ppw:cover-letter

Purpose

This Skill generates complete, submission-ready academic cover letters by loading the target journal's template to align the contribution statement with journal scope and aims, collecting correspondence author details via Ask Strategy, and reading the paper (file or pasted text) to extract the paper title, key contribution, and data availability information. Output is a full letter with all four required content blocks: (1) contribution statement — explicitly aligned with the journal's stated scope from the loaded template; (2) data/code availability statement; (3) conflict of interest declaration; (4) correspondence author contact block. If the journal template is not found, the Skill refuses immediately — it never falls back to generic academic prose, consistent with the journal-aware pattern used throughout this project.

Trigger

Activates when the user asks to:

• Write, generate, or draft a cover letter or submission letter for a paper
• 写投稿信、生成cover letter、帮我写投稿信

Example invocations:

• "Write a cover letter for my CEUS submission"
• "帮我写投稿信"
• "Generate a cover letter for my paper"
• "写一封投稿到CEUS的cover letter"
• "Help me draft a submission cover letter"
• "帮我生成这篇论文的投稿信"

Modes

Mode	Default	Behavior
direct	Yes	Single-pass letter generation; all context collected upfront via Ask Strategy
batch		NOT supported — each letter requires specific paper context and author details

Default mode: direct. User provides a paper and journal; Skill collects any missing details and generates the complete letter in one pass.

References

Required (always loaded)

None.

Leaf Hints (loaded conditionally)

File	When to Load
references/journals/ceus.md	When user targets CEUS; provides Aims & Scope, scope keywords for contribution alignment

Loading Rules

• When journal is specified, load references/journals/[journal].md.
• If template not found: refuse immediately with: "Journal template for [X] not found. Available: CEUS."
• Do NOT proceed with generic framing if template is missing.
• Extract the Aims & Scope section from the loaded template — the contribution statement must reference it directly.

Ask Strategy

The Skill needs four inputs. If already provided in trigger or paper content, skip the corresponding question.

1. Target journal — required; determines which template to load. Ask if not specified.
2. Paper file or text — required; for extracting paper title and key contribution. Ask for file path or paste if not provided.
3. Correspondence author details (name, email, institution) — required; ask as a single grouped question if not provided.
4. Data/code availability — optional; are datasets or code publicly available? If yes, ask for repository URLs. Default to "Data are not publicly available" if user declines or does not know.

Rules:

• Ask at most 3 questions before proceeding.
• Use Structured Interaction when available; fall back to plain-text questions otherwise.
• If correspondence details not provided and user declines: use [Corresponding Author Name], [Email], [Institution] placeholders.

Workflow

Step 0: Workflow Memory Check

• Read .planning/workflow-memory.json. If file missing or empty, skip to Step 1.
• Check if the last 1-2 log entries form a recognized pattern with ppw:cover-letter that has appeared >= threshold times in the log. See skill-conventions.md > Workflow Memory > Pattern Detection for the full algorithm.
• If a pattern is found, present recommendation via AskUserQuestion:
  • Question: "检测到常用流程：[pattern]（已出现 N 次）。是否直接以 direct 模式运行 ppw:cover-letter？"
  • Options: "Yes, proceed" / "No, continue normally"
• If user accepts: set mode to direct, skip Ask Strategy questions.
• If user declines or AskUserQuestion unavailable: continue in normal mode.

Step 1: Collect Context

• Run Ask Strategy for any missing inputs (journal, paper, author details, data availability).
• Load references/journals/[journal].md. If not found: refuse with "Journal template for [X] not found. Available: CEUS." Do NOT proceed.
• If paper provided as file: use Read tool to load it; extract title and key contribution.
• If paper provided as pasted text: extract title and key contribution from the pasted content.
• Extract Aims & Scope section from the loaded journal template (contribution statement references this directly).
• Record workflow: Append {"skill": "ppw:cover-letter", "ts": "<ISO timestamp>"} to .planning/workflow-memory.json. Create file as [] if missing. Drop oldest entry if log length >= 50.

