apsr-rebuttal
Use when writing the response to an American Political Science Review (APSR) revise-and-resubmit. APSR reserves R&R for papers close to publishable, and decisions weigh strong support from all or nearly all reviewers, so the response must convert each reviewer without alienating the editor. Structures the response letter; it does not fabricate new results.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill apsr-rebuttal --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# R&R Rebuttal (apsr-rebuttal) An APSR **R&R is a strong signal** — it is "reserved for papers very close to publishable quality." But publication generally needs **strong support from all or nearly all reviewers**, and the call is the **editor's discretion**. So the response letter must move *every* reviewer toward yes while keeping the editor confident the revision is convergent. ## When to trigger - An R&R decision arrived and you are planning the revision + response letter - Reviewers disagree with each other and you must reconcile their demands - A reviewer requests analyses that would change the paper's claims - Writing the cover note to the editor summarizing the revision ## Strategy 1. **Read the editor's letter as the rubric.** The editor signals which points are decisive. Solve those first and foremost; the editor adjudicates disagreements among reviewers. 2. **One point-by-point response, every comment addressed.** Quote each comment, then respond. Never skip one — silence reads as non-compliance. 3. **Concede or rebut explicitly, with evidence.** For each: did what was asked (say where, with the new text/table number), or push back **respectfully with a reason** (theory
- When to trigger
- Strategy
- Response-letter format
- Anti-patterns
- Output format
- Triage table for an APSR R&R
- Worked micro-example (illustrative)
- Referee-pushback patterns and the APSR-specific repair
- Calibration anchors (hedged)
- Supplementary resources
What does the apsr-rebuttal skill do?
Use when writing the response to an American Political Science Review (APSR) revise-and-resubmit. APSR reserves R&R for papers close to publishable, and decisions weigh strong support from all or nearly all reviewers, so the response must convert each reviewer without alienating the editor. Structures the response letter; it does not fabricate new results.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill apsr-rebuttal --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, a repository with 909 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.