NeurIPS 2026 Paper Checklist
Mandatory for every submission. Appended after references. Doesn't count toward the 9-page limit. Here's every question with guidance on how to answer well.
Open template with checklist.tex pre-filledWhat is checklist.tex?
checklist.tex is the standardized NeurIPS Paper Checklist that all submissions must include. It asks ~15 questions covering reproducibility, ethics, limitations, broader impact, and experimental rigor. Each question gets one of three answers: Yes, No, or NA, plus a short justification.
The checklist sits at the end of your paper (after the bibliography). It does not count toward the 9-page main paper limit — fill it in completely without worrying about space.
Checklist questions, by section
- Do the main claims made in the abstract and introduction accurately reflect the paper's contributions and scope?
- Does the paper discuss the limitations of the work performed by the authors?
- For each theoretical result, does the paper provide the full set of assumptions and a complete (and correct) proof?
- Does the paper fully disclose all the information needed to reproduce the main experimental results of the paper to the extent that it affects the main claims?
- Does the paper provide open access to the data and code, with sufficient instructions to faithfully reproduce the main experimental results?
- Does the paper specify all the training and test details necessary to understand the results?
- Does the paper report error bars suitably and correctly defined or other appropriate information about the statistical significance of the experiments?
- For each experiment, does the paper provide sufficient information on the computer resources (type of compute workers, memory, time of execution) needed to reproduce the experiments?
- Does the research conducted in the paper conform, in every respect, with the NeurIPS Code of Ethics?
- Does the paper discuss both potential positive societal impacts and negative societal impacts of the work performed?
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Every submission must include a complete checklist. Submissions without a checklist are desk-rejected. The checklist appears at the end of your paper, after references and acknowledgments.
No. The NeurIPS Paper Checklist is appended after references and does not count toward the 9-page main paper limit. You can fill it in completely without worrying about page space.
checklist.tex is bundled in the official NeurIPS author kit at media.neurips.cc and is pre-loaded in the TypeTeX NeurIPS 2026 template. Open the template and checklist.tex is already in place — just answer each question.
Yes, when the question genuinely doesn't apply. For example, a purely empirical paper can answer 'NA' to the theoretical proofs question. Avoid using 'NA' as an escape hatch — reviewers can tell.
It's allowed but you must justify why. 'No, code is proprietary' or 'No, this is preliminary work' is acceptable. Unjustified 'No' answers correlate with lower review scores.
Reviewers see your answers and may use them to assess reproducibility and rigor. Honest, complete answers help — they show you've thought about your work carefully. Vague or evasive answers hurt.