Step 2: Draft Letter

Use the following locked letter format:

[Date]

The Editor-in-Chief
[Editor Name]
[Journal Name]

Dear [Editor Name],

We submit our manuscript entitled "[Paper Title]" for consideration in [Journal Name].

**Contribution Statement**
[1–2 sentences explicitly referencing journal's stated scope from loaded template]

**Data and Code Availability**
[Repository URLs, or "Data are not publicly available due to [reason]."]

**Conflict of Interest**
The authors declare no conflict of interest.

**Corresponding Author**
[Name]
[Email]
[Institution]

Sincerely,
[Authors]

Contribution statement rule: Write 1–2 sentences that explicitly reference the journal's stated scope and aims from the loaded template. Use journal-specific framing: "This paper addresses [X], which aligns directly with [Journal]'s focus on [scope phrase from template]." Do NOT use generic framing ("this paper advances the field of...").

Data/code block: List repository URLs if provided; otherwise state "Data are not publicly available due to [reason if given, otherwise omit reason clause]."

Conflict of interest: Always use the standard declaration "The authors declare no conflict of interest."

Contact block: Use provided author details or bracketed placeholders if not provided.

Step 3: Output

• File input: Write to {input_filename_without_ext}_cover_letter.md using the Write tool.
• Pasted text input: Display the complete letter in conversation.
• Confirm output location to user.

Output Contract

Output	Format	Condition
cover_letter_md	Markdown file at {input_filename_without_ext}_cover_letter.md	File input
cover_letter_text	Complete letter in conversation	Pasted text input or Write tool failure

Required content blocks (all four mandatory in every letter):

**Contribution Statement**    ← references journal scope explicitly
**Data and Code Availability** ← links or "not publicly available"
**Conflict of Interest**       ← standard declaration
**Corresponding Author**       ← name, email, institution

Note: Contribution statement must reference journal scope explicitly — not generic academic praise.

Edge Cases

Situation	Handling
Journal template not found	Refuse: "Journal template for [X] not found. Available: CEUS." Do not generate with generic framing.
Paper file not found or unreadable	Ask user to paste paper text or abstract instead
Correspondence details not provided; user declines	Use [Corresponding Author Name], [Email], [Institution] placeholders; note user must fill before submission
Data availability unknown	Use "Data availability will be confirmed at revision stage."
Multiple authors listed for correspondence	Ask which one is the corresponding author; include only one in the contact block
Aims & Scope section thin in template	Use all available scope language from template; note contribution alignment may be approximate

Fallbacks

Scenario	Fallback
Structured Interaction unavailable	Ask journal name and author details as sequential plain-text questions
Read tool fails on paper file	Ask user to paste abstract or key contribution sentences
Write tool fails	Display complete letter in conversation; advise user to copy to a .md file
references/journals/ceus.md missing	Refuse with journal-missing message; do not generate without template

Examples

Invocation: "Write a cover letter for my CEUS submission" (with file my_paper.tex)

1. Skill loads references/journals/ceus.md — extracts Aims & Scope.
2. Skill reads my_paper.tex — extracts title and key contribution.
3. Skill asks: "Please provide your name, email, and institution for the correspondence block."
4. Skill asks: "Are your data or code publicly available? If yes, please share the repository URL(s)."
5. Skill generates letter and writes to my_paper_cover_letter.md.

First 8 lines of output:

March 2026

The Editor-in-Chief
[Editor Name]
Computers, Environment and Urban Systems

Dear [Editor Name],

We submit our manuscript entitled "Spatiotemporal Analysis of Urban Heat Islands Using Remote
Sensing" for consideration in Computers, Environment and Urban Systems.

**Contribution Statement**
This paper addresses urban heat island detection and mitigation across metropolitan areas, which
aligns directly with CEUS's focus on computational approaches to understanding urban systems and
the built environment.

---

Skill: cover-letter-skill Conventions: references/skill-conventions.md