Use when targeting Soil Biology & Biochemistry or deciding whether a soil-science manuscript fits this venue. Encodes the journal's fit, the soil-process-mechanism bar, evidence and data-reporting expectations, house style, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics.
SkillScore100Maintained
Automatic
◆Research pack
Last verified 8/15/2026
What it changes
Passed 22 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 18 of 22 without it.
Without skill82%
With skill100%
Checks it passed that the model alone missed
Rates fit as Low for Soil Biology & Biochemistry.
Uses bracketed header tags in the output structure.
Uses bracketed tag structure in the evaluation output.
and 4 more in the full report
4 fixed18 passed either way0 still failing0 broke
Pass-rate lift
+18 pp
Tokens
+21%
Agent turns
0%
Response time
-41%
Model gemini-3.6-flashMeasured 8/15/2026v122 of 22 cases passed with skill
Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.
See it in action
One of 4 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.
1 of 4
Prompt
We synthesized 150 published studies to evaluate global sustainability impacts of organic farming practices on soil health indices and cropping system stability. Please evaluate this manuscript for Soil Biology & Biochemistry positioning using the required bracketed tag structure.
What was checked, without and with the skill
Checked
Without skill
With skill
Identifies the paper as a sustainability-framed cropping system synthesis.
Passed
Passed
Re-routes the submission to Agronomy for Sustainable Development.
Missed
Passed
case-06 · gemini-3.6-flash · 8/15/2026 · answers are capped and redacted
What's inside
The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.
Soil Biology & Biochemistry (SBB), published by Elsevier, is the leading journal for the
mechanisms of soil biological and biochemical processes: soil organic matter dynamics,
microbial ecology and function, nutrient cycling, soil carbon, extracellular enzymes, and
the biogeochemical processes that soil biota drive. Its defining expectation is mechanistic
process understanding — evidence about how soil organisms and reactions govern a process,
not a descriptive inventory of what is present. A soil survey, a descriptive community
census with no process link, or a management trial whose contribution is an agronomic outcome
rather than a soil mechanism is a poor 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 SBB author guidance.
When to trigger
The author names SBB and wants a fit/framing check for a soil-process or soil-microbial
paper.
A microbial-community or soil-carbon dataset must be re-framed around the process
mechanism it explains rather than a description of community composition.
The author is choosing between SBB, agriculture-ecosystems-and-environment (agroecosystem
environmental outcomes), and a broader biogeochemistry venue.
The author needs SBB's desk-reject heuristics and a credible alternative route.
Scope & topic fit
Soil organic matter formation, stabilization, and decomposition, and the controls on soil
carbon persistence.
Soil microbial ecology and function: community assembly, activity, and the links between
diversity and process rates.
Nutrient cycling and transformations (C, N, P, S) and the microbial/enzymatic mechanisms
behind them.
Extracellular enzymes, microbial physiology, and carbon/nutrient-use efficiency as process
drivers.
Soil fauna, the soil microbiome, and biotic interactions where they mechanistically shape
soil processes.
Rhizosphere and root–soil–microbe interactions framed around process mechanism.