Awesome ML paper writing style guide

A curated guide to ML paper writing style guide — structure, style, examples, checklists, and templates for NeurIPS / ICML / ICLR / ACL / AAAI / CVPR (and beyond).

Table of contents

• Writing
• Reference
• Figures and tables
• LaTeX requirements
• Limitations and ethics

Writing

1. Heading capitalization

   • NeurIPS: All headings should be lower case (a.k.a. sentence case, down style) — except for the first word and proper nouns — flush left, and bold. Example: Methodology and results
   • ACL: All headings should be in title case (a.k.a. up style, headline style), flush left, and bold. Example: Methodology and Results
   • ICML: Section and Subsection (title case, bold, numbered, flush left): Example: Methodology and Results; Subsubsection (small caps, content words capitalized, numbered, flush left): Methodology and Results
   • CVPR: Same as NeurIPS — headings use sentence case (down style), flush left, and bold. Example: Methodology and results
   • ICLR: First-level headings are written in small caps, flush left. Example: Methodology and Results
   • AAAI: Same as ACL — headings use title case (headline style), flush left, and bold. Example: Methodology and Results

2. Page limit

   • NeurIPS: 9 pages of main text for submission (figures/tables included in those 9); references don’t count. If accepted, you get +1 page (10 pages) for camera-ready. Appendix allowed and unlimited.
   • CVPR: 8 pages total for main text (including figures/tables) in the CVPR style; additional pages for references only are allowed. Appendix allowed and unlimited (Same as NeurIPS).
   • ICML: 8 pages for the main body (submission), excluding references and appendices; appendices and references are unlimited in pages but the entire PDF ≤ 10 MB. For the final version you may add +1 page (i.e., 9 pages of main body).
   • ACL: Long papers: up to 8 pages of content for review, plus unlimited references; final versions get +1 page (up to 9). Short papers: 4 pages for review; final gets +1 (to 5). Appendix allowed and unlimited (Same as NeurIPS).
   • ICLR: Submission: main text ≤ 9 pages. During discussion & camera-ready: main text limit increases to 10 pages. References do not count; over-limit is desk-rejected. Appendix allowed and unlimited (Same as NeurIPS).
   • AAAI: Up to 7 pages of technical content, plus additional pages solely for references (submission). Proceedings allocation remains 7 content pages (+refs). AAAI allows a technical appendix during review, but for camera-ready the supplementary is not included in AAAI’s proceedings.

Reference

Where to put citations:

• If you name the authors … “Smith et al. (2024) …”
• If multiple works support the sentence … “(Doe, 2021; …)”
• If different clauses are supported by different papers … split the sentence.
• Tips
  • Be consistent (style, ordering, and format) within the paper.
  • Cite close to the claim: place the citation right where the reader needs it—after the author name (textual) or after the claim (parenthetical). If a sentence mixes multiple claims/sources, split it.

Figures and tables

Caption conventions:

• ACL/AAAI: captions below both figures and tables.
• NeurIPS/ICML/ICLR/CVPR/WACV: figures → below; tables → above.
• Tips
  • When in doubt, follow the current year’s official template/author kit for that venue. Some details can change year to year.

LaTeX requirements

• NeurIPS:
  • Citations: natbib is loaded by default; you can opt-out with \usepackage[nonatbib]{neurips_2024} (the nonatbib option).
  • Tables: strongly recommend booktabs.
  • Math fonts: don’t use \bbold; use AMS fonts (amsfonts / amssymb).
  • Figures: use graphicx and specify widths as a fraction of \linewidth.
• ACL:
  • Base fonts: \usepackage{times}; txfonts/newtx acceptable alternatives.
  • Figures: use graphicx.
  • Citations: style is based on natbib (supports \citet, \citep, etc.).
  • Hyperlinks: DOIs/URLs appear as hyperlinks (uses hyperref).
  • BST: ships an ACL bibliography style (acl_natbib.bst).
• CVPR:
  • Cross-refs: template tells you to use \cref{...} (from cleveref) for figures/tables/equations/sections.
  • Figures: show \usepackage{graphicx} and \includegraphics[width=...]{...} usage.
  • Notes: The author kit does not publish a ban list like AAAI; it focuses on style compliance (two-column, numbered refs, etc.). References are numeric and listed in 9-pt Times.
• ICLR:
  • Citations: use natbib for in-text citations.
  • Figures: use graphicx with width set as a multiple of \linewidth.
  • Style/BST files: the kit provides iclr2025_conference.sty and iclr2025_conference.bst.
• AAAI:
  • Required packages: aaai, times, helvet, courier in the preamble.
  • What’s not allowed / restricted:
    • No embedded links or bookmarks → effectively no hyperref in the proceedings PDFs.
    • titlesec is not allowed; spacing hacks and page-layout changes (e.g., \parindent, \parskip, etc.) are flagged.
    • Do not use [T1]fontenc (they suggest CM-Super if you need Type-1 CM).
    • Must compile with pdfLaTeX; no .ps/.eps figures (use .pdf/.png/.jpg).
    • Single .tex source file (excluding .bib); \input not allowed.
  • Fonts: Times/Nimbus for text (no Computer Modern for body text).
  • BST: use aaai.bst.

Limitations and ethics

• ACL: Limitations required (before references, not counted); Ethics optional (before references, not counted).
• ICLR: Limitations not required; Ethics statement optional/encouraged (before references, not counted).
• NeurIPS: Limitations optional/encouraged; no dedicated ethics section — mandatory paper checklist appears after references (not counted).
• CVPR: Limitations not required (encouraged to discuss); no dedicated ethics section — add IRB/ethics note if applicable (paper or supplementary).
• AAAI: Limitations not required; Ethics statement optional (unnumbered, before acknowledgments/references, counts as content).

License

• Code: MIT
• Docs & images: CC BY-NC 4.0