技能 理论论文可复现性与严谨性检查

理论论文可复现性与严谨性检查

v20260724
itcs-reproducibility
本指南旨在提高理论数学论文的严谨性和可验证性,要求对所有核心定理提供完整自洽的证明,定义所有符号与模型参数,并精确标注所有依赖的外部结果。它确保了论文提交稿、完整预印本和数学论证之间的高度一致性,是提高理论计算机科学学术标准的重要技能。
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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>
信息
Category 未分类
Name itcs-reproducibility
版本 v20260724
大小 5.59KB
更新时间 2026-07-28
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