Definition
Plain language
When a paper is turned away by the editors before it even reaches reviewers.
As stated in the literature
Editorial rejection of a submission prior to peer review; ICLR and ICML 2026 list hallucinated references as grounds for desk rejection.
Also called: desk reject
Why it matters: It saves reviewers' time by filtering out clearly flawed submissions early, and now serves as a penalty that discourages fabricated citations.
For example, if an editor spots that a submitted paper cites references that don't exist, they may reject it outright before any reviewer sees it.
Heard on the show
“… ICLR and ICML 2026 already list hallucinated references as grounds for desk rejection, and the authors endorse the deterrent with one condition that should sound familiar by now: …”Episode 201 — One in Four NeurIPS Papers Cites a Reference That Doesn't Exist