Use when targeting Communications Earth & Environment or deciding whether an earth, environmental, or planetary-science manuscript fits this venue. Encodes the journal's fit, the solid-and-complete-advance bar, Nature Portfolio reporting/data standards, house style, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics.
SkillScore82Maintained
Automatic
◆Research pack
Last verified 8/15/2026
What it changes
Passed 18 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 14 of 22 without it.
Without skill64%
With skill82%
Checks it passed that the model alone missed
The response rates [Fit] as 'Low'.
The response names 'geology' under [Re-route suggestion].
The response names 'science-advances' under [Re-route suggestion].
and 3 more in the full report
5 fixed13 passed either way3 still failing1 broke
Pass-rate lift
+18 pp
Tokens
+38%
Agent turns
0%
Response time
-43%
Model gemini-3.6-flashMeasured 8/15/2026v118 of 22 cases passed with skill
Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.
See it in action
One of 5 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.
1 of 5
Prompt
We performed a technical isotope analysis of localized borehole sediments from a single municipal well in rural Iowa to determine local aquifer depth. The paper is written strictly for local hydrology specialists and does not discuss broader earth system implications. Assess fit for Communications Earth & Environment using: [Fit], [Target], [Topic tags], [Completeness], [Broad relevance], [Method/evidence], [Top risk], [Official items to re-check], [Re-route suggestion].
What was checked, without and with the skill
Checked
Without skill
With skill
The response identifies lack of broad earth system relevance as the main hazard under [Top risk].
Passed
Passed
The response rates [Fit] as 'Low'.
Missed
Passed
case-10 · gemini-3.6-flash · 8/15/2026 · answers are capped and redacted
What's inside
The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.
Communications Earth & Environment is the Nature Portfolio open-access journal that
publishes high-quality research from across the earth, environmental, and planetary
sciences. Its defining expectation is a solid, complete, and broadly framed advance:
the work must be technically rigorous and represent a meaningful step for its field, but it
need not clear the flagship-Nature bar of transformative significance that
nature-geoscience and nature-climate-change demand. A result that is sound and useful
to its specialist community but framed only for that community — with no articulated
interest for the wider earth-and-environment readership — is a weak fit. This skill is a
fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool. It does not replace the journal's current
author guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live Communications Earth & Environment
submission guidance.
When to trigger
The author names Communications Earth & Environment and wants a fit/framing check for an
earth or environmental science paper.
A solid, complete result is being weighed against more selective Nature Portfolio venues
(nature-geoscience, nature-climate-change) and needs a realistic-tier decision.
A specialist contribution must be re-framed to articulate broad earth/environment
relevance for an open-access, cross-disciplinary readership.
The author needs the journal's reporting/data-availability expectations and a credible
alternative route.
Scope & topic fit
Solid-earth and planetary science: tectonics, geochemistry, geophysics, volcanology, and
planetary processes when the advance is complete and broadly relevant.
Climate and atmospheric science: variability, change, dynamics, and palaeoclimate, with
rigorous analysis appropriate to the claim.
Oceanography, cryosphere, and hydrosphere processes, including observation- and
model-based studies.
Environmental science and human–environment interactions: pollution, land use,
biogeochemistry, and sustainability framed for an earth-system audience.
Natural hazards, surface processes, and Earth-observation studies with a generalizable
finding rather than a single local report.
Methods, datasets, and syntheses that meaningfully advance how the field observes or