est-workflow

ES&T Workflow Router (est-workflow)

The orchestrator for an ES&T submission. Figure out the stage and the article type, then send the

user to the matching skill. ES&T is a multidisciplinary environmental science and engineering

journal — the router's first job is to make sure the paper carries clear **environmental

significance**, not just a clean lab result.

When to trigger

• Starting a new ES&T paper and unsure where to begin
• Mid-project and unsure which skill applies next
• Deciding which article type fits, or whether to send urgent results to ES&T Letters
• Returning with a decision letter (route to est-revision-and-rebuttal)

First question: which article type?

| Situation | Type | Route to |

|-----------|------|----------|

| Full original study | Research Article (~7,000 words; 待核实) | normal pipeline below |

| Urgent, high-impact result, short | ES&T Letters (Letter ≤3,000 words; separate journal) | tighten scope; est-submission |

| Comprehensive synthesis of a field | Critical Review (~10,000 words; 待核实) | est-literature-positioning + est-writing-style |

| Forward-looking opinion/synthesis | Perspective (~4,000 words; 待核实) | est-literature-positioning |

| Magazine-style accessible piece | Feature (~5,000 words; 待核实) | est-writing-style |

| Science–policy interface analysis | Policy Analysis (~7,000 words; 待核实) | est-topic-selection + est-writing-style |

> Word caps are volatile and figures/tables may count as word-equivalents — confirm on the live

> guidelines page (see 待核实 in resources/official-source-map.md).

Routing map (stage → skill)

Idea / environmental significance? → est-topic-selection
Where does it sit in the field?    → est-literature-positioning
Is the study design defensible?    → est-study-design
Are the analyses + QA/QC sound?    → est-data-analysis
Are the exhibits + TOC art clear?  → est-figures-and-tables
SI, data deposit, reproducibility? → est-reporting-and-reproducibility
Does it read in ACS style?         → est-writing-style
Cover letter to the editor?        → est-cover-letter
How will it be judged?             → est-review-process
Ready to submit?                   → est-submission
Got a decision / revision?         → est-revision-and-rebuttal

Default order

`topic-selection → literature-positioning → study-design → data-analysis → figures-and-tables →

reporting-and-reproducibility → writing-style → cover-letter → review-process → submission →

revision-and-rebuttal`

Iterate: most papers loop design ↔ analysis ↔ QA/QC several times before writing-style.

Symptom → skill quick-routing

When a user arrives mid-stream with a specific complaint, route by symptom rather than walking the

whole pipeline. Each symptom carries the ES&T-specific failure mode it signals:

| User says | Underlying ES&T risk | Route to |

|-----------|----------------------|----------|

| "Is this significant enough?" | desk-decline on significance | est-topic-selection |

| "A reviewer said it's not novel" | incremental-occurrence framing | est-literature-positioning |

| "Reviewer wants more controls/QA-QC" | analytical-rigor gap | est-study-design, est-data-analysis |

| "Mass balance doesn't close" | unaccounted-fraction objection | est-data-analysis |

| "Do I need a TOC graphic?" | incomplete-submission gate | est-figures-and-tables |

| "Where do I deposit the data?" | data-availability mandate | est-reporting-and-reproducibility |

| "Got a major revision" | response-letter strategy | est-revision-and-rebuttal |

Worked micro-example (illustrative — routing a PFAS-fate manuscript)

A user starts: "I have river PFAS data showing a precursor converting to PFHxA — where do I begin?"

The router's pass (illustrative):

1. Significance check → est-topic-selection: reframe from occurrence to "surveys under-count

persistent burden," confirming Research-Article fit.

1. Positioning → est-literature-positioning: engage the fate, analytical, and tox literatures so

novelty is mechanistic, not "another dataset."

1. Design/analysis loop → est-study-design ↔ est-data-analysis: lock the abiotic control, mass

balance, and QA/QC; handle the censored values with ROS.

1. Exhibits + SI → est-figures-and-tables, est-reporting-and-reproducibility: build a concept

TOC graphic and deposit data/spectra/code.

1. Write → cover → submit → est-writing-style → est-cover-letter → est-submission.

The router's standing job: surface the environmental-significance and QA/QC gates early, because

those are what the desk editor and the ~three reviewers weigh first.

Anti-patterns

• Treating ES&T like a pure-chemistry or pure-engineering journal — the paper must show environmental relevance
• A clean method with no demonstrated significance for a real environmental system
• Choosing ES&T Letters for non-urgent work, or ES&T for a result better suited to a specialist venue
• Leaving the TOC graphic, SI, and data deposit to the last day

Output format

【Stage】idea / positioning / design / analysis / exhibits / reproducibility / writing / cover-letter / review / submit / revise
【Type】Research Article / Critical Review / Feature / Perspective / Policy Analysis / ES&T Letters
【Route to】est-<skill>
【Why】one line
【Then】the next skill after that

Supplementary resources

• [../../resources/external_tools.md](../../resources/external_tools.md) — environmental data, instruments, and software by sub-area
• [../../resources/official-source-map.md](../../resources/official-source-map.md) — official ES&T URLs behind every fact in this pack