itcs-author-response

ITCS Author Response

The defining fact of this skill: ITCS has no rebuttal and no author-response phase. Following

theory-conference norms, the program committee forms its reviews and reaches accept/reject

without any input from you in between (see

[itcs-review-process](../itcs-review-process/SKILL.md)). There is also no Major Revision and

no revise-and-resubmit. So "author response" at ITCS is not a rebuttal-writing task — it is

(1) doing the rebuttal's work inside the submission, before the deadline, and (2) handling the

situation after the decision lands. Both are covered here.

Part 1 — The rebuttal you write in advance (in the paper)

At a rebuttal venue you would hold arguments in reserve to answer reviewers. At ITCS there is no

reserve turn, so every such argument must be in the submitted PDF. Pre-empt the three objections

an ITCS PC reliably raises:

• "Is the model trivial or all-powerful?" Answer with an anchoring result in the

introduction — a separation or surprising possibility showing the model is neither empty nor

everything (see [itcs-writing-style](../itcs-writing-style/SKILL.md)).

• "Is this actually new?" Answer with a delta-first related-work paragraph naming the

closest prior model and what it did not ask; search the ITCS/ICS back-catalog hardest, since

that is where "already asked" hides (see [itcs-related-work](../itcs-related-work/SKILL.md)).

• "Why should the community care?" Answer with a concrete payoff — a connection, a

reframing, an application sketch — on the first page.

Also disarm the objections you can foresee about your own paper:

• State scope and limitations yourself. A candidly owned gap is a strength at ITCS; the same

gap discovered by a reviewer, with no rebuttal to contextualize it, is a weakness.

• Prove the load-bearing lemma in full, in the PDF's appendix — a reviewer who gets stuck on a

deferred proof cannot ask you to clarify (see

[itcs-reproducibility](../itcs-reproducibility/SKILL.md)).

• Add a "why not the obvious approach" remark where a reviewer might think your problem is

easy; this is the single most common unspoken objection to a new-model paper.

Part 2 — After the decision

On accept

• Move to [itcs-camera-ready](../itcs-camera-ready/SKILL.md): switch to lipics-v2021,

de-anonymize, complete LIPIcs metadata, hit the production deadline.

• Reviews may still contain requests or corrections even without a rebuttal round. Fold

reasonable fixes into the camera-ready — a corrected claim, a missing citation, a clarified

definition — using the extra latitude the (unlimited) LIPIcs length allows.

• Register a presenter; consider a Graduating Bits talk if a coauthor is near graduation.

On reject

There is no resubmission to a later ITCS round this year (single annual cycle), so the move is

to use the reviews, not to answer them:

• Mine the reviews for the real objection. Since they were written without expecting a reply,

they tend to be candid. Identify whether the paper was judged not novel enough (a framing

problem) or not correct/complete (a proof problem) — the fix differs sharply.

• Reroute by the diagnosis. If reviewers admired the depth but not the novelty, a depth venue

(STOC/FOCS/SODA) may fit; if they doubted the novelty of the question, rethink the framing

before resubmitting anywhere (see [itcs-topic-selection](../itcs-topic-selection/SKILL.md)).

• Fix proof gaps before the next submission, and update the arXiv/ECCC/ePrint full version so

the durable record is correct.

• Do not email the PC to argue the decision. There is no appeal-by-rebuttal culture; a polite

clarifying question to the chairs is the ceiling, and rarely changes an outcome.

What "author response" is NOT at ITCS

| Not this | Because |

|---|---|

| A rebuttal document answering reviewers | There is no author-response phase |

| A point-by-point response letter | There is no Major Revision / R&R round |

| A second submission to a later round | ITCS runs one annual cycle |

| An appeal to overturn a reject | No appeal-by-rebuttal culture; reroute instead |

Output format

[ITCS response mode] pre-submission pre-emption / post-accept / post-reject
[Pre-emption] anchoring result? novelty delta? payoff? scope owned? load-bearing proof in PDF? (yes/no each)
[Post-accept] camera-ready fixes folded in? presenter registered? Graduating Bits considered?
[Post-reject] objection diagnosed (novelty vs correctness)? reroute target? full version corrected?
[Next action] <single clearest step>