main body, text appendices, and separate ZIP files. Use this skill to ensure reviewers can easily identify the core contribution and assess the work's validity without missing crucial supporting details.
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Overview

NeurIPS Supplementary

Use this skill to prevent two common NeurIPS failures: hiding the main contribution in the appendix and overloading the main paper with details that belong in supplemental material.

Placement rules

  • Main paper: problem, contribution, method, essential theory, core experiments, limitations, and enough detail for reviewers to judge correctness.
  • References: complete, verified citations; do not rely on AI-generated references without manual verification.
  • Text appendices: proofs, derivations, additional ablations, dataset details, model cards, extended limitations, and supporting analyses.
  • Checklist: mandatory and placed according to current template instructions.
  • Separate ZIP: code, data, scripts, configuration files, logs, lightweight demo assets, or other review artifacts when allowed by current rules.

NeurIPS-specific guardrails

  • The supplement does not rescue an unclear main claim. Reviewers are not required to read every supplemental detail.
  • Supplementary material must be anonymized during double-blind review.
  • Links must preserve anonymous browsing and comply with current policy.
  • Code and data that support central claims should include exact commands and environment details, not just a repository dump.

Placement decision table

NeurIPS assembles the final PDF from distinct zones plus a separate review ZIP. Misplacing material is a recurring weakness: a proof that a reviewer cannot find, or a contribution buried where it does not count. Map each item to exactly one home before submission; reopen the current template for the authoritative zone list.

Material Home Reason it goes there
Central claim, headline result Main body reviewers judge the contribution here
Full proofs and derivations Text appendix body states the theorem; appendix carries the proof
Extra ablations, seeds, scaling Text appendix supports but does not replace core experiments
Dataset/model cards, datasheets Text appendix + ZIP provenance reviewers expect, anonymized
Mandatory Paper Checklist Template-specified slot desk-reject risk if missing or misplaced
Runnable code, configs, logs Separate ZIP review-only artifact, not body pages
Broader-impact discussion Main body a NeurIPS norm reviewers look for, not appendix-only

Datasets & Benchmarks supplement note

For a Datasets & Benchmarks track submission, the datasheet, license, intended-use statement, and hosting/maintenance plan are not optional appendix garnish; they are part of what reviewers score. Keep them anonymized for review and stage a de-anonymized public version for release. Hedge the exact required documentation to the current year's track call.

Worked vignette: a benchmark paper

Authors put their 40-page datasheet, croissant metadata, and loading code only in the appendix and leave the main body to leaderboard tables. A NeurIPS reviewer cannot judge dataset quality from tables alone. The fix: lift provenance, licensing, consent, and intended-use sentences into the main body so the contribution is visible; keep the full datasheet and loaders in the appendix and ZIP; and add one navigation sentence telling reviewers exactly where the documentation lives.

Output format

[Main-paper must stay] <items>
[Move to appendix] <items>
[Move to ZIP/artifact] <items>
[Anonymity fixes] <items>
[Reviewer navigation] <one sentence telling reviewers where to find support>
Info
Category Soft Skills
Name neurips-supplementary
Version v20260724
Size 3.76KB
Updated At 2026-07-28
Language