How to convey that the main point of an article is not something and is something else

Question

I want to state that an article does not aim at discussing technical details as its main goal and its main contribution and novelty is not in technical details, instead it aims at introducing a concept and analyzing it. I came across this sentence but I'm not sure if pivotal is a good word for it and what better word can be used:

It is important to note that this paper is not pivotal in terms of technical details, but it is novel in conceptualizing X and providing arguments for supporting it from an analytical point-of-view.

Answer 1

You could use your way of saying it. It's pretty common and idiomatic:

• This [boy didn't go to school]. Instead [he went to a computer club].

You can also use "not to, but to" construction:

• He is here not to kill you, but only to threaten you.

You can also use "in fact" instead of "instead":

• This man wasn't at home in the hour of murder. In fact he was with me in the cinema.

Answer 2

Pivotal sounds off to me - I think of it as describing an entire piece of work, so even with the qualifying phrase "in terms of technical details," it sounds like you're downplaying the importance of your own paper. I do like the word novel as you have used it, so I'd reword to use novel for both the aspects of the paper:

It is important to note that this paper is novel not in terms of technical details, but in conceptualizing X and providing arguments for supporting it from an analytical point-of-view.