Tame IEEE Citations with a Routed Agent Skill

Where this fits

You're polishing a camera-ready IEEE paper. The reviewers flagged a missing baseline, a DOI that doesn't resolve, and a citation that doesn't actually support the claim. Your agent has the paper's text and BibTeX, but it's guessing at fixes. This is where ieee-citation steps in: it gives your agent a structured protocol to audit, correct, and enhance citations without inventing metadata.

Why agents benefit

• Routed decision-making: The skill loads a manifest and always-load fragments, then detects axes like task type, source type, and citation role. Your agent follows a deterministic path instead of free‑form guesswork.
• No hallucinated metadata: The skill explicitly forbids inventing DOIs, page numbers, or venues. It forces verification against known patterns and cross‑checks, which is critical for academic integrity.
• Related‑work gap detection: It doesn't just fix formatting—it helps your agent identify missing classic or recent baselines by analyzing citation roles and coverage.
• Multi‑format handling: From BibTeX cleanup to reference audit and format conversion, the skill routes to the right guidance for each task, so your agent doesn't need to re‑invent the wheel.
• Rhetorical awareness: It checks whether citations actually support claims, not just whether they're formatted correctly—turning citation fixing into argument strengthening.

Practical scenarios

Scenario 1: BibTeX cleanup before submission

Your agent receives a messy .bib file with inconsistent keys, missing DOIs, and wrong venue abbreviations. The skill routes to bibtex-cleanup and metadata-check, then applies rules to normalize entries, validate DOIs against known registries, and flag missing fields—all without touching the paper text.

Scenario 2: Reviewer asks for a missing baseline

A reviewer says your related work omits a key method from 2019. Your agent uses the related-work-gap axis to scan the citation graph, identify which classic or recent works are absent, and suggest where to insert them—with proper IEEE citation positioning.

Scenario 3: Verifying claim support in a draft

Your agent reads a sentence like "Our method outperforms all prior work" and must check if the cited references actually contain comparative results. The citation-logic and claim-support roles guide the agent to inspect each citation's context and flag unsupported claims.

Add it to your agent workflow

Install the skill via npx:

npx skills add CloudWave818/ieee-skills --skill ieee-citation

Then, in your agent's prompt, include the skill's routing protocol. For example:

You are preparing an IEEE manuscript. Use the ieee-citation skill to audit the references.bib file. Follow the routing protocol: detect task_type as bibtex-cleanup, source_type as conference-paper, and citation_role as baseline. Load the always_load fragments and apply the guidance.

The skill will guide your agent through the steps, ensuring it doesn't invent metadata and that every fix is verifiable.

Compare before adopting

Before you commit, compare ieee-citation with alternatives like generic citation formatters or manual checklists. Look at:

• Quality signals: Does it enforce zero‑hallucination rules? Does it have a clear routing protocol?
• Maintenance freshness: Check the GitHub repo for recent commits and issue resolution. A stale skill may not handle new DOI formats or venue name changes.
• Alternatives: Tools like bibtex-tidy or zotero can format, but they lack the rhetorical and gap‑detection logic.
• Workflow fit: Does the skill's routing align with your agent's existing toolchain? It's designed for agents that can follow multi‑step protocols.

Why it is worth tracking

With 259 stars and an active author, ieee-citation shows real community momentum. Its focus on verifiable metadata and related‑work logic sets it apart from simple formatters. Track it if you build agents for academic writing, peer review, or research assistance. Evaluate it when your agent needs to produce publication‑ready references without human oversight. For a broader view of agent skills, see OpenAgentSkill for community insights and updates.