jop-workflow

JOP Workflow Router (jop-workflow)

The orchestrator for a JOP submission. Figure out the stage and the category, then send the user

to the matching skill. JOP is a general-interest journal that counts pages, not words, and makes

acceptance contingent on replicability — so the router's first jobs are to fix the category against

the page budget and to start the replication package early.

When to trigger

• Starting a new JOP paper and unsure where to begin
• Mid-project and unsure which skill applies next
• Deciding between a Research Article (≤ 35 pp) and a Short Article (≤ 10 pp)
• Returning with a decision letter (route to jop-rebuttal)

First question: which category?

| Situation | Category | Route to |

|-----------|----------|----------|

| Full original study, broad interest | Research Article (≤ 35 pages) | normal pipeline below |

| Single sharp contribution, fits tight | Short Article (≤ 10 pages) | normal pipeline, tighter scope |

| Lots of robustness / derivations / SI | keep main text lean | jop-tables-figures + Online Appendix (≤ 25 pp) |

| Empirical/formal results to deposit | replication package | jop-replication-and-data-policy early |

> JOP caps pages (double-spaced, 12-pt), not words. A paper that clears an APSR/AJPS word cap can

> still blow the 35-page budget — decide the category before you write.

Routing map (stage → skill)

Idea / fit?                      → jop-topic-selection
Where does it sit in the field?  → jop-literature-positioning
What's the argument?             → jop-theory-building
Is the design defensible?        → jop-research-design
Are the analyses sound?          → jop-data-analysis
Are the exhibits clear + lean?   → jop-tables-figures
Does it fit 35 / 10 pages?       → jop-writing-style
Repro package for the analyst?   → jop-replication-and-data-policy
How will it be judged?           → jop-review-process
Ready to submit?                 → jop-submission
Got an R&R / decision?           → jop-rebuttal

Default order

`topic-selection → literature-positioning → theory-building → research-design → data-analysis →

tables-figures → writing-style → replication-and-data-policy → review-process → submission → rebuttal`

Iterate: most papers loop theory ↔ design ↔ analysis several times, and trim against the page budget

before writing-style is done.

Anti-patterns

• Planning by word count — JOP's binding constraint is pages
• Padding a Short Article toward 35 pages instead of keeping one crisp contribution
• Leaving the replication package until acceptance — a JOP replication analyst re-checks it
• Dumping the whole paper into the Online Appendix to dodge the 35-page main-text budget

Triage by symptom (where the manuscript actually hurts)

When a paper is mid-flight, route by the loudest problem rather than the default order. These are the

symptom-to-skill jumps a JOP author makes most often.

| Symptom | Likely real problem | Jump to |

|---------|---------------------|---------|

| "Feels specialist / incremental" | Contribution not pitched general-interest | jop-topic-selection, then jop-literature-positioning |

| "Reviewer doubts the causal claim" | Identification or theory-test link | jop-research-design |

| "Over the page budget" | Exhibits, notes, or references too heavy | jop-tables-figures, then jop-writing-style |

| "Worried about the analyst re-run" | Package not reproducible | jop-replication-and-data-policy |

Referee pushback patterns and the JOP fix

• "This reads like the wrong venue." Before polishing format, confirm the contribution is general-interest

and not better suited to a sibling venue (APSR, AJPS, World Politics); reroute early, not at submission.

• "The replication package is an afterthought." Start the package during analysis so the post-acceptance

analyst check is routine; the router should trigger jop-replication-and-data-policy early, not last.

Router pass for Journal of Politics

Treat this skill as an executable review pass, not a prose hint. First lock the political mechanism, evidence design, and scope condition; then judge whether the current manuscript answers the venue's real reader: political-science reviewers who want theory, identification or formal logic, and generalizable political implications in balance.

• Do the pass: Run the pack as a sequence: fit gate, evidence gate, writing gate, source-map gate, and final output contract; stop when a gate lacks evidence.
• 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 APSR for field-wide political science, AJPS for design-heavy empirical work, World Politics for comparative/international politics; 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

【Stage】idea / positioning / theory / design / analysis / exhibits / writing / replication / review / submit / rebut
【Category】Research Article (≤35 pp) / Short Article (≤10 pp)
【Route to】jop-<skill>
【Why】one line
【Then】the next skill after that

Supplementary resources

• [../../resources/external_tools.md](../../resources/external_tools.md) — political-science data + software by method, page-budget conventions
• [../../resources/official-source-map.md](../../resources/official-source-map.md) — official JOP URLs behind every fact in this pack