COLT Submission

Run this audit before uploading a learning-theory paper to COLT. Every number below was checked against the COLT 2026 Call for Papers on 2026-07-08; reopen the current CFP at learningtheory.org before trusting any of it in a later cycle, because COLT republishes its rules from scratch each year.

What the 2026 cycle actually required

• Platform: Microsoft CMT, not OpenReview. The COLT 2026 site pointed authors to https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/COLT2026. COLT has used other systems in the past, so never assume the portal — follow the link in the live CFP.
• Deadline: February 4, 2026, Anywhere on Earth, for the 39th edition (June 29 to July 3, 2026, San Diego). One deadline for the whole manuscript; the 2026 CFP had no separate abstract-registration step, unlike NeurIPS-style venues. Confirm each year.
• Length: main body at most 12 PMLR-formatted pages excluding references, with no page limit on references and appendices, all submitted as one PDF.
• Anonymity: submissions must be suitable for double-anonymous review; the official LaTeX template's anon option suppresses author names.
• Scope: theoretical aspects of machine learning at the intersection of computer science, statistics, and applied mathematics, explicitly including theory that explains empirical phenomena.

The single-PDF discipline

Because the appendix rides inside the same PDF as the body, COLT has no separate supplement portal to forget — but also no second chance to patch a broken proof file. Treat the appendix as reviewable text, not as an attachment:

• Compile body plus appendix together and check the PDF page count where the 12-page boundary falls; references must start after the body, appendices after references.
• Nothing decision-critical may exist only in the appendix. A reviewer who stops at page 12 should already believe the theorem statements and the proof strategy.
• Anonymize the appendix with the same care as the body: acknowledgements, grant numbers, code URLs pointing at personal repositories, and PDF author metadata all leak.

Illustrative template skeleton

The exact style file name changes with the year (e.g., a colt2026 package for the 2026 cycle). Shape, not filename, is the stable part:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[anon]{colt2026}   % 'anon' hides authors for review; drop it at camera-ready
\usepackage{times}

\title[Short Title]{Tight Rates for a Learning Problem}
\coltauthor{\Name{Anonymous Author} \Email{anon@example.org}}

\begin{document}
\maketitle
\begin{abstract}%
One-paragraph statement of the problem, the main theorem, and the technique.
\end{abstract}
% <= 12 PMLR-formatted pages of body
% \bibliography{refs}  -- references excluded from the limit
% \appendix            -- full proofs; no page limit, same PDF
\end{document}

Download the real template from the current CFP; do not reuse a prior year's file, and never alter margins, font size, or spacing — layout tampering is a desk-reject risk at any PMLR venue.

Parallel-submission rules (verified for 2026)

The COLT 2026 CFP barred submissions substantially similar to papers previously published, accepted for publication, or in parallel submission to other peer-reviewed conferences with proceedings or to journals. It also barred sending a paper under COLT review to a journal until decisions are released or the paper is withdrawn.

Desk-reject and severity triage

Final-week sequence for a COLT paper

1. Freeze theorem and lemma statements; every later edit must be proofread against the appendix, because statement-proof drift is the classic COLT correctness kill.
2. Run a full proof-verification pass with a coauthor who did not write the proofs, checking each inequality and each invocation of an external result.
3. Rebuild the single PDF and verify the body/references/appendix boundary pages.
4. Sweep for identity: author macros, \thanks, metadata, repository links, and self-citation phrasing ("in our earlier work [3]" must become third person).
5. Enter CMT early — create the submission record days before February-style AoE cutoffs, since CMT accounts, conflict entry, and subject areas take time on first use.
6. Upload, re-download, and open the PDF that CMT stores; confirm it is the intended compile and the appendix rendered.

CMT logistics worth doing early

• CMT accounts are per-email; make sure every coauthor's CMT identity uses their canonical email, since conflicts and the informed-AC anonymity model key off these records.
• Enter domain conflicts and coauthor conflicts completely — at a small venue an incomplete conflict list risks an actual conflicted reviewer, not a hypothetical.
• Subject-area selections steer reviewer assignment; pick the narrow area that names your subfield over the broad one that flatters the paper.

Cycle-volatility warnings

• Deadline, portal, template name, page count, and anonymity mechanics are re-decided by each year's program chairs. The 2026 facts above are anchors, not permanent rules.
• Whether COLT runs an Open Problems track in a given year, and its separate deadline and non-anonymous format, must be re-checked in the current CFP (待核实 for any cycle after 2026).

Output format

[COLT readiness] Ready / Needs fixes / Not ready
[Blocking checks] <CMT record / 12-page body / single PDF / anonymity / parallel submission>
[Proof-integrity risk] <statement-proof drift, unverified lemma, external-result misuse>
[Desk-reject risk] <one issue>
[Fix order] <ordered actions before the AoE deadline>