Reference Format

Core Rule

Reference formatting is deterministic — route it to the bibliography toolchain, not to the model. Switching APA → a numbered style, abbreviating journal names, reordering author/year/title: these have exactly one correct output, and a CSL processor or biber produces it. Do not hand-retype entries — typing a bibliography by hand burns tokens and injects errors into a path that has a single right answer (CLAUDE.md → Model vs Code).

Two facts the model must hold:

1. Presentation only. A style conversion changes how a fact is displayed — never the fact. The DOI, author list, year, title, and venue in references.bib are immutable; the style decides ordering, punctuation, and abbreviation around them. If a conversion would change a DOI or an author name, that is a bug, not a reformat.
2. Never invent a missing field to satisfy a style. If the target style requires page numbers or a DOI and an entry lacks them, you do not fabricate one to make the build clean — you flag it [VALUE — verify] (agent_docs/citation-discipline.md → placeholder protocol). A fabricated page range is the same cardinal-rule violation as a fabricated citation.

This skill configures and runs the conversion and reports what is missing. It does not write .bib field values by hand.

When to Use

Invoke with /reference-format when:

• The manuscript's bibliography is in the wrong style for its target venue (drafted APA, the venue wants a numbered style).
• After retargeting (/journal-fit surfaced a style mismatch as a gap).
• Normalizing inconsistent formatting (mixed "Last, First" / "First Last", mixed full/abbreviated journal names) — a deterministic clean-up, not a content edit.

State the target if it differs from the map: /reference-format ACL. Otherwise read it from MANUSCRIPT_MAP.md → Target journal.

Process

Phase 1: Identify Current and Target Style

1. Read MANUSCRIPT_MAP.md → Target journal to fix the target style. Map venue → style class: NeurIPS/ACL → numbered (author–year in text via the venue style file, ISO-4 abbreviations); IEEE → numbered [1]; APA → author–date with DOIs; Nature-family → superscript numerics.
2. Detect the current mechanism in the project:
   • biblatex + biber — look for \usepackage[style=...]{biblatex} and \addbibresource. Conversion = change style=.
   • natbib / classic bibtex — look for \bibliographystyle{...} and \bibliography{}. Conversion = swap the .bst (e.g. the venue's provided style file).
   • pandoc + CSL — Markdown source compiled with --citeproc. Conversion = swap the --csl file.
3. Confirm the venue's required style file exists — many venues (NeurIPS, ACL) ship a .bst or class with the kit/submission template. Use the venue's own file rather than a generic approximation.

Phase 2: Apply the Conversion via the Tool

Pick the mechanism the project already uses; do not migrate engines unless asked.

• biblatex/biber — change the package option, e.g. \usepackage[style=numeric-comp,sorting=none]{biblatex} for a numbered venue; rerun biber then latexmk.
• classic bibtex — set \bibliographystyle{<venue>} (the provided .bst); rerun bibtex then pdflatex.
• pandoc/CSL — pass the target CSL, e.g. pandoc paper.md --citeproc --csl=<venue>.csl --bibliography=references.bib -o paper.pdf.

In every case the engine rereads references.bib and re-renders. You do not edit the rendered output. If a field is genuinely missing (the entry has no doi and the target needs one), that is a Phase 3 flag — not something you type in.

Phase 3: Verify — Nothing Lost, Nothing Altered, Required Fields Present

After the tool runs:

1. Entry count is conserved — the rendered bibliography lists the same number of works as before. A dropped entry usually means a malformed .bib record the engine skipped — surface it.

2. Facts unchanged — spot-check that DOIs, author lists, years, and titles match references.bib. The style changed; the data did not.

3. Required fields for the TARGET style are present, per entry. Different styles demand different fields:

   Target style class	Commonly required fields
   APA (author–date)	author, year, title, journal/venue, DOI; pages for articles
   IEEE / numbered	author, title, venue, year; pages; volume/number for journals
   Nature-family	author, title, journal, year, volume, pages
   NeurIPS/ACL numbered	author, title, venue/booktitle, year; pages for proceedings

   For each entry missing a required field, record it — do not fill it from your prior.

4. No fabrication to satisfy the style — every gap from step 3 becomes a [VALUE — verify] flag in the report, never an invented value.

Output Format

# Reference Format — APA → ACL (numbered)
> Mechanism: biblatex + biber (detected \usepackage[style=apa]{biblatex}).
> Deterministic conversion — presentation only; no .bib field values edited by hand.

## Config / command to apply
Change the package option:
  \usepackage[style=numeric-comp,sorting=none]{biblatex}   % was style=apa
Then rebuild:
  biber paper && latexmk -pdf paper.tex
(Use the ACL-provided .bst/style file if submitting via the ACL template.)

## Verification summary
- Entries before: 42  ·  rendered after: 42  ·  none dropped.
- Facts spot-checked: DOIs / authors / years unchanged (style-only re-render).

## Fields missing for the TARGET style (flag — do NOT invent)
| Bib key      | Missing required field | Action |
|--------------|------------------------|--------|
| tooluse2023  | pages                  | [VALUE — verify] — get from the published proceedings |
| halluc2022   | pages, volume          | [VALUE — verify] — confirm against the source PDF |

## Notes
- 2 entries need page numbers for the numbered style; flagged, not fabricated.
- If staying on classic bibtex instead: \bibliographystyle{acl_natbib} + bibtex run.

Pairs With

• /citation-audit — run after the conversion; it re-checks dangling keys, duplicates, malformed DOIs, and \ref↔\label integrity against the new style. The audit reads the bibliography; this skill re-styles it.
• citation-gate (.claude/hooks/citation-gate.sh) — fires after every .tex/.bib edit; confirms every \cite still resolves after the style swap. If it fails, a key broke in conversion.
• MANUSCRIPT_MAP.md — the Target journal field is the source of the target style; read it first.

Common Rationalizations

Notes

• This is a Drafter-model / tooling task (CLAUDE.md → Model Selection) — the model's only job is to pick the right config and read the missing-field report; the engine does the formatting.
• The cardinal-rule edge case to hold: a missing required field is a flag, never a fill. Styles are satisfied by sourcing the field or by flagging it — never by invention.
• Keep facts and presentation strictly separate. If an edit changes a DOI, year, or author, you left "formatting" and entered "altering the record" — stop.