Aistats Topic Selection

---
name: aistats-topic-selection
description: Use when deciding whether a project is a strong AISTATS fit, comparing AISTATS with NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, UAI, COLT, JMLR, statistics journals, or application venues, and sharpening the AI-statistics contribution before submission.
---

# AISTATS Topic Selection

Use this before writing. AISTATS is strongest for work at the intersection of artificial
intelligence, machine learning, and statistics, especially when statistical reasoning is not
merely an evaluation detail.

## Fit test

- Prefer AISTATS when the contribution advances statistical foundations, inference,
  uncertainty, causal or probabilistic modeling, learning theory, optimization, or empirical
  methodology with clear AI/ML relevance.
- Route to ICML, NeurIPS, or ICLR if the main contribution is broad ML systems, representation
  learning, scaling, or deep learning practice with limited statistical novelty.
- Route to UAI if the contribution is primarily uncertainty, probabilistic graphical models,
  causality, decision making under uncertainty, or Bayesian reasoning.
- Route to COLT if the contribution is mainly formal learning theory and the empirical story
  is secondary.
- Route to a statistics journal when the work needs journal-length exposition, extensive
  proofs, or a statistics audience more than an AI conference audience.
- Check early whether the result can be made convincing in an 8-page submission body.

## Output format

```text
[Fit] strong AISTATS / possible AISTATS / better elsewhere
[Best venue] AISTATS / NeurIPS / ICML / ICLR / UAI / COLT / journal / other
[Contribution sentence] <one sentence>
[Top rejection risk] <novelty/statistics/evidence/clarity/scope>
[Next action] <theory, experiment, framing, or venue switch>
```