Jacs Writing Style

---
name: jacs-writing-style
description: Use when polishing prose to ACS house style and claim discipline for a Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) manuscript. Edits language, structure, and nomenclature — it does not add data or design figures.
---

# ACS House Style and Claim Discipline (jacs-writing-style)

## When to trigger

- The data and figures are solid and the manuscript needs language polish
- Prose is wordy, over-claimed, or uses vague boosters ("novel", "very important")
- Nomenclature, units, or abbreviations are inconsistent
- Citation style is not ACS-numbered

## ACS prose conventions

- **Concise and declarative.** State what was done and found; avoid padding and throat-clearing.
- **Tense/voice.** Past tense for what you did and observed; present for established facts. Active voice is acceptable and encouraged in ACS writing where it improves clarity.
- **Compound numbering.** Bold numerals (e.g., **3a**); the same number always means the same structure across text, schemes, and SI.
- **Nomenclature.** Correct IUPAC/ACS names or clearly defined trivial names; consistent throughout.
- **Units and symbols.** SI units, italic variables (e.g., *J*, *T*, *k*), roman unit symbols; spaces between number and unit (5 mol %, 80 °C).
- **Abbreviations.** Define at first use; use standard ACS abbreviations for reagents/solvents.
- **Citations.** ACS numbered style (superscript), references in citation order; abbreviated journal titles.

## Section discipline

| Section | Job | Common failure |
|---------|-----|----------------|
| Abstract | Problem → advance → key numbers → significance | Vague, no quantitative result |
| Introduction | Frame the problem and the gap; end with what this paper shows | Mini-review with no clear thesis |
| Results & Discussion | Evidence in logical order; interpret as you go | Data dump without interpretation |
| Conclusion | What is now established and enabled | Repeats the abstract verbatim |

## Claim discipline (what JACS referees punish)

- Match every adjective to evidence: "general" needs scope; "efficient" needs numbers; "mechanism" needs probes.
- Replace boosters with facts: not "dramatically improved", but "increased yield from 42% to 91%".
- Hedge appropriately where evidence is suggestive ("consistent with", "we propose") vs proven ("we show").
- State the closest prior art and the specific delta; do not imply more novelty than the search supports.

## Booster blacklist (replace with a number or a fact)

`novel` · `very important` · `dramatically` · `unprecedented` (unless defensible) ·
`a variety of` (say how many) · `excellent yield` (give the %) · `mild conditions`
(state T/time) · `clean reaction` (give purity evidence).

## Checklist

- [ ] Abstract has problem → advance → number → significance
- [ ] Every "general/efficient/selective/mild" is backed by a number or condition
- [ ] Compound numbering and nomenclature consistent text/scheme/SI
- [ ] Units, italics, and spacing follow ACS conventions
- [ ] Citations are ACS-numbered, in order, with abbreviated titles
- [ ] No booster from the blacklist survives unreplaced
- [ ] Conclusion adds the "now enabled", not a copy of the abstract

## Anti-patterns

- Significance asserted by adjective rather than shown by data
- Inconsistent compound numbers or names across the paper
- Introduction that reviews the field but never states the paper's thesis
- Mixed citation styles; non-ACS reference formatting
- "Mild/clean/efficient" with no supporting numbers

## Output format

```
【Abstract structure】OK / fix: [...]
【Booster hits】N — replaced: [...]
【Numbering/nomenclature consistent】Y/N
【Units/ACS conventions】OK / fix: [...]
【Citations ACS-numbered】Y/N
【Next】jacs-length-management → jacs-cover-letter
```

## Related resources

- [`../../resources/external_tools.md`](../../resources/external_tools.md) — ACS citation styles for Zotero/EndNote, ACS Style Guide