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In computer science, many conferences have a rebuttal phase, where reviewers ask questions to the authors and then, basing on the answers, decide wether to accept or reject the paper. However this seems to be ambiguous on what I can say to the reviewers.

For example, in a paper I submitted to a conference, reviewers lament the absence of certain experiments, that, in my opinion I could easily add to the paper.

Is it ok to state that I can actually add those experiments, if the paper goes to the next phase, or is not this what a rebuttal phase is designed for?

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  • do you mean that you will do the experiments (that they aren't done yet but you promise to do them?) that sounds weird and I would be interested in finding out if it is standard in CS. Or that you informing reviewers that the results of those experiments already exist and you are happy to include them? – Carol Jul 23 '16 at 1:07
  • I mean, we can add experiments whose results are not in the paper; I can also anticipate the results, but having few words available in the rebut, I can not include the experiments, so they have to trust us or reject the paper – Ulderique Demoitre Jul 23 '16 at 8:42
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Rebuttal phases offer authors an opportunity to swing the opinion of reviewers. To swing the opinion of a reviewer, authors must present convincing evidence. If a reviewer wants more experiments, then it is (IMO) reasonable for authors to promise them. However, that won't swing the reviewer's opinion. To swing their opinion, authors need to convince reviewers that the additional experiments can be added before the camera-ready deadline. That is, authors must show that these experiments can be conducted quickly.

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  • I'd say for normal papers the rebuttal phase is exactly when you actually perform these additional experiments. – VonBeche Sep 7 '16 at 16:29
  • @VonBeche, that's only possible if the rebuttal phase is sufficiently long and you can provide evidence (in the space permitted) that the experiments have been conducted. (You can get around word limits by linking to a URL.) – user2768 Sep 8 '16 at 13:27
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This has probably been resolved already, but if it were in fact "easy" to add those experiments, then I would do so, and describe that fact to the reviewers.

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