jacs-workflow

Productivity

Use when deciding which jacs-* sub-skill to invoke next, or when sequencing a Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) manuscript from scope check through revision. Routes — it does not replace — the specialized skills.

QUICK START

How to use this skill

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I want to install this Agent Skill for this project in Codex.

Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills/blob/HEAD/Journal-of-the-American-Chemical-Society-Skills/skills/jacs-workflow/SKILL.md

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JACS Workflow Router (jacs-workflow)

Overview

This is the router. It does not replace any specialized skill; it tells you which jacs- skill to use for your current stage* of a JACS manuscript.

Default assumption: unless the user says otherwise, the target is the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) — a premier, broad-scope ACS chemistry journal. The bar is a significant, rigorously characterized chemical advance of broad interest, with claims fully supported by data and controls.

When to trigger

"What should I do next?" on a chemistry manuscript
A draft arrives and you must find the current bottleneck (story, data, format)
Work is bouncing between synthesis, characterization, figures, and writing
Referee reports arrived and you need to switch into response/revision mode

Routing table

Current symptom	Next skill
Unsure whether the advance is broad/significant enough for JACS vs a specialized ACS journal	`jacs-scope-fit`
Have results but the "so what" / chemical advance is not sharp	`jacs-results-framing`
Synthesis or characterization may be incomplete (purity, NMR, HRMS, X-ray, controls)	`jacs-methods`
Schemes/spectra/structures don't look like ACS style or don't carry the story	`jacs-figures`
Supporting Information missing procedures, spectra copies, CIFs, or CCDC numbers	`jacs-supplementary`
Prose is vague, over-claimed, or not in ACS house style	`jacs-writing-style`
Unsure whether to write an Article or a Communication / over length	`jacs-length-management`
Need a cover letter stating the advance and fit	`jacs-cover-letter`
Ready to submit; need the Paragon Plus preflight checklist	`jacs-submission`
Suggesting/excluding reviewers, anticipating referee objections	`jacs-referee-strategy`
Decision letter / referee reports arrived; need a response strategy	`jacs-revision`

Default order

jacs-scope-fit — confirm broad interest and the right ACS venue/format
jacs-results-framing — pin the chemical advance and its significance
jacs-methods — synthesis + full characterization and control/mechanism rigor
jacs-figures — schemes, spectra, structures, mechanism figures (ACS style)
jacs-supplementary — build the SI (procedures, data, spectra, CIFs/CCDC)
jacs-writing-style — ACS house style and claim discipline
jacs-length-management — Article vs Communication; meet ACS format norms
jacs-cover-letter — advance + fit statement to the editor
jacs-submission — Paragon Plus preflight
jacs-referee-strategy — reviewer suggestions + objection pre-empting
jacs-revision — after the decision letter

jacs-writing-style and jacs-length-management are late-stage polish — do not run them before the data and the advance are solid.

Decision shortcuts

"Is this big enough for JACS?" → jacs-scope-fit
"I have data but no headline" → jacs-results-framing
"A reviewer could say my new compound isn't fully characterized" → jacs-methods
"My mechanism is asserted, not tested" → jacs-methods (controls/kinetics/labeling)
"My scheme is ugly / spectra unreadable" → jacs-figures
"Where do the CIFs and FID copies go?" → jacs-supplementary
"Communication or Article?" → jacs-length-management
"Submitting tomorrow" → jacs-submission
"Got three referee reports" → jacs-revision

Submission package tree

Before running jacs-submission, the working directory should already look like this — each item maps to the skill that produces it. A missing file tells you which stage was skipped.

jacs-manuscript/
├── manuscript.docx           # main text, ACS house style        → jacs-writing-style
│                             #   type decided (Article vs Comm.) → jacs-length-management
├── figures/
│   ├── scheme-1.tif          # reaction scheme, ACS style        → jacs-figures
│   ├── figure-1.tif          # headline result figure            → jacs-figures
│   └── toc-graphic.tif       # table-of-contents graphic         → jacs-figures
├── supporting-information/
│   ├── SI.pdf                # procedures + characterization     → jacs-supplementary
│   │                         #   (purity, NMR, HRMS for new compounds → jacs-methods)
│   ├── spectra/              # copies of NMR spectra             → jacs-supplementary
│   └── crystallography/      # CIFs + CCDC deposition numbers    → jacs-supplementary
├── cover-letter.pdf          # advance + broad-interest fit      → jacs-cover-letter
└── reviewers.txt             # suggested / excluded reviewers    → jacs-referee-strategy
# upload target: ACS Paragon Plus                                 → jacs-submission

Differences vs. specialized ACS journal stacks

If the work is narrow in scope (e.g., a single subfield advance with limited cross-chemistry interest), a specialized ACS journal (Org. Lett., Inorg. Chem., Chem. Mater., ACS Catal., J. Org. Chem., etc.) may fit better. jacs-scope-fit makes that call explicit. JACS rewards advances that matter across chemistry, not only within one community.

Anti-patterns

Do not skip jacs-scope-fit — editors triage on broad interest first.
Do not let jacs-figures polish schemes before the characterization (jacs-methods) is complete.
Do not let jacs-revision draft a response before you have actually done the new experiments/edits.