Use when targeting Earth and Planetary Science Letters (EPSL) or deciding whether a quantitative solid-earth or planetary-science manuscript fits this venue. Encodes the journal's broad-interest process-science fit, the quantitative geochemistry/geophysics evidence bar, Elsevier house style, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics.
SkillScore91Maintained
Automatic
◆Research pack
Last verified 8/15/2026
What it changes
Passed 20 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 15 of 22 without it.
Without skill68%
With skill91%
Checks it passed that the model alone missed
Restricts topic tags to 2–3 topics.
Rates the fit as High for quantitative geophysics with resolution tests.
Uses key-value tag formatting rather than markdown section headers or numbered lists.
and 3 more in the full report
5 fixed15 passed either way2 still failing0 broke
Pass-rate lift
+23 pp
Tokens
+28%
Agent turns
0%
Response time
-44%
Model gemini-3.6-flashMeasured 8/15/2026v120 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 discovered a sudden co-seismic slip acceleration during the 2023 earthquake sequence using real-time GPS network data. We want a rapid 3-page publication that alerts the community immediately. Evaluate this for Earth and Planetary Science Letters and output the result using standard bracketed fit tags.
What was checked, without and with the skill
Checked
Without skill
With skill
Suggests geology as the re-route venue for a short high-immediacy earth science letter.
Missed
Passed
case-05 · gemini-3.6-flash · 8/15/2026 · answers are capped and redacted
What's inside
The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.
SKILL.md123 linessingle file
Earth and Planetary Science Letters (earth-and-planetary-science-letters)
Journal positioning
Earth and Planetary Science Letters (EPSL), published by Elsevier, is a broad-interest
journal for quantitative research on the physical and chemical processes of the Earth and
other planets. The defining expectation is a process-oriented, quantitatively rigorous
advance — in geochemistry, geophysics, geodynamics, petrology and mineral physics, planetary
processes, or paleoclimate/paleoceanography proxy science — that is significant to a wide
earth- and planetary-science readership rather than to one specialty alone. Despite the
"Letters" name, EPSL favors complete, self-contained articles in which the data, modeling,
and interpretation jointly support a generalizable mechanism; a purely descriptive regional
report, a method note with no process payoff, or a result of interest only to a narrow
sub-field is a weak fit. This skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool. It
does not replace the journal's current author guidance. Before submitting, re-check the live
EPSL / Elsevier author instructions and data policy.
When to trigger
The author names EPSL and wants a fit/framing check for a quantitative solid-earth or
planetary-science paper.
A regional geochemical or geophysical study must be re-framed into a transferable
process or mechanism of broad interest.
The author is choosing between EPSL (longer quantitative process article) and geology
(short, high-immediacy GSA letter).
The author needs EPSL's broad-interest significance bar and quantitative evidence
expectations.
Scope & topic fit
Geochemistry and isotope geochemistry: tracers, dating, and elemental/isotopic systems
constraining earth and planetary processes.
Geophysics and geodynamics: seismology, mantle dynamics, tectonics, gravity/magnetics, and
lithosphere/deep-earth structure and evolution.
Petrology, mineral physics, and high-pressure/high-temperature experiments bearing on
planetary interiors and differentiation.
Surface and planetary processes: volcanism, impacts, planetary evolution, and comparative
planetology with quantitative constraints.
Paleoclimate and paleoceanography proxy records and their calibration, when the
contribution is a mechanism or a generalizable proxy advance.