@inproceedings{pranav-etal-2026-double,
title = "The Double Bind: Revisiting Preprinting and Peer Review Two Years After the Removal of the {ACL} Anonymity Period",
author = "Pranav, A and
Storks, Shane and
Lauscher, Anne",
editor = "Liakata, Maria and
Moreira, Viviane P. and
Zhang, Jiajun and
Jurgens, David",
booktitle = "Findings of the {A}ssociation for {C}omputational {L}inguistics: {ACL} 2026",
month = jul,
year = "2026",
address = "San Diego, California, United States",
publisher = "Association for Computational Linguistics",
url = "https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.222/",
pages = "4566--4584",
ISBN = "979-8-89176-395-1",
abstract = "ACL removed the anonymity period for conference submissions in February 2024, allowing unrestricted preprinting during review.To examine how preprints and author recognition affect outcomes across institutional hierarchies, we track preprinting trends for 47k publications, survey 75 NLP researchers, interview 14 community members, and analyze 1.9k peer reviews. We observe that more elite institutions post preprints more frequently (52{\%} vs. 36{\%} by 2025). Most participants agree that preprinting gives these institutions an advantage in peer review, and indeed, reviewer knowledge of authors inflates scores at elite institutions ($d = 0.43$, $p < 0.001$) but not elsewhere, also lowering review quality. Nonetheless, the anonymity period was found largely ineffective; instead, underrepresented researchers emphasize struggles with visibility, review quality, and external structural barriers. To counteract these inequities, we make recommendations for review quality improvement and increasing investment in diversity initiatives that center the perspectives of affected communities."
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<abstract>ACL removed the anonymity period for conference submissions in February 2024, allowing unrestricted preprinting during review.To examine how preprints and author recognition affect outcomes across institutional hierarchies, we track preprinting trends for 47k publications, survey 75 NLP researchers, interview 14 community members, and analyze 1.9k peer reviews. We observe that more elite institutions post preprints more frequently (52% vs. 36% by 2025). Most participants agree that preprinting gives these institutions an advantage in peer review, and indeed, reviewer knowledge of authors inflates scores at elite institutions (d = 0.43, p < 0.001) but not elsewhere, also lowering review quality. Nonetheless, the anonymity period was found largely ineffective; instead, underrepresented researchers emphasize struggles with visibility, review quality, and external structural barriers. To counteract these inequities, we make recommendations for review quality improvement and increasing investment in diversity initiatives that center the perspectives of affected communities.</abstract>
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%0 Conference Proceedings
%T The Double Bind: Revisiting Preprinting and Peer Review Two Years After the Removal of the ACL Anonymity Period
%A Pranav, A.
%A Storks, Shane
%A Lauscher, Anne
%Y Liakata, Maria
%Y Moreira, Viviane P.
%Y Zhang, Jiajun
%Y Jurgens, David
%S Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2026
%D 2026
%8 July
%I Association for Computational Linguistics
%C San Diego, California, United States
%@ 979-8-89176-395-1
%F pranav-etal-2026-double
%X ACL removed the anonymity period for conference submissions in February 2024, allowing unrestricted preprinting during review.To examine how preprints and author recognition affect outcomes across institutional hierarchies, we track preprinting trends for 47k publications, survey 75 NLP researchers, interview 14 community members, and analyze 1.9k peer reviews. We observe that more elite institutions post preprints more frequently (52% vs. 36% by 2025). Most participants agree that preprinting gives these institutions an advantage in peer review, and indeed, reviewer knowledge of authors inflates scores at elite institutions (d = 0.43, p < 0.001) but not elsewhere, also lowering review quality. Nonetheless, the anonymity period was found largely ineffective; instead, underrepresented researchers emphasize struggles with visibility, review quality, and external structural barriers. To counteract these inequities, we make recommendations for review quality improvement and increasing investment in diversity initiatives that center the perspectives of affected communities.
%U https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.222/
%P 4566-4584
Markdown (Informal)
[The Double Bind: Revisiting Preprinting and Peer Review Two Years After the Removal of the ACL Anonymity Period](https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.222/) (Pranav et al., Findings 2026)
ACL