[UPDATE - EIC confirmed ghost reviewer]How to get rejected by IEEE T-PAMI with 'Excellent' scores?[D]

Background : Our T-PAMI submission was rejected despite receiving three highly favorable reviews. The AE inadvertently revealed that the decision relied on negative comments attributed to a “fourth reviewer.” However, the actual fourth reviewer had submitted a positive review, which subsequently disappeared from the review record under the AE’s handling. We have spent the past six months pursuing this matter with IEEE. (Original post: [How to get rejected by IEEE T-PAMI with 'Excellent' scores?[D])

Latest update : A few days ago, following an investigation by the IEEE Computer Society Committee on Integrity, the T-PAMI Editor-in-Chief formally acknowledged that four reviews had in fact been received, thereby confirming the existence of the missing fourth review.