| name | ajs-tables-figures |
| description | Use when building tables and figures for an American Journal of Sociology (AJS) manuscript to AJS house conventions — discrete consecutive numbering, appendix-table lettering, separate exhibit sections after the text, and mandatory alt text for every figure at submission. Prepares exhibits; it does not generate data. |
Tables & Figures (ajs-tables-figures)
AJS has specific house conventions for exhibits, and it now requires alt text for every figure
at submission. Get the mechanics right so the exhibits read cleanly under double-blind review and
pass straight into production. Verify current formatting against the AJS Manuscript Preparation pages
and Formatting PDF before submission.
When to trigger
- Building or revising tables and figures for an AJS submission
- Preparing the post-text exhibit sections and appendix tables
- Writing alt text and captions
- A reader said an exhibit was unreadable, mislabeled, or non-self-contained
AJS exhibit conventions (verify on the live prep pages / PDF)
- Numbering: number tables/figures consecutively as they appear in the text. AJS strongly
prefers numbering discrete items separately (table 1, table 2, table 3 …) rather than grouping
several panels under one number.
- Appendix exhibits: number as table A1, A2 … / table B1, B2 … (lettered by appendix).
- Placement: notes, references, tables, figures, and appendices appear in separate sections
following the text, in that order — not embedded inline.
- Alt text (required): provide alternative text for every figure, image, or inline graphic,
included with the figure captions at the time of submission.
- Self-contained: each exhibit readable on its own — units, N, source, and what varies stated in
title/notes.
Make exhibits do theoretical work
- Lead with the exhibit that carries the main claim; do not bury it among robustness tables.
- Prefer figures that show a mechanism or pattern (marginal effects, event-study, sequence,
network structure) over dense coefficient dumps where a plot would communicate better.
- Colorblind-safe, legible in grayscale; vector output (PDF/EPS) for print.
Referee/production conformance check (AJS-specific)
| Slip referees and production catch | AJS-specific fix |
|---|
| Panels grouped under one number | discrete, consecutive: table 1, 2, 3 |
| Appendix table continues the main sequence | letter it: table A1/B1 |
| Exhibit embedded inline | move to the separate post-text sections |
| Perfunctory or missing alt text | one descriptive line per figure, with captions |
| Exhibit unreadable without the body | state units, N, source in title/notes |
Calibration: exhibits as argument, not decoration (hedged)
Craft heuristics fitting AJS's culture, not graded rules; confirm specifics against the journal's current submission guidelines. Because AJS rewards a carefully built argument, the lead exhibit should carry the theoretical claim, not merely display a model — a figure that makes a mechanism visible (a sequence plot, a network diagram, marginal effects rather than a coefficient dump) does more work than a wall of stars, and pacing the long-form article means placing the claim-bearing exhibit early. Illustrative: a regime-transitions paper buries its headline pattern in table 6; the author promotes it to a lead event-sequence figure, renumbers the rest discretely (tables 1–7), moves diagnostics to a lettered appendix (A1–A3), and gives every figure descriptive alt text.
Execution bridge (StatsPAI / Stata MCP)
Generate exhibits from the fitted result, not by retyping numbers (the usual source of
body-vs-supplement drift). Full map: execution-with-mcp. AJS is general sociology with a strong theory tradition; apply the chain below to its quantitative-empirical lane.
- Tables:
etable (multi-model columns) or did_summary_to_latex straight from the
result_id.
- Figures:
plot_from_result / enhanced_event_study_plot / event_study_table —
axis units and the SE/clustering note baked in.
- Every note names the estimator + clustering and states the effect size in
interpretable units.
See a full fitted-result → exhibit chain in the JF execution walkthrough.
Anti-patterns
- Grouping panels under one number when AJS wants discrete numbering
- Embedding tables/figures inline instead of in the post-text sections
- Missing or perfunctory alt text (now required at submission)
- Exhibits that need the body text to be intelligible (no units, no N, no source)
- A wall of stars where a single figure would carry the argument, or burying the claim-bearing exhibit among robustness tables
Exhibit pass for American Journal of Sociology
Treat this skill as an executable review pass, not a prose hint. First lock the social process, data leverage, causal or interpretive warrant, and theoretical payoff; then judge whether the current manuscript answers the venue's real reader: sociology reviewers who value deep theory, durable empirical leverage, and careful social-mechanism claims.
- Do the pass: For every table or figure, state the estimand or object, sample or case base, uncertainty display, and one sentence the exhibit proves for the venue audience.
- 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 ASR for broader empirical sociology, Social Forces for wider substantive range, Demography for population mechanisms; 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
【Main exhibit】the one carrying the central claim (lead with it)
【Numbering】discrete + consecutive? appendix as A1/B1? [Y/N]
【Placement】in separate post-text sections (notes/refs/tables/figures/appendices)? [Y/N]
【Alt text】present for every figure, with captions? [Y/N]
【Self-contained】units / N / source / accessible? [Y/N]
【Next】ajs-writing-style
Supplementary resources
