How to use the Academic Paper Review agent skill

What an agent skill is and what this one makes the agent do

An agent skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file. The file describes when the agent should use a particular workflow and how to carry it out. When your request matches the skill's description, the agent loads these instructions and follows them.

This skill targets academic papers, preprints, research articles and scientific publications. Its described workflow has three phases: first it reads the paper and records its metadata and main claims; then it assesses the work, including a literature search; finally it assembles a written review.

• Reads a paper from an uploaded PDF or a link such as an arXiv URL, DOI or journal page
• Extracts the paper's claimed contributions and rates the evidence for each claim
• Rates methodology on soundness, novelty, reproducibility, experimental design, statistical rigor and scalability
• Runs web searches and fetches related papers or surveys to place the work in context
• Produces a review with an executive summary, strengths, weaknesses, questions for the authors, minor issues and literature positioning

Install the skill from the ZIP download

Download the ZIP for the academic-paper-review skill from this page. Then install it in one of the two ways below, depending on how you use the agent.

For a personal setup, unzip the download into ~/.claude/skills/. For a single project, unzip it into the project's .claude/skills/ folder. After unzipping, the skill folder should contain SKILL.md.

If you use the Claude apps, you can instead upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

• Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
• Project install: unzip into .claude/skills/ inside your project
• Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload

Trigger the skill with a natural request

You do not need to name the skill. The skill's description lists the kinds of requests that should load it, so ordinary wording works. Give the agent the paper itself, either as an uploaded PDF or as a link, and say what you want done.

The description names these example phrases: "review this paper", "analyze this research", "summarize this study" and "write a peer review". Requests that include a paper URL, an uploaded PDF or an arXiv link are also meant to trigger it.

• "Review this paper and tell me the main weaknesses: [arXiv link]"
• "Analyze this research and assess the methodology" (with PDF attached)
• "Summarize this study for my reading group" (with PDF attached)
• "Write a peer review of this preprint I'm drafting" (with PDF attached)

What you need before you start

The skill needs two things: web access and a paper from you. Web access is used for the literature search and for fetching linked papers, through the web_fetch and web search tools. Without it the agent can still read a paper you upload, but it cannot check how the work fits with related research.

The paper must be in the chat as a PDF or be reachable through a link. The agent cannot verify claims it cannot read.

• Web access enabled, so the agent can use web search and web_fetch
• A PDF uploaded to the chat, or a paper URL the agent can reach
• No scripts are run by this skill

Safety notes: scripts and network use

According to the skill's listing, it does not run scripts. It does use the network, because it searches the web and fetches papers. Expect the agent to contact search results and paper links you provide or that it finds during the review.

Treat the output as an AI opinion. The skill itself describes a process that reads the paper carefully, but an AI review can still miss errors or misread data, so check any claim that matters before acting on it.

• Scripts: none run by this skill
• Network: used for literature search and fetching related papers
• Verify numbers, tables and quoted results against the original paper

Tips for better reviews

The more complete the input, the more useful the review. A full PDF gives the agent the methods, results and limitations sections it needs to judge the paper. If you care about one aspect, name it in your request so the agent gives it more weight.

Ask for the format you need. The skill can produce a detailed review and a concise executive summary, so say which one you want.

• Upload the full PDF rather than only the abstract
• Name your focus, such as "focus on the statistics" or "focus on reproducibility"
• Ask for the detailed review or the short summary, whichever suits your use
• If you are a student, ask for questions you could raise in a reading group