| name | review |
| description | Launch a multi-agent editorial review with 8 specialists (2 literature scouts plus 6 domain reviewers) orchestrated by an area-chair agent. Produces a unified report plus specialist reports in .papermill/reviews/. Updates .papermill/state.md. |
Multi-Agent Editorial Review
Launch a comprehensive multi-agent review of a research paper. The review system uses 8 specialist agents orchestrated by an area chair to evaluate logic, novelty, methodology, prose, citations, and formatting — grounded in literature context.
Step 1: Read Context
Read .papermill/state.md (Read tool) for:
- Thesis: What the paper claims (the review checks if the paper delivers).
- Venue: Target venue (review against its standards).
- Review history: Previous reviews and their findings.
- Format: Paper format (latex, markdown, rmarkdown).
If .papermill/state.md does not exist, the review can still proceed by reading the manuscript directly — but the review will be less targeted without thesis and venue context. Note this limitation to the user and suggest running /papermill:init first for best results.
Step 2: Identify the Manuscript
Locate the manuscript files:
- Check
.papermill/state.md for format and any recorded manuscript path.
- Scan for manuscript files (Glob tool):
*.tex, *.Rmd, paper.md, manuscript.md.
- Identify the main file and any supporting files (bibliography, figures, included files).
Read the manuscript to confirm it has enough content for review.
Step 3: Ask for Focus Areas
Before launching the review, ask the user:
I'll launch a multi-agent review with specialists covering:
- Logic & proofs — mathematical correctness and argument structure
- Novelty — contribution evaluation against the literature
- Methodology — experimental design and statistical rigor
- Prose — writing quality and narrative structure
- Citations — reference accuracy and completeness
- Formatting — build verification and venue compliance
Are there specific areas you want me to focus on, or should I run the full review?
If the user specifies focus areas, note them for the orchestrator. If they want the full review, proceed with all specialists.
Step 4: Launch the Reviewer Orchestrator
Launch the reviewer agent (Task tool with subagent_type: "papermill:reviewer").
Pass the agent:
- Path to the manuscript file(s)
- Path to
.papermill/state.md (if it exists)
- Any user-specified focus areas or tone preferences
- The thesis statement and target venue (if known)
The agent will:
- Read the paper and produce a comprehension summary
- Spawn 2 literature scouts in parallel for field context
- Spawn 6 specialist reviewers in parallel
- Cross-verify critical findings
- Write individual specialist reports and a unified report to
.papermill/reviews/YYYY-MM-DD/
Step 5: Present Results
After the agent completes, read .papermill/reviews/YYYY-MM-DD/review.md (Read tool).
Present a summary to the user:
Review Complete
Recommendation: [ready | minor-revision | major-revision | not-ready]
| Severity | Count |
|---|
| Critical | N |
| Major | M |
| Minor | P |
| Suggestions | Q |
Top findings:
- [Most important finding]
- [Second most important finding]
- [Third most important finding]
The full report is at .papermill/reviews/YYYY-MM-DD/review.md.
Individual specialist reports are in the same directory.
Then ask: "Would you like to go through the findings in detail, or address the critical issues first?"
Step 6: Update State File
Update .papermill/state.md (Edit tool). If .papermill/state.md does not exist, skip this step and suggest /papermill:init. Updates:
Add a review record to review_history:
review_history:
- date: "YYYY-MM-DD"
type: "multi-agent-review"
findings_major: N
findings_minor: M
recommendation: "ready | minor-revision | major-revision | not-ready"
notes: "Brief summary of key findings"
report_path: ".papermill/reviews/YYYY-MM-DD/review.md"
Append a timestamped note to the markdown body.
Step 7: Suggest Next Steps
Based on the recommendation, suggest the most relevant next step:
- Ready for submission →
/papermill:polish to prepare, then /papermill:venue if no venue is selected yet.
- Minor revision →
/papermill:revise to apply the fixes with verification, then re-run /papermill:review.
- Major revision →
/papermill:revise for the concrete findings. If issues are structural, suggest /papermill:outline first; if issues are with the argument, suggest /papermill:thesis. Then re-run /papermill:review.
- Not ready → Identify the root cause. Weak thesis →
/papermill:thesis. Insufficient evidence → /papermill:experiment or /papermill:simulation. Missing related work → /papermill:prior-art. Proof gaps → /papermill:proof.