aaag-workflow

name	aaag-workflow
description	Use when starting or navigating any Annals of the American Association of Geographers (Annals of the AAG) manuscript and you need the entry point. Routes to the right sub-skill based on lifecycle stage and which of the journal's four areas (plus the cross-disciplinary track) the paper targets. It dispatches; it does not draft content.

Annals of the AAG Workflow Router (aaag-workflow)

The orchestrator for an Annals submission. Figure out the stage and the area, then send the user to the matching skill. The Annals is the broad four-area flagship of the discipline — the router's first job is to make the paper legible as geography, not just as a domain study that happens to use maps or coordinates.

When to trigger

• Starting a new Annals paper and unsure where to begin
• Mid-project and unsure which skill applies next
• Deciding which of the four areas (or the cross-disciplinary/General Geography track) the paper targets
• Choosing the article type (Article, Forum, Commentary) — they have different caps
• Returning with a decision letter (route to aaag-rebuttal)

First question: which area?

The Annals routes manuscripts to a subject editor by area; the area you declare shapes the reviewers and the bar. Pick the closest, or General Geography if the contribution is discipline-wide.

Your work	Area	Watch for
Spatial analysis, GIScience, modeling, geocomputation	Geographic Methods	method must advance geographic inference, not just apply a tool
Social/cultural/economic/political/urban geography, often qualitative	Human Geography	engage geographic theory; not a sociology paper with a map
Coupled human-environment systems, political ecology, hazards, land change	Nature and Society	both sides (nature and society) must be theorized
Geomorphology, biogeography, climatology, remote sensing of the environment	Physical Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences	rigor of an earth-science venue + geographic framing
Contribution spans areas / is discipline-wide	General Geography (cross-disciplinary)	say why all geographers should care

Article type (caps differ — see aaag-submission)

Format	Scope	Cap (verify; 检索于 2026-06)
Article	full original study	≤ 11,000 words incl. abstract, refs, notes, tables, figure captions
Forum	curated multi-author debate	intro 2,500 + papers 5,000 each, ≤ 25,000 total
Commentary	response/short intervention	< 2,000 words incl. references

Routing map (stage → skill)

Area fit & framing?              → aaag-topic-selection
Where does it sit in geography?  → aaag-literature-positioning
What's the geographic argument?  → aaag-theory-building
Is the design defensible?        → aaag-research-design
Are the analyses sound?          → aaag-data-analysis
Are the maps/exhibits clear?     → aaag-tables-figures
Does it read as geography?       → aaag-writing-style
Spatial-data provenance/ethics?  → aaag-transparency-and-data
How will it be judged?           → aaag-review-process
Ready to submit?                 → aaag-submission
Got an R&R / decision?           → aaag-rebuttal

Default order

topic-selection → literature-positioning → theory-building → research-design → data-analysis → tables-figures → writing-style → transparency-and-data → review-process → submission → rebuttal

Iterate: most papers loop theory ↔ design ↔ analysis several times before writing-style.

Geography fit check (run before routing onward)

Check	Pass condition	Route if weak
Geographic-ness	The space/place/scale/spatial-process is constitutive of the argument, not decorative.	aaag-topic-selection
Area	The paper clearly targets one of the four areas (or General Geography).	area table above
Method on own terms	Quantitative/spatial, GIScience, remote-sensing, or qualitative work is defended in its own tradition.	aaag-research-design
Spatial-data integrity	Projections, sources, and geoprivacy/human-subjects ethics have a plan.	aaag-transparency-and-data

If "geographic-ness" fails — the paper would be unchanged if you deleted the geography — do not route to writing-style; it needs a theory/fit repair (aaag-topic-selection).

Anti-patterns

• Treating the Annals like a domain journal that "also takes maps" — the geography must be load-bearing
• Forcing a quantitative-spatial template onto qualitative human geography (each area is judged on its own terms)
• Picking the wrong area editor (a Nature-Society paper sent as pure Physical, or vice versa)
• Sending a 14,000-word draft to a journal that caps everything (incl. captions/notes) at 11,000

Output format

【Stage】idea / positioning / theory / design / analysis / exhibits / writing / transparency / review / submit / rebut
【Area】Methods / Human / Nature-Society / Physical / General
【Type】Article / Forum / Commentary
【Route to】aaag-<skill>
【Why】one line
【Then】the next skill after that

Supplementary resources

• ../../resources/external_tools.md — geographic data + GIS/remote-sensing/spatial software by area
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — official Annals/AAG/Taylor & Francis URLs behind every fact in this pack