queelius/venue

Venue Selection

Help the researcher identify the best publication venue for their paper. The right venue maximizes impact and minimizes wasted review cycles.

Step 1: Read Context

Read .papermill/state.md (Read tool) for:

• Thesis: The core contribution (determines which communities care).
• Prior art: Where key references are published (reveals relevant venues).
• Review history: Paper quality assessment (determines venue tier).

If .papermill/state.md does not exist, venue selection can still proceed from the manuscript alone, but results will be stronger with thesis and prior-art context. Suggest running /papermill:init first for best results.

Read the manuscript (Read tool) to understand scope, length, and contribution type.

Step 2: Identify Candidate Venues

Use multiple signals to generate candidates:

From references

Look at where the paper's key references are published. These venues are likely in scope.

From the contribution type

• Theoretical results: Mathematics or statistics journals (Annals of Statistics, JASA, Bernoulli)
• Algorithms: CS conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, AAAI) or journals (JMLR, Algorithmica)
• Applied methods: Domain-specific journals (Biometrics, Technometrics, JRSS-B)
• Systems: Systems conferences (OSDI, SOSP) or journals (TOCS)
• Short/preliminary results: Workshop papers or letters
• Software with research application: JOSS (Journal of Open Source Software) — any language, any domain. See the JOSS note below.

From web search

Search for "best venues for [topic]" and check recent calls for papers (WebSearch tool).

Step 3: Evaluate Each Venue

For each candidate, assess:

| Factor | What to check | |--------|--------------| | Scope | Does the paper's topic match the venue's published scope? | | Impact | Impact factor, h-index, or community prestige | | Acceptance rate | How selective is the venue? | | Review timeline | Time from submission to decision (weeks to months) | | Open access | Is it OA? Are there APC fees? | | Page limits | Does the paper fit? | | Formatting | What template/format is required? |

Step 4: Present Recommendations

Present a ranked shortlist of 3-5 venues:

Venue Recommendations

| Rank | Venue | Fit | Impact | Timeline | Notes | |------|-------|-----|--------|----------|-------| | 1 | ... | High | ... | ... | ... | | 2 | ... | Good | ... | ... | ... | | 3 | ... | Good | ... | ... | ... |

For each recommended venue, explain:

• Why this venue is a good fit
• What aspects of the paper the reviewers will care about most
• Any adjustments needed for this venue (length, emphasis, formatting)

Step 5: Submission Strategy

Discuss strategy with the user:

• Top-down: Submit to the best venue first, revise and resubmit if rejected.
• Calibrated: Target the venue where acceptance is most likely given the paper's current quality.
• Dual-track: Prepare a short version for a conference and a full version for a journal.

There is no universally correct strategy. Help the user think through the trade-offs.

Step 6: Update State File

Update .papermill/state.md (Edit tool):

venue:
  target: "Selected venue name"
  candidates:
    - name: "Venue 1"
      fit: "high"
      deadline: "YYYY-MM-DD or rolling"
    - name: "Venue 2"
      fit: "good"
      deadline: "YYYY-MM-DD or rolling"

Append a timestamped note documenting the venue analysis.

JOSS Note

If JOSS is recommended or selected, be aware that JOSS papers are not traditional manuscripts — they are 750-1750 word software descriptions in Markdown (paper.md) with rigid required sections. Papermill's writing tools (outline, proof, polish) are not designed for this format. Instead:

• Use /pub-pipeline:joss-draft to draft the paper.md and paper.bib.
• Use /pub-pipeline:joss-audit to verify repository and paper compliance.
• If the software has a companion theory paper, write that with papermill and cite it from the JOSS paper.

JOSS accepts software in any language (Python, R, Julia, C++, etc.) with obvious research application. It does not require the paper to present novel methodology — just that the software is useful for research. The JOSS paper describes the software; the research contribution lives in companion papers or the software's own documentation.

Step 7: Suggest Next Steps

Venue selected. Next steps:

• /papermill:polish: Prepare the paper for submission to the target venue.
• Check formatting: Download the venue's template and verify compliance.
• Write cover letter: Some venues require a cover letter; draft one if needed.
• If JOSS was selected: Use /pub-pipeline:joss-draft instead of papermill for the paper itself.