Aaag workflow

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