IEEE T-PAMI paper rejected despite 'Excellent' reviews, ethics complaint ignored

An anonymous researcher in computer vision has publicly detailed a troubling experience with IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (T-PAMI), one of the field's top venues. Their paper received three overwhelmingly positive reviews: two rated 'Excellent' and one 'Good'. Despite this, the Associate Editor (who is also an Associate Editor-in-Chief) rejected the paper, quoting comments from an alleged fourth reviewer. In a bizarre twist, the researcher later accidentally met the actual fourth reviewer, who confirmed they had submitted a positive review—which was mysteriously withdrawn by the editor in the backend before the final decision.

Frustrated, the researcher filed a formal complaint with the IEEE Ethics Office and the Computer Society, specifically asking them to audit the AE's backend activity logs in the submission system. Six months later, they have received no direct response. The post includes screenshots of the decision letter and the ethics complaint, with identifying information redacted. This incident raises serious concerns about editorial integrity and transparency in peer review at top AI conferences and journals. The researcher is seeking advice and visibility to pressure IEEE into investigating the alleged misconduct. The post has gained significant traction on Reddit, with many commenters sharing similar stories of opaque review processes at other venues.