latex-paper-writing

name

latex-paper-writing

description

Write, revise, audit, and prepare LaTeX research manuscripts for high-standard journals and ML conferences, including Nature, Science, ICLR, ICML, and NeurIPS. Use when the user asks to draft a paper, convert research notes into a manuscript, improve a LaTeX paper, meet venue standards, prepare submission or camera-ready files, strengthen narrative and claims, check anonymization, align with author kits, or preflight LaTeX sources for publication readiness.

LaTeX Paper Writing

Use this skill to turn research into a rigorous, venue-aware LaTeX manuscript. The goal is not generic academic prose; the goal is a submission that matches the target venue's current author instructions, tells a defensible scientific story, and compiles cleanly.

First Rule: Verify The Current Venue Kit

Venue rules change. Before asserting page limits, style commands, anonymization requirements, checklists, data/code policies, figure limits, or supplementary rules:

1. Identify the target venue and submission phase: initial submission, revision, rebuttal, camera-ready, or journal resubmission.
2. Read the current official author instructions, LaTeX template/style files, and checklist requirements.
3. State which source/version/date was used.
4. If the current venue kit is unavailable, say so and use the most recent local/source-provided template as provisional.

Read references/venue-profiles.md for venue-specific orientation and official-source habits.

Core Workflow

1. Intake

   • Gather target venue, phase, paper type, deadline, anonymity status, source files, results, figures, bibliography, and constraints.
   • Ask at most one blocking question if the venue or phase is unclear.

2. Evidence ledger

   • Separate completed evidence from planned work.
   • Mark each claim as supported, partially supported, unsupported, or speculative.
   • Do not write missing experiments into the paper as if completed.

3. Venue skeleton

   • Use the official template/style file when available.
   • Preserve venue-required sections, checklists, declarations, author blocks, supplementary handling, bibliography style, and anonymization settings.
   • For ML venues, keep main-paper claims readable without relying on appendices that reviewers may not read.

4. Story architecture

   • Define the central claim, why it matters now, the technical bet, evidence chain, and primary limitation.
   • Build the paper around a small number of load-bearing figures/tables.
   • Read references/manuscript-craft.md for section-level standards.

5. Draft or revise in LaTeX

   • Edit the actual .tex files when a repo exists.
   • Keep macros minimal and readable.
   • Use labels consistently: sec:, fig:, tab:, eq:, alg:, app:.
   • Avoid formatting hacks that alter margins, font sizes, spacing, or style-file behavior.

6. Venue audit

   • Check claims, structure, anonymity, references, figures, tables, reproducibility, ethics, limitations, and supplementary material.
   • Use scripts/preflight_latex.py for cheap source-level checks.
   • Compile with the repo's normal command when available, preferably latexmk.

7. Submission package

   • Ensure the PDF builds from source.
   • Include required style files, bibliography, figures, supplementary files, checklist/declarations, and source archive if requested.
   • Report residual risks and rules that were not verified from official sources.

Output Modes

• Draft mode: create or rewrite sections in LaTeX.
• Revision mode: improve an existing manuscript while preserving template structure.
• Venue-conversion mode: move a manuscript into a specific venue template.
• Readiness audit: produce a checklist of blockers, risks, and fixes.
• Camera-ready mode: de-anonymize, add acknowledgments, tighten references, and ensure accepted-style options are correct.
• Cover-letter mode: for journals, draft cover letter and response-to-editor/reviewer materials.

Quality Bar

For Nature/Science-style manuscripts:

• Lead with broad significance without inflating evidence.
• Make the first paragraph legible outside the narrow field.
• Keep the main text selective; push procedural detail to Methods or supplementary material as the venue permits.
• Use figures as the spine of the argument.

For ICLR/ICML/NeurIPS-style manuscripts:

• Make the contribution explicit by the end of the introduction.
• State assumptions, baselines, ablations, compute/data details, limitations, and reproducibility artifacts.
• Keep theorem statements and algorithm boxes tied to empirical claims.
• Respect anonymity and checklist rules.

Guardrails

• Do not fabricate results, citations, author contributions, ethics approvals, data availability, code availability, or reviewer responses.
• Do not claim compliance with venue rules until current official instructions or provided templates have been checked.
• Do not weaken scientific caution to sound more prestigious.
• Do not use LaTeX spacing or margin hacks to fit content.
• Do not remove mandatory checklists or declarations.