> I've rejected about three quarters because even the algorithm's description was enough to inform a reader that it would not work > The remaining quarter I've implemented in code and run, and of those runs I can count on a single hand how many algorithms even came close to doing what they promised.

I'm curious what you mean by "not work" here. Presumably such papers use examples to illustrate their algorithm. Were results not even reproducible on the authors' own (cherry-picked) examples? Or perhaps do you mean you threw a harder problem at the algorithm that cleanly fell within the set of problems the authors purported to address?

I think the distinction is important, because the first case means the paper is just flat-out wrong. The second case is what causes all the trouble, because it's hard to convey to an academic that their algorithm, though in principle "correct", does not address the often-vaguely-stated problem in the introduction ("this algorithm has applications in X, Y, Z and related fields..."). They can just say "I'm advancing the field" or "it provides insight that could one day be more useful".