/venue-specific

name: venue-specific
description: Venue-specific formatting requirements for academic journals and conferences across all disciplines. Covers Nature, Science, Cell, PRL, NEJM, Lancet, JACS, NeurIPS, ICML, and 30+ top venues. Use when writing, formatting, or checking a paper for a specific target venue.
compatibility: Always available. No external dependencies.
allowed-tools: Read Write Edit Bash

Venue-Specific Formatting Skill

Know the exact rules before you write. This skill provides **concrete, actionable formatting specifications** for 30+ top journals and conferences across all disciplines.

When to Use

• User specifies a target journal or conference for their paper
• Formatting or checking a manuscript before submission
• Converting a paper from one venue's format to another
• Answering questions about a specific venue's requirements (page limits, figure specs, etc.)

How to Use

1. **Identify the target venue** from the user's request 2. **Load the venue file** from `references/` — read ONLY the relevant file, not all of them 3. **Load the matching writing-style file** — see Writing Style Map below 4. **Apply rules** to the current manuscript 5. If venue is not covered, use `references/INDEX.md` to find the closest match + tell user to check the official author guidelines

Writing Style Map

**Always load `writing-style/universal.md`** (Gopen-Swan principles, precision, flow).

Then load the discipline-specific style guide:

| Target Venue | Also Load | |-------------|-----------| | NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, AAAI, COLM, ACL | `writing-style/ml-ai-conferences.md` | | OSDI, NSDI, ASPLOS, SOSP | `writing-style/systems-conferences.md` | | Nature, Science, Cell, PNAS, eLife, Nature sub-journals | `writing-style/high-impact-journals.md` | | Physics (PRL, PRX, Nature Physics) | `writing-style/high-impact-journals.md` (if broad journal) | | Chemistry (JACS, Angewandte, Adv. Mater.) | `writing-style/universal.md` only | | Biomedical (NEJM, Lancet, JAMA) | `writing-style/high-impact-journals.md` | | CVPR, ICCV, ECCV | `writing-style/ml-ai-conferences.md` |

The venue file gives **formatting rules** (what). The writing-style file gives **writing advice** (how).

Reference Map

Load on demand. **Never preload all files.**

Life Sciences (Top Journals)

| File | Venue | When to Read | |------|-------|-------------| | `life-sciences/nature.md` | Nature | Target is Nature or Nature-branded journal | | `life-sciences/science.md` | Science (AAAS) | Target is Science | | `life-sciences/cell.md` | Cell (Cell Press) | Target is Cell or Cell Press journal | | `life-sciences/pnas.md` | PNAS | Target is PNAS | | `life-sciences/elife.md` | eLife | Target is eLife |

Physics

| File | Venue | When to Read | |------|-------|-------------| | `physics/prl.md` | Physical Review Letters | Target is PRL | | `physics/prx.md` | Physical Review X | Target is PRX | | `physics/nature-physics.md` | Nature Physics | Target is Nature Physics |

Chemistry & Materials

| File | Venue | When to Read | |------|-------|-------------| | `chemistry/jacs.md` | J. Am. Chem. Soc. | Target is JACS | | `chemistry/angewandte.md` | Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. | Target is Angewandte | | `chemistry/advanced-materials.md` | Advanced Materials | Target is Adv. Mater. | | `chemistry/nature-chemistry.md` | Nature Chemistry | Target is Nat. Chem. |

Biomedical

| File | Venue | When to Read | |------|-------|-------------| | `biomedical/nejm.md` | New England J. Med. | Target is NEJM | | `biomedical/lancet.md` | The Lancet | Target is Lancet | | `biomedical/jama.md` | JAMA | Target is JAMA |

CS Conferences

| File | Venue | When to Read | |------|-------|-------------| | `cs-conferences/neurips.md` | NeurIPS | Target is NeurIPS | | `cs-conferences/icml.md` | ICML | Target is ICML | | `cs-conferences/iclr.md` | ICLR | Target is ICLR | | `cs-conferences/cvpr.md` | CVPR / ICCV / ECCV | Target is vision conference | | `cs-conferences/acl.md` | ACL / EMNLP / NAACL | Target is NLP conference | | `cs-conferences/aaai.md` | AAAI | Target is AAAI |

Publishers (Base Rules)

| File | Venue | When to Read | |------|-------|-------------| | `publishers/ieee.md` | IEEE journals/conferences | Target uses IEEE format | | `publishers/acm.md` | ACM journals/conferences | Target uses acmart | | `publishers/springer.md` | Springer / LNCS | Target uses Springer template | | `publishers/elsevier.md` | Elsevier journals | Target uses Elsevier template | | `publishers/aps.md` | APS (Phys. Rev. family) | Target uses REVTeX | | `publishers/acs.md` | ACS (JACS, Nano Lett., etc.) | Target uses ACS template | | `publishers/wiley.md` | Wiley journals | Target uses Wiley template | | `publishers/nature-portfolio.md` | Nature portfolio journals | Target is any Nature-branded journal |

Cross-Cutting

| File | When to Read | |------|-------------| | `CHECKLIST.md` | Always — universal pre-submission checklist | | `CONVERSION.md` | Converting between venue formats | | `INDEX.md` | Venue not listed — find closest match |

Venue File Standard Format

Every venue file follows this structure for consistency:

# [Venue Name]
> Official author guidelines: [URL]

## Article Types
| Type | Word Limit | Display Items | References | Notes |

## Formatting
### Page/Layout
### Font
### Abstract
### Title

## Figures & Tables
### Dimensions
### Resolution
### Formats
### Captions

## References & Citations
### In-text Style
### Reference List Format

## Required Sections

## Templates

## Common Pitfalls

Templates

Bundled LaTeX templates for CS conferences are in `templates/`. See `templates/README.md` for:

• **Bundled**: NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, AAAI, COLM, OSDI, NSDI, ASPLOS, SOSP
• **Download instructions**: REVTeX (APS), Nature, ACS, Elsevier, Springer/LNCS, IEEE, ACM

Using a Template

# Copy template to paper project
cp -r skills/venue-specific/templates/neurips2025/ project/report/

# Verify compilat