lancet-writing
Use to structure and hold the length of a Lancet Article main text — Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion (~3000–3500 words), the Research in context panel, a limited reference list (~30), and a cautious, globally minded Discussion that does not overstate.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill lancet-writing --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.
# Main-Text Writing & Structure (lancet-writing) ## When to trigger - Drafting or trimming a Lancet original-research **Article**. - The main text is over length, or the Discussion overstates the findings. - The structure wanders (lab/clinic chronology instead of IMRaD). - Co-authors keep adding paragraphs and references and the paper is creeping past budget. ## Article structure (IMRaD + the panel) The Lancet original-research **Article** uses standard **IMRaD** with the Research in context panel: | Section | Holds | |---------|-------| | **Introduction** | The problem, the gap, and the specific objective — brief (the systematic search lives in the panel, not a long literature review). | | **Methods** | Design, setting/countries, participants, randomisation/allocation/blinding (or observational design), outcomes, sample size, statistical analysis (pre-specified), registration, ethics. Methods are detailed and **stay in the main text** (clinical journals expect full Methods, unlike Science's supplement model). | | **Results** | Recruitment/flow (with the flow diagram), Table 1, primary outcome, secondary outcomes, subgroups, harms — in a logical order. | | **Discussion** | Principa
- When to trigger
- Article structure (IMRaD + the panel)
- Length and reference budget
- The Discussion — four moves, cautiously
- House style
- What Lancet editors expect from the main text
- Worked micro-example (illustrative numbers — not real data)
- Reviewer-pushback patterns and the venue-specific fix
- Output format
- Anti-patterns
What does the lancet-writing skill do?
Use to structure and hold the length of a Lancet Article main text — Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion (~3000–3500 words), the Research in context panel, a limited reference list (~30), and a cautious, globally minded Discussion that does not overstate.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill lancet-writing --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.