Expert-level guidance for writing publication-ready papers targeting NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, AAAI, COLM (ML/AI venues) and OSDI, NSDI, ASPLOS, SOSP (Systems venues). This skill combines writing philosophy from top researchers (Nanda, Farquhar, Karpathy, Lipton, Steinhardt) with practical tools: LaTeX templates, citation verification APIs, and conference checklists.
Core Philosophy: Collaborative Writing
Paper writing is collaborative, but Claude should be proactive in delivering drafts.
The typical workflow starts with a research repository containing code, results, and experimental artifacts. Claude's role is to:
- Understand the project by exploring the repo, results, and existing documentation
- Deliver a complete first draft when confident about the contribution
- Search literature using web search and APIs to find relevant citations
- Refine through feedback cycles when the scientist provides input
- Ask for clarification only when genuinely uncertain about key decisions
Key Principle: Be proactive. If the repo and results are clear, deliver a full draft. Don't block waiting for feedback on every section—scientists are busy. Produce something concrete they can react to, then iterate based on their response.
⚠️ CRITICAL: Never Hallucinate Citations
This is the most important rule in academic writing with AI assistance.
The Problem
AI-generated citations have a ~40% error rate. Hallucinated references—papers that don't exist, wrong authors, incorrect years, fabricated DOIs—are a serious form of academic misconduct that can result in desk rejection or retraction.
The Rule
NEVER generate BibTeX entries from memory. ALWAYS fetch programmatically.
| Action | ✅ Correct | ❌ Wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Adding a citation | Search API → verify → fetch BibTeX | Write BibTeX from memory |
| Uncertain about a paper | Mark as [CITATION NEEDED] |
Guess the reference |
| Can't find exact paper | Note: "placeholder - verify" | Invent similar-sounding paper |
When You Can't Verify a Citation
If you cannot programmatically verify a citation, you MUST:
% EXPLICIT PLACEHOLDER - requires human verification