ier-rebuttal
Installation
SKILL.md
Rebuttal Strategy (ier-rebuttal)
When to trigger
- An IER R&R (or major/minor revision) letter arrived and you need a response plan
- A reject-and-resubmit or a split decision (referees disagree) needs a strategy
- A referee challenges the load-bearing assumption, the identification, or a proof and you must decide what to concede vs. defend
- You need to convert a stack of referee comments into an ordered, owned revision plan
Reading an IER decision letter
IER reviews are rigor-gated and theory-leaning, so the comments that must be resolved are usually about correctness and generality, not framing. Triage every comment into one of four buckets before writing a word of response:
| Bucket | What it is | Response posture |
|---|---|---|
| Must-fix (correctness) | A genuine error, an undefended load-bearing assumption, an identification hole, a gap in a proof | Fix fully; show the fix in the paper AND summarize it in the letter |
| Must-address (generality) | "Does this survive weaker assumptions / a different specification?" | Run it; report the result honestly (including if it bounds the headline) |
| Reasonable-but-costly | A check the referee would like that adds length/effort | Do the high-value ones; for the rest, explain the trade-off respectfully |
| Misreading / disagreement | The referee misunderstood, or is wrong on the merits | Disagree with evidence and courtesy; never just assert |