scientific-writing

Trigger phrases

Phrases that activate this skill when typed to Claude Code:

• write a scientific paper
• draft a manuscript
• write the methods section
• format this for journal submission
• write an abstract

What it does

scientific-writing is a Claude Code skill from K-Dense AI’s scientific-agent-skills repo. It turns Claude into a manuscript author that writes in full flowing prose — never bullet points — following a two-stage process: first drafting section outlines with key points pulled from literature search, then converting those outlines into complete paragraphs.

A session produces a submission-ready manuscript section or full paper with proper IMRAD structure (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion), citations formatted in the target style, and a graphical abstract generated via the scientific-schematics skill. The skill enforces reporting standards automatically — CONSORT for trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews.

When to use it

Reach for it when:

• You need to draft or revise any section of a scientific manuscript and want structured prose rather than a bullet dump
• You’re preparing for journal submission and need venue-specific formatting, citation style, and compliance with reporting guidelines
• You want a first-draft abstract that meets structured or unstructured journal requirements

When not to reach for it:

• Quick exploratory notes or informal lab documentation — reach for open-notebook instead
• Slide decks or poster presentations — scientific-slides and latex-posters are better fits

Install

Copy the SKILL.md from K-Dense AI’s scientific-writing folder into .claude/skills/scientific-writing/ in your project. No additional config required beyond standard Claude Code setup.

Trigger phrases: “write a scientific paper”, “draft a manuscript”, “write the methods section”, “format this for journal submission”.

What a session looks like

A typical session has three phases:

1. Outline with citations. Claude runs a literature search via research-lookup and produces a section-by-section outline with key points and provisional citations. You review and flag gaps before prose begins.
2. Prose conversion. Each outline section is converted to full paragraphs with in-text citations, data references, and compliance markers for the applicable reporting guideline.
3. Visual elements. The skill calls scientific-schematics to generate a graphical abstract and at least one additional figure; the manuscript is not considered complete without them.

Receipts

Honest reporting on what scientific-writing is good for and where it falls short:

Where it works well:

• Methods sections and structured abstracts, where the format constraints are unambiguous and Claude can follow them mechanically
• Reformatting an existing draft from one citation style to another without losing references

Where it backfires:

• Results sections that require interpreting novel data Claude hasn’t seen — the prose is fluent but the scientific judgment is yours
• Highly specialized sub-fields where the literature search step surfaces marginal or off-topic papers

Pattern that works: front-load the session with your own bullet-point summary of key findings; the skill’s prose conversion is strongest when the substance is already scoped by you.

Source and attribution

Originally authored by K-Dense Inc.. The canonical SKILL.md lives in the scientific-writing folder of their public scientific-agent-skills repository.

License: MIT. Install, adapt, and redistribute with attribution preserved.

This page documents the skill from a practitioner’s perspective. For the formal spec and any updates, defer to the source repo.