nejm-writing
Use to structure and tighten an NEJM Original Article into terse IMRAD — short main text (~2700 words), limited references, claim-first results, and a sober discussion with explicit limitations and calibrated clinical implications. Enforces NEJM's plain, concise house style.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill nejm-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 (nejm-writing) ## When to trigger - The main text is bloated, or you are unsure of the article type. - The Discussion over-states the implications or omits limitations. - The Introduction starts with a literature review instead of the clinical question. - Methods detail belongs in the protocol/supplement, not the body. ## Article type first - **Original Article** — definitive trials / major studies; full IMRAD; structured abstract. - **Brief Report** — a smaller but important finding; substantially shorter; fewer items. - **Review** — commissioned/vetted clinical synthesis (different structure). Confirm length and reference caps against the current author guidelines. For an Original Article, design for a **short main text (often ~2700 words)** and a **limited reference list (on the order of ~40)** — NEJM is deliberately terse. ## IMRAD, the NEJM way ### Introduction (short) Two to three paragraphs. State the clinical problem, the gap, and the specific question the study answers. End with the objective. No exhaustive background — move detail to references. ### Methods Design, setting, participants (eligibility), intervention/comparator, randomization and blinding
- When to trigger
- Article type first
- IMRAD, the NEJM way
- Introduction (short)
- Methods
- Results
- Discussion
- NEJM house style (terse and plain)
- Over-claiming watch (NEJM-specific)
- A word budget that fits ~2700
- Worked micro-example — one Results sentence (before → after)
- Tightening moves that survive editing
- Output format
- Anti-patterns
What does the nejm-writing skill do?
Use to structure and tighten an NEJM Original Article into terse IMRAD — short main text (~2700 words), limited references, claim-first results, and a sober discussion with explicit limitations and calibrated clinical implications. Enforces NEJM's plain, concise house style.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill nejm-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.