Fail-Closed Report Formatting Guide

This asset replaces the former LaTeX package and example report. The former template contained plausible-looking placeholder findings that could compile into a polished but unverified document. Use the Markdown scaffold and structured registries instead.

Safe default

1. Generate a workspace with scripts/scaffold_manuscript.py.
2. Keep the DRAFT — NOT FOR SUBMISSION banner while any placeholder or verification gate remains.
3. Draft in plain Markdown. Apply publisher formatting only after content verification.
4. Treat the target journal's current author instructions and supplied template as controlling.
5. Re-run every local audit after formatting because conversion can change citations, symbols, tables, and references.

Hierarchy

• Use one document title and a predictable heading hierarchy.
• Do not encode scientific meaning only with typography or color.
• Keep terminology, abbreviations, units, and statistical notation consistent.
• Preserve machine-readable identifiers and evidence markers until final rendering.
• Never replace a missing value with an aesthetically plausible value.

Tables

• Every cell must derive from a named evidence record.
• Include units, analysis population, numerator and denominator where relevant.
• Distinguish missing, not measured, not applicable, and zero.
• Keep exact values consistent with prose and the numeric registry.
• Use editable tables unless the venue explicitly requires another format.

Figures

Figures are optional. This skill does not generate images. A retained figure must have:

• a provenance record linking it to data, code, or a licensed source;
• a caption that identifies the analysis population, units, uncertainty, and panels;
• alt text that communicates the figure's purpose and principal pattern without adding unsupported interpretation;
• labels or patterns in addition to color;
• a manual check at the final display size;
• documented permissions and transformations for reused or adapted material.

Never invent a figure, image, diagram, graphical abstract, or missing visual result.

Conversion gate

Before producing a submission format, confirm:

• placeholders are absent;
• factual and numeric claims map to verified evidence IDs;
• citations and reference identifiers pass local checks;
• methods, results, units, denominators, and sample sizes agree;
• authorship, CRediT roles, declarations, and AI use are human-approved;
• confidentiality and target-journal policy reviews are complete;
• reporting-guideline coverage was reviewed without treating it as a quality score.

Formatting quality cannot make incomplete evidence submission-ready.