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.
2. Positioning → est-literature-positioning: engage the fate, analytical, and tox literatures so novelty is mechanistic, not "another dataset."
3. Design/analysis loop → est-study-design ↔ est-data-analysis: lock the abiotic control, mass balance, and QA/QC; handle the censored values with ROS.
4. Exhibits + SI → est-figures-and-tables, est-reporting-and-reproducibility: build a concept TOC graphic and deposit data/spectra/code.
5. 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 — environmental data, instruments, and software by sub-area
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — official ES&T URLs behind every fact in this pack