---
name: orgsci-writing-style
description: Use when polishing the prose of an Organization Science manuscript — front-loading the organizational argument and contribution, writing for an interdisciplinary micro-to-macro audience, and conforming to INFORMS author-date house style. Late-stage polish; do not invoke while the theoretical contribution is still unsettled.
---

# Writing Style (orgsci-writing-style)

## When to trigger

- The prose buries the argument or the contribution
- The paper reads to only one audience (pure micro or pure macro) when it should reach both
- Citations and formatting are not in INFORMS author-date style
- You are doing a final polish before submission

## Write for an interdisciplinary, micro-to-macro audience

Organization Science readers come from organization theory, strategy, sociology, economics, and psychology, and work at every level from individual to population. Write so that a macro reader follows a micro paper and vice versa: define constructs on first use, name the level of analysis explicitly, and translate discipline-specific jargon into organizational terms. The opening pages must make the **organizational phenomenon, the conversation joined, and the contribution** unmistakable — front-load the argument rather than withholding it until the discussion.

## INFORMS house style

- **Citations:** author-date, e.g., Norman 1977 or (Norman 1977); reference list alphabetical by author in journal style.
- **Format:** double-spaced, 1-inch margins, Garamond- or Times-New-Roman-like fonts (explicitly **no Helvetica Narrow**); minimize footnotes; PDF or MS Word.
- **Abstract:** **no more than 250 words.**
- **Anonymization:** for double-anonymous review, remove author names, affiliations, and acknowledgements, and write self-citations in the third person or suppress them.
- **Length:** respect the all-inclusive ~50-page norm; tighten prose rather than spilling into the appendix what belongs in the argument.

## Voice and structure

- Prefer active voice and a clear narrative line; the journal values readable theory.
- For inductive papers, let the data structure and process model anchor the narrative; for deductive papers, foreground the mechanism and propositions.
- State boundary conditions as part of the theory, not as hedging.
- Avoid effusive throat-clearing and avoid combative framing of prior work — engage it generously.

## Anti-patterns

- A first page that withholds the contribution until page 30.
- Discipline jargon left untranslated for the cross-level audience.
- Passive, nominalized prose that hides who does what.
- Helvetica Narrow, numeric citation styles, or an over-250-word abstract.


## Style execution pass for Organization Science

Treat this skill as an executable review pass, not a prose hint. First lock a level map, a mechanism paragraph, and the cover-letter contribution statement; then judge whether the current manuscript answers the venue's real reader: interdisciplinary organization reviewers who ask whether the mechanism travels across levels of analysis.

- **Do the pass:** Rewrite the first two pages so each paragraph starts from the venue-level claim, not from chronology or method inventory; preserve exact source-map limits and move technical overflow to appendix or supplement.
- **Return a ledger:** give `claim / evidence / risk / manuscript location` rows, so the next agent can edit rather than rediscover the issue.
- **Sibling guard:** compare against AMJ for empirical management framing, ASQ for organization-theory depth, Management Science for formal/quantitative operations; if a sibling owns the contribution, recommend re-routing before polishing format.
- **Stop condition:** do not give submission-ready advice until the pack's `resources/official-source-map.md` has been checked for volatile rules and the manuscript has one concrete fix for the largest venue-specific risk.

## Output format

```
【Front-loading】phenomenon + conversation + contribution clear on page 1?
【Audience reach】readable to both micro and macro readers; jargon translated?
【House style】author-date, no Helvetica Narrow, abstract ≤250 words, anonymized
【Length/voice】within ~50-page norm; active, non-combative
【Next step】orgsci-submission
```