🔥 Gearing Up for AAAI 2026: What You Need to Know to Win the Game

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The road to AAAI 2026 begins now. Don't wait for the deadline to chase you; get ahead and tell a story that reviewers won't forget.

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AAAI 2026: The Journey Begins

AAAI 2025 just wrapped up with a staggering 12,957 valid submissions and 3,032 accepted papers. That’s a tough 23.4% acceptance rate, and only 4.6% made it to Oral presentations.

For AAAI 2026, the conference date is expected to be much earlier, which means the submission deadline may also shift forward, possibly as early as July 2025. June is unlikely but not impossible. So if you’re aiming to submit, now is the perfect time to start.

Changes in the Submission Process

AAAI 2025 adopted OpenReview for its submission system, and AAAI 2026 is expected to continue using OpenReview. Key guidelines include:

No third-party links or supplemental URLs
Submissions must be made directly on OpenReview
No PDF uploads for initial abstract submission
Authors must register all co-authors by the abstract deadline

Also, remember:

Abstracts and full titles must be finalized by the abstract deadline
Author list and order cannot be changed after abstract submission.
Papers will be rejected without review if placeholders or vague titles/abstracts are used.

It’s Not Just a Paper. It’s a Story.

In today’s top-tier conferences, submissions are often jokingly referred to as storytelling contests. Yes, your technical contribution matters — but, how you tell your story could make or break the review.

Build a coherent, compelling narrative around your results.
Ensure your logic is watertight: no glaring holes or "hard bugs".
Your paper should be visually and linguistically polished:
- Consistent figures and tables
- Smooth, clear sentences
- Minimal grammar mistakes

Think of your paper as an experience. Make the reviewer want to keep reading.

Common Struggles (You’re Not Alone)

Many researchers share the same pain points. Here's what often stands in the way — and how to fight back:

Challenge	What it Feels Like	What You Can Do
Lack of guidance	"My advisor is MIA."	Find a mentor or community peer group
Topic paralysis	"What if I pick the wrong direction?"	Stay close to problems with real-world impact
No solid idea	"I’m stuck."	Read broadly, ask ‘what’s missing’, talk with others
Experimental hell	"No data. Too many bugs."	Start small, prototype, use synthetic data if needed
Writing a mess	"No structure. No logic."	Use outlines, reverse-engineer accepted papers
Submission confusion	"What does the conference even want?"	Read CFPs, join info sessions, study accepted works

A Bitter Lesson from the Community

One recurring lesson: Don’t assume brilliance can save you from a bad presentation.

Brilliant ideas often get buried under poor storytelling or inconsistent formatting. One researcher shared how their technically impressive paper was desk-rejected for violating formatting rules. Another lost a strong submission due to a single unexplained figure.

Lesson: Details matter. Reviewers are human. A well-told, visually clean paper will often win over a half-baked genius idea.

Pro Tips for the AAAI 2026 Season

Start early. You don’t want to be debugging at 3AM on submission day.
Tell a clean, logical, and relatable story.
Write in Markdown. Collaborate early, especially with remote co-authors.
Use the OpenReview format from the start.
Polish your paper like it’s a product. The UX of reading your paper matters.
Follow all author and submission policies strictly.
Include a reproducibility checklist in your paper (after references, not counted toward page limit).
Ensure anonymity and double-blind compliance.
Seek feedback. From friends, collaborators, even your AI assistant ().

AAAI is not just a competition of algorithms. It’s a showcase of ideas and how you communicate them. Think beyond the model. Think beyond the numbers. Show reviewers how your work fits into the world, and why it matters.

Good luck, and may your submissions be bug-free and beautifully told.

You are more than welcome to register (verified or anonymous) to Join the discussion here.

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Historical acceptance rate of AAAI conference:

Year	Long Paper Acceptance Rate
AAAI'14	28.0% (398/1406)
AAAI'15	26.7% (531/1991)
AAAI'16	25.8% (549/2132)
AAAI'17	24.6% (638/2590)
AAAI'18	24.6% (933/3800)
AAAI'19	16.2% (1150/7095)
AAAI'20	20.6% (1591/7737)
AAAI'21	21.4% (1692/7911)
AAAI'22	15.0% (1349/9020)
AAAI'23	19.6% (1721/8777)
AAAI'24	23.75% (2342/9862)
AAAI'25	23.40% (3032/12957)

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Already thinking about best way to collab on rebuttal writting?

Tip: Write locally in Markdown first and sync with collaborators. Tools like HackMD make this easy and efficient for collaboration.

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Update: AAAI 2026 Deadline Confirmed & Earlier Than Expected!

As predicted, the submission deadline for AAAI 2026 has been officially announced, and it's significantly earlier! Mark your calendars:

Abstract Deadline: June 30, 2025, 11:59 PM UTC-12
Full Paper Deadline: July 7, 2025, 11:59 PM UTC-12
Supplementary Material and Code: July 10, 2025, 11:59 PM UTC-12
Notification of Phase 1 Rejections: September 8, 2025
Author Feedback Window: September 28-30, 2025
Final Acceptance/Rejection Notification: November 3, 2025

Quick Tips Recap:

Continue using OpenReview (no third-party links or PDFs).
Storytelling is key: craft a clear, compelling narrative around your results.
Double-check your submission for consistency, clarity, and no "hard bugs."
Markdown tools (like HackMD) remain highly recommended for collaborative writing.

Time to ramp up! If you're targeting AAAI 2026, your research ideas should already be shaping up. Let's start crafting those winning stories!

Good luck, everyone!

CSPaper: review sidekick