Agent skill · research science · k-dense-ai
scientific-critical-thinking
Evaluate scientific claims and evidence quality. Use for assessing experimental design validity, identifying biases and confounders, applying evidence grading frameworks (GRADE, Cochrane Risk of Bias), or teaching critical analysis. Best for understanding evidence quality, identifying flaws. For formal peer review writing use peer-review.
Why this skill is useful
Provides domain-specific frameworks and methodologies for evaluating scientific claims that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
Requires openrouter account access. About 5k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-03. 32,849 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Scientific Critical Thinking Overview Critical thinking is a systematic process for evaluating scientific rigor. Assess methodology, experimental design, statistical validity, biases, confounding, and evidence quality using GRADE and Cochrane ROB frameworks. Apply this skill for critical analysis of scientific claims. When to Use This Skill This skill should be used when: Evaluating research methodology and experimental design Assessing statistical validity and evidence quality Identifying biases and confounding in studies Reviewing scientific claims and conclusions Conducting systematic reviews or meta-analyses Applying GRADE or Cochrane risk of bias assessments Providing critical analysis of research papers Visual Aids (Optional) Only add figures when the user explicitly requests a diagram (for example, a GRADE flowchart, bias decision tree, or evidence-quality framework). When figures help: Critical thinking framework diagrams Bias identification decision trees Evidence quality assessment flowcharts GRADE or risk-of-bias evaluation frameworks How to create figures: Preferred: Use the scientific-schematics skill for AI-generated diagrams from a natural-language description Alternative: Build figures in your usual tools (draw.io, PowerPoint, matplotlib, etc.) From the scientific-schematics skill directory, with OPENROUTERAPIKEY set: Disclosure: AI schematic generation sends your prompt to OpenRouter (a third-party API). Do not include unpublished sensitive details unless that transmission is appropriate for your project. --- Core Capabilities Seven capability areas, each with the questions to ask and what the answers imply, are in references/corecapabilities.md: 1. Methodology critique — design, controls, confounding, and whether the method can answer the question asked. 2. Bias detection — selection, measurement, publication, and cognitive biases. 3. Statistical analysis evaluation — power, multiplicity, p-value misuse, effect sizes. 4. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills k-dense-ai/scientific-critical-thinking