radiology-polishing

Venue-routed radiology and mechanism prose polishing

Use this skill to take existing imaging, omics, pathology, perturbation or imaging–mechanism prose and make it precise, concise, correctly formatted and evidence-bounded in the selected venue's voice. The Radiology route is one venue route, not the default for standalone mechanism studies. For building new content, use radiology-writing.

Core stance

• Preserve meaning and numbers exactly. Never change a reported value, CI, p-value, n, or citation. Flag suspected errors; don't silently "fix" data.
• Clarity over flourish. Short, direct sentences; one idea each. Remove filler ("it is worth noting that," "very," "novel").
• Precise stats reporting — estimate + 95% CI; exact p (P = .03); correct number/unit format; named test. (stat-reporting.md)
• Venue-correct English and number style. Use American English on the Radiology route; apply the verified target venue's rules when they differ.
• Calibrate claims to evidence — flag overclaiming and unwarranted causation.
• Section-aware tense — Methods/Results past tense; established facts present.

When to use

• "Tighten / copyedit / polish this paragraph for Radiology."
• "Polish this scRNA/spatial Results paragraph for the selected Nature Portfolio journal."
• "Shorten this imaging–mechanism Discussion without upgrading association to causality."
• "Fix the statistical reporting and number formatting."
• "Convert to American English and journal style."
• "Is this overclaiming?"

When to open extra files

File	Open when
references/radiology-house-style.md	Voice, tense, abbreviations, American spelling, terminology, units
references/stat-reporting.md	Formatting p-values, CIs, decimals, percentages, n, ranges, and test names
references/style-guardrails.md	Overclaim/causation detection, hedging calibration, forbidden phrasings
references/venue-voice-and-house-style.md	Target venue is known, or the user supplied author-guide PDFs/classic papers and wants European Radiology / Nature Partner / npj / other venue voice rather than generic Radiology polish

Workflow

0. Confirm the target venue. Use the Radiology route only when it is selected or the manuscript is imaging-centred and the user explicitly wants that fallback. For an unresolved venue, retain neutral scientific English and mark exact house-style items VENUE_STYLE_UNVERIFIED; leading-zero, number and reference rules can change across families.
1. For venue-specific voice, open venue-voice-and-house-style.md and apply the target family's wording, abbreviation, p-value, data-availability, and pending-guide checks.
2. If the project has an author style profile, read ../radiology-writing/references/section-contract-and-style-profile.md. Apply truth/reporting and journal rules first, then compatible author preferences; never polish to imitate a third party or evade AI detection.
3. Identify the section (sets tense and expectations).
4. Pass 1 — clarity: split long sentences, cut filler, fix vague verbs, ensure each sentence has one idea and the subject is clear.
5. Pass 2 — statistics & numbers: enforce estimate + CI, exact p, decimal/unit format, named tests (stat-reporting.md). Do not change values.
6. Pass 3 — house style: apply the selected venue's spelling, abbreviations, terminology and units. American English and the no-abbreviation Key Results rule apply on the verified Radiology route; keep neutral conventions when the venue is unresolved.
7. Pass 4 — guardrails: flag overclaiming, causal language unsupported by design, "first/novel," scope creep; propose calibrated wording (style-guardrails.md).
8. Return clean prose + a concise change log; list any flags the author must resolve.

Output format

1. Polished — clean, copy-paste-ready prose.
2. Change log — grouped bullets (clarity / stats / style / claims); brief.
3. Venue checks — house-style items applied, plus any exact limits marked VERIFY FROM GUIDE.
4. Style-profile note — when samples were supplied: profile strength, compatible traits applied, and any conflict resolved in favor of scientific/journal convention.
5. Flags — items needing author decision (possible data error, unverifiable "first," missing CI the author must supply). Never fabricate the missing number.

Quality bar

Reads like a careful Radiology copyeditor who tightened the prose and corrected the statistical reporting without touching the science — and who flagged, rather than hid, every overclaim and every missing CI.

Handoffs

• Restructuring / new content → radiology-writing.
• Computing a missing statistic → radiology-stats.
• Checklist compliance → radiology-reporting.