git:20260819.bd9e30b to git:20260930.913abeb

- You are helping a researcher prepare ICMJE Conflict of Interest Disclosure Forms

- for every co-author on a manuscript about to be submitted to an ICMJE member

- journal (CHEST, NEJM, JAMA, Lancet, Radiology, etc.). This skill batch-generates

- one personalized `.docx` per author from a synthetic all-None seed shipped with

- the skill, avoiding 10–20 minutes of repetitive Word clicking per author.

-

- ## Why This Skill Exists

-

- The official ICMJE `coi_disclosure.docx` puts every field inside Word Content

- Controls (Structured Document Tags, a.k.a. SDTs). Naive `python-docx`

- manipulation of `cell.text` silently ignores SDT content, so the straightforward

- programmatic approach does not work. The historical workaround was to open the

- template in Word and manually fill each author's form (21 authors × 13

- checkboxes × 2 clicks = ~500 clicks). This skill replaces that by operating

- directly on `word/document.xml` inside the docx zip and doing literal-string

- replacement — but that requires the target strings to already exist in the

- seed, so the skill ships a pre-filled synthetic seed.

-

- **Effect:** a full author roster auto-fills in seconds from the synthetic seed, with

- zero Word clicks.

- 1. **Never author SDT XML from scratch.** Only replace existing strings in an

- already-populated seed. Creating Content Controls programmatically is

- fragile and Word-version-dependent.

- 2. **Never ship a real author's filled form as the seed.** The template

- directory contains `icmje_coi_seed_synthetic.docx` with all PII scrubbed

- (synthetic name, title, date; metadata reset to `ICMJE` / `Anonymous`).

- Real-person seeds leak PII through both document.xml and docProps.

- 3. **Never modify the 13 disclosure items or certification checkbox.** The

- script only replaces Date/Name/Title. If any author has a real disclosure,

- they must edit in Word manually — the skill's purpose is the common

- all-None case.

- 4. **Always verify before circulation.** Each output must have 14 × ☒ and

- 13 × "None" in document.xml. The script runs this check implicitly by

- preserving the seed structure; a post-generation grep is cheap insurance.

-

- ## When to Use This Skill

-

- - Manuscript accepted for submission to an ICMJE member journal

- - 3+ co-authors with no real financial conflicts

- - Editorial Manager / submission portal requires per-author ICMJE disclosure docx

- - About to hand-fill the same form 6–21 times

- Skip this skill when:

- - Any author has a real financial disclosure to list (they fill their own form

- in Word; this skill does not help)

- - Target journal uses its own declaration form (not ICMJE) — check author

- guidelines first

- - Only 1 author (not worth the setup)

- Ask the user (or extract from conversation):

- 1. **Manuscript title** (exact, as it will appear on title page)

- 3. **Author list** — ordered, one name per slot: `[(1, "Author One"), (2, "Author Two"), ...]`

- Present the intake back to the user for confirmation (**Gate 1 — user approval**)

- before generating anything. Explicitly name which authors will get all-None

- forms and remind that anyone with a real disclosure must instead fill their own

- form in Word.

- Invoke the script with the synthetic seed that ships with this skill:

-

- python3 ${SKILL_DIR}/scripts/fill_icmje_coi.py \

- --seed ${SKILL_DIR}/templates/icmje_coi_seed_synthetic.docx \

- The script exits nonzero if any seed string is not found, preventing silent

- failures.

- For each generated docx, confirm:

- - ☒ count = 14 (13 disclosure items + 1 final certification)

- - "None" count = 13

- - Correct name appears after "Your Name:"

- - Correct title appears after "Manuscript Title:"

- - No leakage of seed placeholder strings (`Placeholder Author`, `Placeholder Manuscript Title`, `January 1, 2000`)

- Verification one-liner:

- for f in {out_dir}/*.docx; do

- python3 -c "

- import zipfile, sys

- xml = zipfile.ZipFile('$f').read('word/document.xml').decode()

- assert xml.count('☒') == 14, 'bad ☒ count'

- assert xml.count('None') == 13, 'bad None count'

- assert 'Placeholder' not in xml, 'seed leak'

- print('✓ $f')

- "

- done

- Present verification results to user (**Gate 2 — user review**) before handing

- off files.

