| name | jim-workflow |
| description | Use when starting or unblocking a Journal of International Marketing (JIM) manuscript and you need to pick the right jim-* sub-skill for the current stage, from first idea through the response letter. It routes to the specialist skills; it does not do their work. |
JIM Workflow Router (jim-workflow)
Overview
Router skill for manuscripts aimed at the Journal of International Marketing (JIM) — the American Marketing Association's specialist top journal for international marketing, published quarterly by SAGE (ISSN 1069-031X print / 1547-7215 online; founded 1993 by S. Tamer Cavusgil). Editor-in-Chief: Ayşegül Özsomer (Koç University), in office since 2024 — re-check the masthead on ama.org before relying on it (checked 2026-07-16). Submission runs through ScholarOne (mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ama_jim), review is double-anonymized, the abstract cap is 200 words, and the whole manuscript — title through print appendices — must fit 50 formatted pages.
What makes JIM unlike its AMA siblings (JM, JMR, JPP&M) is a single gate every paper must clear: the international dimension has to be the theoretical engine, not the setting. Crossing a border must change the theory — through cultural, institutional, or economic variation across countries — and the empirics must earn cross-national comparison, usually via multi-country data with measurement invariance evidence. A solid domestic study relabeled "…in emerging markets" is the house desk-reject.
When to trigger
- A user asks "where do I start?" or "what's next?" on a JIM-bound project
- A draft is stuck and nobody can name the binding constraint
- The team is debating JIM vs. JIBS, International Marketing Review, or Journal of Marketing
- A decision letter from JIM has arrived and revision work needs sequencing
- Someone proposes adding a second country "for the reviewers" — a routing question in disguise
Routing table
| Symptom | Route to |
|---|
| Unclear whether the question is genuinely international | jim-topic-selection |
| Culture/institutions invoked but not theorized; mechanism vague | jim-theory-development |
| Cannot state what the paper adds to the international marketing conversation | jim-literature-positioning |
| Country sampling, translation, invariance plan, or design unsettled | jim-methods |
| MGCFA, multilevel models, or multi-country panels need running/reporting | jim-data-analysis |
| Contribution reads as "we replicated X abroad" | jim-contribution-framing |
| Exhibits sprawl past the 50-page cap or hide the cross-national result | jim-tables-figures |
| Prose is fine English but not JIM's voice; abstract over 200 words | jim-writing-style |
| Ready to build the ScholarOne package | jim-submission |
| Waiting on / anticipating the editorial process | jim-review-process |
| Revising against a JIM decision letter | jim-rebuttal |
Default order
jim-topic-selection — verify the border-crossing is doing theoretical workjim-theory-development — theorize the cross-national mechanism a priorijim-literature-positioning — stake the claim in the international marketing canonjim-methods — design the multi-country study: sampling, translation, invariance planjim-data-analysis — invariance tests, multilevel/SEM estimation, country effectsjim-contribution-framing — the theory payoff plus the cross-border managerial payoffjim-tables-figures — invariance table, country descriptives, model figure, page budgetjim-writing-style — 200-word abstract and intro written lastjim-submission — ScholarOne two-file preflightjim-review-process — calibrate expectations while under reviewjim-rebuttal — after the decision letter
Loop back freely: a failed scalar-invariance test at step 5 often forces a return to step 4 (or even step 2, if only partial invariance survives and the theory leaned on mean comparisons).
Entry point by archetype
| Archetype | First hard question | Enter at |
|---|
| Multi-country consumer survey | will the scales pass invariance across these countries? | jim-methods |
| Cross-cultural experiment | is culture manipulated/measured, or just implied by location? | jim-theory-development |
| Export / entry-mode secondary data | does the panel identify anything beyond correlations? | jim-methods |
| Global branding / GCC study | globalness theorized or asserted? | jim-theory-development |
| Meta-analysis of international effects | country-level moderators coded a priori? | jim-literature-positioning |
| Short Insight paper (<4,000 words) | is one sharp finding enough to stand alone? | jim-contribution-framing |
Minimal decision snippet
if decision_letter: -> jim-rebuttal
elif submitting_this_week: -> jim-submission
elif exhibits_or_page_budget: -> jim-tables-figures
elif estimation_or_invariance: -> jim-data-analysis
elif design_or_sampling: -> jim-methods
elif contribution_fuzzy: -> jim-contribution-framing / jim-literature-positioning
elif mechanism_untheorized: -> jim-theory-development
else: -> jim-topic-selection
Anti-patterns
- Sending a single-country paper to JIM because the sample "happens to be foreign" — the classic desk reject
- Treating culture as a post-hoc explanation for a surprise result instead of a hypothesized construct
- Polishing prose or exhibits while the invariance evidence is still unsettled
- Confusing JIM with JIBS (general international business) or IMR — the boundary is a positioning task, not a coin flip
- Citing the editor, portal, or page limits from memory instead of re-checking ama.org / the SAGE author page
Output format
【Target】Journal of International Marketing (JIM)
【Archetype】multi-country survey / cross-cultural experiment / export panel / global branding / meta / Insight
【International engine】what the border-crossing does for the theory (one line)
【Bottleneck】topic / theory / positioning / design / analysis / framing / exhibits / style / submission / revision
【Next skill】<one jim-* skill>
【Fact status】volatile facts (editor, limits, portal) verified 2026-07-16 or flagged re-check
