classical-and-quantum-gravity - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: classical-and-quantum-gravity description: Use when targeting Classical and Quantum Gravity (CQG) or deciding whether a gravitation, general relativity, cosmology, quantum gravity, or gravitational-wave manuscript fits this IOP venue. Encodes the journal's fit, framing, method-and-evidence bar, house style, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics.

Classical and Quantum Gravity (classical-and-quantum-gravity)

Journal positioning

Classical and Quantum Gravity is an IOP Publishing journal dedicated to all aspects of gravitational physics: classical general relativity, alternative and modified theories of gravity, mathematical relativity, cosmology, gravitational-wave science, numerical relativity, and approaches to quantum gravity. Its defining character is breadth within gravitation combined with technical rigor: CQG is a primary archival home for the gravitation community, publishing complete, well-documented studies from mathematical foundations to gravitational-wave data analysis. It is not a broad-impact venue in the PRL sense; soundness, completeness, and relevance to gravitational physics are the standard. Readership is the international gravitation, relativity, and cosmology community across physics and mathematical physics. This skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool. It does not replace the journal's current official submission guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live author instructions on the Classical and Quantum Gravity IOP site.

When to trigger

The author names Classical and Quantum Gravity as the target venue for a complete study in gravitation, relativity, cosmology, or quantum gravity.
A manuscript in gravitational-wave science, numerical relativity, or mathematical relativity is archival and rigorous but not framed for a broad-impact letters venue.
A paper develops or tests a gravity theory or approach to quantum gravity and the author is choosing between CQG, Physical Review D, and a reviews venue.
The author needs CQG's scope boundaries within gravitation, evidence expectations, and desk-reject criteria before submission.

Scope & topic fit

Classical general relativity: exact solutions, black-hole physics, causal structure, energy conditions, and the global geometry of spacetime.
Mathematical relativity: the Cauchy problem, stability of solutions, asymptotic structure, and rigorous results in Lorentzian geometry.
Cosmology: relativistic cosmological models, inflation, dark energy and modified gravity, and the cosmological perturbation theory underlying them.
Gravitational-wave science: source modeling, waveform development, data-analysis methods, detector science, and tests of GR with GW observations.
Numerical relativity: formulations, simulations of compact-object dynamics, and binary-merger modeling.
Quantum gravity and semiclassical physics: loop quantum gravity, string-inspired gravity, asymptotic safety, black-hole thermodynamics, and quantum-field theory in curved spacetime.

Method & evidence bar

The contribution must be a complete, self-contained study with full derivations, assumptions stated, and results documented; preliminary or letter-only sketches misfit.
Analytical and mathematical-relativity work must be rigorous, with proofs or derivations verifiable from the paper and its appendices.
Numerical relativity and GW-analysis results require documented methods (formulation, resolution/convergence, gauge, sampling), convergence tests, and quantified uncertainties.
Modified-gravity and cosmology claims must be consistent with established theoretical and observational constraints, with limits and regimes of validity stated.
Where reproducibility depends on it, codes and data (e.g., waveform or analysis pipelines) should be made available or described in sufficient detail.
The work must be positioned precisely against the existing gravitation literature, distinguishing genuine advance from re-derivation.

Structure & house style

CQG uses standard IOP article types (Papers, Letters, Topical Reviews); Papers are the primary complete-study format and length follows completeness.
Use the IOP LaTeX class with structured sections and consistent relativistic notation (signature, index, and unit conventions stated explicitly).
The abstract states the gravitational problem, method, and principal result; broad-impact rhetoric is not required.
Equations and tensor conventions must be unambiguous; figures (waveforms, convergence plots, spacetime diagrams) must be quantitative and labeled.
Appendices and supplementary material carry lengthy derivations, convergence studies, and additional numerical results.
Citation must engage the relevant CQG/PRD/Living Reviews literature precisely to situate the advance within gravitation.

Official-submission checklist

Before giving submission-ready advice, read ../../resources/source-basis.md and ../../resources/official-source-map.md; start from the official source anchors for this journal family, then cite the current journal-specific page you checked.
Search the live site for "Classical and Quantum Gravity author guidelines" and follow the current IOP version.
Re-check article-type definitions (Paper, Letter, Topical Review) and current length, figure, and notation conventions.
Re-check data-availability and code-availability requirements; confirm supplementary-material formatting and deposition expectations.
Re-check competing-interests, funding, and AI-use disclosure requirements; confirm preprint policy (arXiv posting is standard and compatible).
If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win.

Pre-submission self-check

One sentence — the advance in gravitation/relativity/cosmology/quantum gravity this paper makes and who will build on it.
The study is complete: derivations, assumptions, and results are fully documented with stated conventions.
Numerical-relativity or GW results include convergence tests and quantified uncertainties.
Modified-gravity/cosmology claims are consistent with current theoretical and observational constraints.
Codes/data needed for reproduction are available or described in sufficient detail.
The paper is positioned against recent CQG / PRD literature on this problem.

Common desk-reject triggers

A preliminary or letter-length sketch lacking the completeness CQG Papers expect.
A numerical-relativity or GW-analysis result without convergence tests or quantified uncertainties.
A modified-gravity proposal inconsistent with established constraints or with regimes of validity unstated.
A re-derivation of a known result presented as a new advance without genuine novelty.
A manuscript outside gravitation scope, or one whose framing belongs in a broad-impact or non-gravity venue.

Re-routing decision

US-style gravitation, relativity, or cosmology result within the Physical Review family: physical-review-d.
Continuously updated, invited authoritative review specifically in relativity and gravitation: living-reviews-in-relativity.
Cosmology or relativistic-astrophysics result with strong observational/astronomy emphasis: the-astrophysical-journal or astronomy-and-astrophysics.
Broad-impact, transformative gravitation result for a wide physics audience: physical-review-x or physical-review-letters.

Output format

[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] Classical and Quantum Gravity
[Topic tags] <2–3 closest topics>
[Method/evidence] <is the study complete and rigorous, with convergence/uncertainty analysis and consistency with established gravitational constraints?>
[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
[Official items to re-check] <article type / length & notation conventions / supplementary material / data-code deposition / disclosure / preprint policy>
[Re-route suggestion] <if not a fit, a better-matched venue>