From annals-aag-skills
Evaluates whether a research topic fits the Annals of the American Association of Geographers and identifies the appropriate area: Geographic Methods, Human, Nature-Society, Physical, or General Geography.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/annals-aag-skills:aaag-topic-selectionThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
The Annals is the AAG's **broad four-area flagship**. A topic earns a place by being *geographic* —
The Annals is the AAG's broad four-area flagship. A topic earns a place by being geographic — space, place, scale, region, or spatial process is constitutive of the question — and by speaking to one of the journal's areas with enough reach that geographers outside that subfield see why it matters.
| Area | Core of a strong topic | Off-fit signal |
|---|---|---|
| Geographic Methods | a method/model that improves geographic inference (spatial dependence, scale, MAUP, uncertainty) | a generic ML/stats trick with a coordinate column bolted on |
| Human Geography | a spatially/relationally theorized account of social process | a sociology/anthropology paper with a study-area map |
| Nature and Society | a coupled human-environment dynamic where both sides are theorized | one side asserted as backdrop to the other |
| Physical Geography, Earth & Environmental | an earth-surface/environmental process with geographic framing and earth-science rigor | a lab/RS result with no geographic question |
| General Geography | a contribution that reorders how all geographers see something | a paper that just won't pick an area |
A draft asks "what predicts urban tree-canopy loss in City X?" and maps the result by census tract.
Delete-test: remove the map and "tract" → "what predicts canopy loss?" survives → geography decorative
Repair: reframe around SCALE — does the predictor of loss change with the unit/scale of analysis, and
what does that imply for where canopy is added? Now space is the argument, not the backdrop.
Area: Nature and Society (canopy = environment-society) or Methods (if the scale claim leads)
Reach: a methods reader gets a MAUP/scale lesson; a nature-society reader gets an equity mechanism
The repaired version makes the geography load-bearing and gives a neighboring subfield a reason to read.
aaag-workflow【Area】Methods / Human / Nature-Society / Physical / General
【Geographic core】the space/place/scale/process the argument turns on
【Reach】why a neighboring-subfield geographer cares
【Venue check】Annals vs. specialty (one line)
【Type】Article / Forum / Commentary
【Next】aaag-literature-positioning
../../resources/exemplars/library.md — real Annals papers by area × method to calibrate fit../../resources/official-source-map.md — areas, scope, and article typesnpx claudepluginhub brycewang-stanford/awesome-journal-skills --plugin annals-aag-skillsRoutes authors through Annals of the AAG manuscript lifecycle by area and stage. Dispatches to sub-skills for topic, literature, theory, research design, and analysis.
Guides selection of research questions that bridge geographical economics and human geography for JEG manuscripts, testing two-community fit and scope.
Evaluates manuscript fit for the Journal of Economic Geography: assesses scope, interdisciplinary framing, method/evidence bar, and desk-reject risk for spatial-economics and economic-geography papers.