From gcb-skills
Structures a Global Change Biology manuscript's literature positioning to read as a global-change advance rather than a local report. Guides framing of driver-response gaps, cross-system generality, and synthesis engagement.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/gcb-skills:gcb-literature-positioningThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
GCB is read across **ecology, biogeochemistry, ecosystem science, and Earth-system / climate-impacts**
GCB is read across ecology, biogeochemistry, ecosystem science, and Earth-system / climate-impacts communities. A submission must show it knows the global-change literature on its driver and response — not just the narrow subfield where the data were collected. This skill positions the contribution so reviewers see the gap and the advance.
GCB's cross-disciplinary readership means a paper can be well-cited inside its subfield yet read as parochial to the journal. This table maps the symptom an editor or referee flags to the positioning move that closes it.
| Symptom in the draft | What it signals | Positioning fix |
|---|---|---|
| Only single-taxon citations | Subfield framing, not global-change | Anchor on the driver-response literature across taxa |
| No meta-analysis or MIP cited | Unaware of the consensus | Engage the synthesis that defines the baseline |
| "Novel" for a known response | Local novelty mistaken for advance | Reframe the gap as mechanism or scaling, not first sighting |
| Contradiction unmentioned | Selective reading | Name the conflicting study and explain it mechanistically |
| Terrestrial-only with no marine nod | Generality unproven | State whether the mechanism is expected across systems |
A species-range-shift model predicts an illustrative 180 km poleward shift of a montane plant by 2070. A local framing cites only regional floristic surveys. A GCB framing instead anchors on the range-shift synthesis literature (which reports a mean terrestrial shift of an illustrative ~17 km per decade), shows that this taxon shifts faster because of a dispersal-limitation mechanism the syntheses average over, and notes whether the same lag is documented for marine ectotherms. The gap is now mechanistic and cross-system, not "a new record for our mountains." Numbers illustrative.
【Driver-response literature】key prior global-change work engaged
【Cross-system reach】does the mechanism travel beyond your system? [Y/N/—]
【Synthesis engaged】relevant meta-analyses / MIPs cited?
【Gap】what is missing / contested → your advance
【Contradictions】reconciled with mechanism? [Y/N/NA]
【Next】gcb-study-design
../../resources/external_tools.md — data and synthesis sources across systems../../resources/official-source-map.md — GCB scope and article types (Reviews)npx claudepluginhub brycewang-stanford/awesome-journal-skills --plugin gcb-skillsPositions interdisciplinary GEC manuscripts across social science, governance, and domain literatures. Shapes framing and citation strategy for environmental-change journals.
Routes Global Change Biology manuscript work to the correct sub-skill based on article type and lifecycle stage. Dispatches, does not draft.
Guides manuscript fit and framing for Global Change Biology, including global-change-driver requirements, evidence bar, and desk-reject heuristics.