Novelty Competitive Audit

Overview

Eureka's internal rigor gates (claims-audit, research-reviewer, figure-design) verify that the manuscript is internally consistent — every number traces, every figure is reproducible, every statistical claim is sound. They do NOT verify external competitiveness — whether the field already knows this, whether someone preempted the work in the 6-12 months between design approval and submission, or whether the claimed contribution altitude is still defensible against recent literature.

This skill is the external competitiveness gate, fired before submission.

Core premise: editors' first desk-reject filter is "does this advance the field?" A manuscript with 96/100 PASS on internal rigor will still desk-reject if a preempt paper appeared during manuscript preparation. This skill catches that failure mode before submission.

The Iron Law

NO SUBMISSION WITHOUT EXTERNAL NOVELTY VERIFICATION.
INTERNAL 96/100 PASS ≠ FIELD-LEVEL COMPETITIVENESS.
RIGOR IS NECESSARY. IT IS NOT SUFFICIENT.

Internal rigor can be perfect and the paper can still desk-reject on the editor's first read — because the field moved. This skill is not optional.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• Manuscript draft is complete (all sections passed section-reviewer, Abstract written last per manuscript-writing rules)
• Before invoking submission-readiness — this skill is the 5th prerequisite of that skill's Step 1 gate
• When a new preempt paper is spotted mid-revision — re-run to decide whether to reframe or narrow
• When target venue changes — different venues have different novelty bars (narrative-guide.md section "Venue-specific altitude tuning")

Do NOT use when:

• At design time — research-brainstorming Step 3 literature gap handles pre-data novelty. This skill is the submission-time complement, covering the 6-12 months of field drift since design approval
• Mid-experiment — too early to audit; claims aren't finalized yet
• To substitute for research-brainstorming Step 3 — the two are complementary, not interchangeable

Checklist

You MUST create a task for each of these and complete them in order:

1. Extract headline claims — pull 3-5 declarative sentences from Abstract + Results + Discussion that capture what the paper contributes
2. Define search strategy — keywords, time window (2 years default), databases appropriate to the field (see docs/references/novelty-audit-guide.md section "Search strategy by field")
3. Perform literature search — agent or user performs the search. WebSearch tool may be used if available; manual search is equally valid. Record what was searched (terms, databases, date, hit count) in a search log (docs/eureka/novelty-audit/YYYY-MM-DD-search-log.md)
4. Record candidate list — for each promising hit: title, authors, year, venue, one-sentence claim. Target 5-15 candidates; more is a signal the search is too broad, fewer a signal of bias
5. Evaluate each candidate on the preemption rubric — 4 dimensions (primary claim / method / data / date) × 3 overlap levels (high / partial / low). See reference guide for rubric details
6. Differentiation test — for each high-overlap candidate, write one substantive sentence describing how the current paper differs. Hand-waved differentiation ("ours is different because we focus on X") is disallowed
7. Altitude recheck — given what exists in the field now, is the contribution altitude claimed in the manuscript (narrative-guide.md section "Contribution altitude — 4 tiers") still defensible?
8. Issue verdict — PASS / CONCERN / BLOCK (see gate below) and document the reasoning
9. Dispatch `novelty-audit-reviewer` subagent — fresh-eyes review of the audit report, including red-team mode (reviewer actively hunts for 2-3 preempts the author might have missed)
10. Act on reviewer feedback — if Must-fix issues raised, re-search or re-evaluate; if Should-fix issues raised, address before final submission; Advisory issues do not block

HARD-GATE — Verdict decisions

<HARD-GATE> The verdict is not negotiable. Submission cannot proceed until PASS. </HARD-GATE>

Per-Audit Workflow

Step 1: Extract headline claims

Read the Abstract, final paragraph of the Results section, and the opening paragraph of the Discussion. Extract 3-5 declarative sentences that state what the paper claims as contribution. These should map 1:1 to the contributions enumerated in the Introduction (see section-reviewer-prompt.md Intro-Discussion symmetry rule).

Step 2: Define search strategy

Choose search parameters in advance (not post-hoc — this is the novelty-audit analog of pre-registration).

• Databases — per field (see novelty-audit-guide.md section "Search strategy by field")
• Time window — 2 years default from the manuscript submission date. Justify any adjustment
• Keywords — include MeSH / controlled vocabulary + free-text + author names of known competitors
• Preprints — include bioRxiv / medRxiv / arXiv / SSRN / OSF per field. Never exclude preprints silently

Step 3: Perform literature search

Agent/user executes search. This skill does not automate search (structured review pattern, not automated scraping — deliberate design choice to ensure domain judgment stays with the user/agent).

