Jacs workflow

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

1. jacs-scope-fit — confirm broad interest and the right ACS venue/format
2. jacs-results-framing — pin the chemical advance and its significance
3. jacs-methods — synthesis + full characterization and control/mechanism rigor
4. jacs-figures — schemes, spectra, structures, mechanism figures (ACS style)
5. jacs-supplementary — build the SI (procedures, data, spectra, CIFs/CCDC)
6. jacs-writing-style — ACS house style and claim discipline
7. jacs-length-management — Article vs Communication; meet ACS format norms
8. jacs-cover-letter — advance + fit statement to the editor
9. jacs-submission — Paragon Plus preflight
10. jacs-referee-strategy — reviewer suggestions + objection pre-empting
11. 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.