Use to convert references to Cell Press author–date style — in-text "(Smith et al., 2021)", an alphabetical reference list by first author with full author lists, journal names spelled out. This is the OPPOSITE of Science's numbered-by-appearance style.
SkillScore100Maintained
Automatic
◆Writing & Editing pack
Last verified 8/31/2026
What it changes
Passed 24 of 24 test cases with the skill, and 23 of 24 without it.
Without skill96%
With skill100%
Checks it passed that the model alone missed
The response specifies including all authors in the bibliography without truncating to et al.
1 fixed23 passed either way0 still failing0 broke
Pass-rate lift
+4 pp
Tokens
+78%
Agent turns
0%
Response time
-18%
Model gemini-3.6-flashMeasured 8/31/2026v124 of 24 cases passed with skill
Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.
See it in action
A test case the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.
Prompt
We are porting our draft from Nature to Cell. Can you update our referencing from numeric order of appearance to standard Cell Press author-date style? Reformat the in-text citations and reference list entries accordingly, check for any unlinked or missing references, and give us a quick status breakdown of the citation updates.
What was checked, without and with the skill
Checked
Without skill
With skill
The response specifies including all authors in the bibliography without truncating to et al.
Missed
Passed
case-02 · gemini-3.6-flash · 8/31/2026 · answers are capped and redacted
What's inside
The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.
SKILL.md87 linessingle file
Reference Style (cell-citation)
When to trigger
References are numbered by appearance (Science/Nature style) and must become author–date.
The reference list is ordered by citation order instead of alphabetically.
Author lists are truncated with "et al." in the bibliography.
You are porting a manuscript from a numbered-style journal to Cell.
Cell Press citation mechanics
In-text: author–date. Parenthetical "(Smith et al., 2021)" or narrative "Smith et al. (2021) showed…". Multiple: "(Smith et al., 2021; Lee and Cho, 2020)". Two authors: "(Lee and Cho, 2020)". Same author/year: "(Smith et al., 2021a, 2021b)".
Reference list: alphabetical by first author's surname — NOT numbered, NOT by order of appearance.
Full author lists in the bibliography (Cell Press does not truncate to "et al." for typical author counts; confirm the cutoff).
Journal names per Cell Press style (often spelled out / standard form); include year, volume, and pages/article number.
A single reference list covering main text and STAR Methods.
This is the opposite of Science, which uses numbered references in order of appearance. If you are transferring from Science (or Nature's numbered convention), you must re-cite in author–date and re-sort alphabetically — a mechanical but non-trivial conversion.
Reference formats (shape)
Journal article:Author, A.B., Author, C.D., and Author, E.F. (2021). Title of the article. Journal Name Volume, pages.
Book:Author, A.B. (2020). Book Title, edition (Publisher).
Chapter:Author, A.B. (2020). Chapter title. In Book Title, C.D. Editor, ed. (Publisher), pp. xx–yy.
Dataset/code: cite with repository, accession/DOI, and year (consistent with cell-data).
Preprint: include the server (e.g., bioRxiv) and DOI.
Surname precedes initials in the list; "and" before the final author; year in parentheses after the author list. Use a Cell Press CSL/style file to enforce this.
Common conversion fixes (numbered → Cell author–date)