Record: what was searched, when, in what database, with what terms, how many hits, and the top 5-15 candidates for evaluation. This log is the object the reviewer subagent audits.

Step 4: Record candidate list

For each candidate: (title, authors, year, venue, one-sentence claim). Don't filter before recording — the reviewer subagent needs to see what was considered, including the ones you rejected fast.

Step 5: Preemption rubric evaluation

For each candidate, fill the 4-dimensional rubric:

Any candidate with 3+ "high" is flagged high-overlap.

Step 6: Differentiation test

For each high-overlap candidate, write:

They used [method A] on [dataset D1] and reported [result R1]. We used [method B] on [dataset D2], which resolves [limitation L] and enables [new finding F] not accessible to their approach.

Hand-waved differentiations ("ours is different because we focus on X" without explaining how) are disallowed. See novelty-audit-guide.md for bad/good templates.

Step 7: Altitude recheck

Re-read the manuscript's contribution altitude claim (reflects the decision made at manuscript-writing Step 3 narrative-arc lock). Is it still defensible given what now exists in the field?

• If the altitude was new phenomenon but a preempt establishes the phenomenon first → altitude drops to method improvement at best, or falsification of a narrower assumption if your result contradicts theirs
• If altitude was new framework but a preempt introduces the framework → altitude drops to framework validation or method improvement under the new framework
• If altitude was method improvement and preempt matches → the work is incremental; the question becomes whether the increment is large enough to justify publication at the target venue

Step 8: Issue verdict

Use the HARD-GATE table above. Document the reasoning in the audit report.

Step 9: Dispatch reviewer subagent

Fill {AUDIT_REPORT_PATH}, {MANUSCRIPT_PATH}, {RESULTS_DIR}, {TARGET_VENUE}, {SEARCH_LOG_PATH} placeholders in skills/novelty-competitive-audit/novelty-audit-reviewer-prompt.md. Dispatch via Task tool (general-purpose subagent).

The reviewer returns severity-tiered output: Advisory (does not block), Should-fix (address before submission), Must-fix (blocks verdict). In red-team mode the reviewer independently hunts for 2-3 preempts the author may have missed.

Step 10: Act on feedback

• Must-fix → re-search, re-evaluate, or re-verdict. Re-run reviewer until no Must-fix remains
• Should-fix → address before submission; document resolution
• Advisory → improvement suggestions; not blocking

Common Rationalizations

Red Flags — STOP

• Search with biased terms (only terms that favor your framing)
• Excluding preprints silently
• Differentiation that collapses to "our N is bigger"
• No search log recorded
• Cherry-picked candidates (only those that support your novelty claim)
• "I know the field; I don't need a search"
• Verdict BLOCK rationalized to CONCERN without changing the manuscript
• Claiming PASS without actually performing a structured search

Orthogonality with existing skills

Each owns a distinct concern. No overlap. A manuscript must pass all that apply.

Integration

• Called by: eureka:using-eureka when pre-submission intent detected; or explicit user request
• Prerequisite: manuscript first draft complete (Results + Discussion + Abstract written), passing section-reviewer for all sections
• Invokes: novelty-audit-reviewer subagent (per audit, after the inline verdict)
• Blocks: submission-readiness Step 1 prerequisites — this is the 5th gate alongside verification-before-publication, research-reviewer ≥95/100, claims-audit, venue-framing check
• Complements: research-brainstorming Step 3 (same concern, earlier phase)
• Triggers re-fire of: manuscript-writing Step 3 narrative-arc lock, if verdict is CONCERN or BLOCK and the manuscript's altitude needs adjustment
• Reference: docs/references/novelty-audit-guide.md — search strategies, preemption rubric, differentiation templates, verdict decision tree, worked examples, anti-patterns
• Pairs with: research-journal (log the audit verdict and action decisions for cross-session continuity)

Skill Type

RIGID — The discipline (must run pre-submission, verdict is non-negotiable, structured rubric, reviewer subagent dispatch) does not flex. Search strategy and candidate evaluation are FLEXIBLE by field — a medical paper's databases differ from a CS paper's databases; see novelty-audit-guide.md for field-specific guidance.