focs-related-work
Use when building the related-work and citation apparatus of a FOCS (IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science) paper — tracing result lineages across the FOCS/STOC record, citing arXiv/ECCC full versions with version pins, handling concurrent preprints, and keeping self-citation double-blind-safe.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill focs-related-work --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.
# FOCS Related Work At FOCS the bibliography sits inside the guaranteed-read set — the 2026 CFP promises committee attention to the abstract, the references, and the first ten pages (checked 2026-07-08). Theory reviewers routinely open a submission's reference list first, to place the paper in a lineage they already know. This skill treats related work as lineage engineering, not as a courtesy section. ## The lineage table For each headline theorem, reconstruct its history as a table before writing a word of prose. The table becomes the skeleton of the related-work section and a private audit of your novelty claim: | Year | Bound / result | Venue + version of record | Technique | |---|---|---|---| | 1998 | $O(n^2)$ | FOCS '98 → journal '01 | spectral partition | | 2011 | $O(n^{1.5})$ | STOC '11 (arXiv v3 = full) | flow rounding | | 2023 | $O(n^{1+o(1)})$, randomized | FOCS '23 (arXiv only full proofs) | (their name) | | **this work** | deterministic $O(n^{1+o(1)})$ | — | (your name) | Rules the table enforces: the "version of record" column forces you to learn where each proof actually lives (the conference version often omits it); the technique column reveals whether your delta is
- The lineage table
- Citing theory literature correctly
- Concurrent and independent work
- Self-citation under double-blind
- The reference list as a guaranteed-read surface
- Pre-submission citation audit
What does the focs-related-work skill do?
Use when building the related-work and citation apparatus of a FOCS (IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science) paper — tracing result lineages across the FOCS/STOC record, citing arXiv/ECCC full versions with version pins, handling concurrent preprints, and keeping self-citation double-blind-safe.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill focs-related-work --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 984 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.