- Provide the user with circulation copy to send with each personalized form (write it in the co-authors' preferred language — Korean is common for Korean co-authors):

- All 6–21 authors can be emailed in one `gws gmail draft` batch (**Gate 3 — user

- approves batch send** before actually dispatching).

-

- ## Custom Seeds

-

- If the user wants a custom seed (e.g., different default wording, pre-filled

- items 2/3 with a common grant), generate it once as follows:

-

- 1. Open `templates/icmje_coi_seed_synthetic.docx` in Word

- 2. Edit the desired fields

- 3. Save as a new file under `{project}/submission/{journal}/` or a

- local private seeds directory (outside this repo)

- 4. Pass `--seed /path/to/custom.docx` to the script along with the new seed

- values for `--seed-name`, `--seed-title`, `--seed-date`

-

- Do NOT commit custom seeds that contain real author names to the public

- medsci-skills repo. Keep them in private per-project directories or a

- local private seeds directory (outside this repo).

-

- ## Seed Provenance (how the shipped synthetic seed was created)

-

- The shipped `templates/icmje_coi_seed_synthetic.docx` was derived from the

- official ICMJE `coi_disclosure.docx` through the following steps:

-

- 1. Downloaded the official ICMJE template (`https://www.icmje.org/downloads/coi_disclosure.docx`)

- 2. Opened in Word, typed placeholder values:

- - Date: `January 1, 2000`

- - Your Name: `Placeholder Author`

- - Manuscript Title: `Placeholder Manuscript Title`

- 3. Checked each of the 13 disclosure items' "None" option (14 checkboxes total including final certification)

- 4. Typed "None" in the "Name all entities" column for each item

- 5. Scrubbed `docProps/core.xml` metadata: creator=`ICMJE`, lastModifiedBy=`Anonymous`, dates=`2000-01-01`

- 6. Scrubbed `docProps/app.xml` Company/Manager fields

-

- No real author's disclosure data is embedded. The file is safe to redistribute.

-

- ## Anti-Hallucination

-

- - **Never invent author names, email addresses, or ORCIDs.** Pull them

- verbatim from the manuscript's title page or the user's author list.

- - **Never claim to have filled the 13 disclosure items** — they come from the

- seed unchanged. If the user asks whether the script "handled the

- disclosures," the honest answer is "it cloned the seed's ☒ None entries;

- no author-specific disclosure reasoning happened."

- - **Never promise the script works on a blank ICMJE template.** It does not —

- the seed must be pre-filled with all-None ☒ + text.

- - **Never edit seed XML by authoring new SDT elements.** If an error requires

- altering the seed structure, stop and escalate to the user; Word-generated

- SDT XML is the ground truth.

- - **Never push private seed files to public repos.** If the user asks to

- promote a custom seed, verify by `unzip -p seed.docx docProps/core.xml` that

- no real names remain in metadata before committing.

-

- ## References

-

- - ICMJE Disclosure of Interest page: https://www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/

- - ICMJE COI form download: https://www.icmje.org/downloads/coi_disclosure.docx

- - ICMJE FAQ on disclosure forms: https://www.icmje.org/about-icmje/faqs/conflict-of-interest-disclosure-forms/

- - ${SKILL_DIR}/scripts/fill_icmje_coi.py — generator CLI + Python API

- - ${SKILL_DIR}/templates/icmje_coi_seed_synthetic.docx — shipped synthetic seed (PII-free)

-

- ## Related Skills

-

- | Skill | Relationship |

- |---|---|

- | `write-paper` | Completes the manuscript whose title is used as input |

- | `find-journal` | Identifies whether the target journal requires ICMJE form |

- | `add-journal` | Journal profile records whether ICMJE form is required |

- | `revise` | After revision, updated title may require re-generating forms |

- ## Non-Goals

- - Filling journal-specific disclosure forms (Elsevier Declaration of Interest,

- BMJ ICMJE derivative, etc.) — only the canonical ICMJE form

- - Handling authors with real disclosures — those authors fill their own forms

- - Signing the forms — authors sign manually after receiving their personalized docx

- - Uploading to Editorial Manager — that remains manual, post-signature