ICML25: A Small Step Toward OpenReview, A Big Step for the Community
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Just noticed that ICML 2025 has taken a small but meaningful step toward OpenReview: the reviews of accepted papers will eventually be made public. While this isn't full-fledged open review yet, it's a clear signal that change is coming.
As a reviewer myself, I felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of submissions this year. Unfortunately, I felt a noticeable drop in quality. Some papers were clearly submitted in a "let's try our luck" fashion. In this context, I sincerely hope that top AI/ML conferences will eventually follow ICLR's model and adopt fully open peer review.
Why Open Review Matters
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For Reviewers: Knowing that reviews will be public adds a layer of accountability. It encourages more thoughtful, constructive, and responsible feedback. No more careless 1-scores or copy-pasted comments.
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For Authors: When reviews are public, authors will think twice before submitting undercooked ideas. Fear of negative reviews being visible online can act as a natural filter to avoid "lottery-style" submissions.
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For the Community: Public reviews help newcomers learn how to write better papers and better reviews. It also reduces the burden on reviewers caused by the "Fibonacci submission strategy" (endless revise-and-resubmits across top venues), and ultimately improves the quality of accepted papers.
Final Thoughts
Open review isn't a silver bullet, but in this era of exploding submission numbers, it’s a change worth pursuing. I hope to see more top-tier conferences move toward transparent and accountable reviewing, bringing the focus back to research quality, not just acceptance rates.
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