TMLR interviewed the authors of 10 papers headed for desk rejection, and seven could not explain their own work

TMLR (via r/MachineLearning, 244 comments)·high signalXBlueskyLinkedInCopy link

TMLR's Co-Editor-in-Chief published the results of contacting authors of ten submissions slated for desk rejection and asking them to walk through their own papers. One team withdrew, one said they were unavailable, one booked a meeting and did not show, three could not answer basic questions about the paper, three handled high-level ideas but fell apart on technical detail, and exactly one answered everything, at which point the interviewer found a major flaw in the paper anyway. The r/MachineLearning thread drew 244 comments. This is the first venue-level experiment I have seen that tests authorship by interview rather than by detector, and the hit rate suggests the method works.