Phg workflow

PiHG Workflow Router (phg-workflow)

The orchestrator for a Progress in Human Geography submission. Figure out the stage and the genre, then send the user to the matching skill. PiHG is the discipline's review and theory flagship — the router's first job is to make sure the piece is a synthetic, agenda-setting review, not an empirical study wearing a review's clothes. PiHG does not publish empirical results or detailed cases.

When to trigger

• Starting a new PiHG piece and unsure where to begin
• Mid-project and unsure which skill applies next
• Deciding whether you are writing a review article (open submission) or a Progress Report (commissioned)
• Unsure whether the topic is review-worthy at all (route to phg-topic-selection)
• Returning with a decision letter (route to phg-rebuttal)

First question: is this even a PiHG piece?

Run the fit gate before routing anywhere else.

Check	Pass condition	Route if it fails
Not empirical	The core is an argument about a literature, not new data or a single case	this is the wrong journal — stop
Review-worthy	The literature is large, live, and contested, with real stakes	phg-topic-selection
Has an intervention	You can name what the field is getting wrong and how you re-order it	phg-critical-intervention
Synthetic	The sources add up to one argument, not a list	phg-argument-synthesis

If "not empirical" fails — the piece would be unchanged if you deleted the argument and kept the data — PiHG is the wrong venue; consider an empirical geography journal instead.

Second question: which genre?

Genre	What it is	Route
Review article	Free-standing, unsolicited critical review (~4,000–8,000 words)	full default order below
Progress Report	Commissioned critical survey of a sub-field's recent work	same craft, but scope to the report's remit; confirm with the editor
PiHG Lecture / commentary	Invited; formats vary	confirm current practice on the SAGE page (phg-submission)

Progress Reports are invited by the editors — you cannot submit one cold. If you have a report commission, the same skills apply, scoped to the agreed remit.

Routing map (stage → skill)

Is the topic review-worthy?        → phg-topic-selection
What concept organizes it?         → phg-theory-building
Where does it sit in the field?    → phg-literature-positioning
Do the sources add to one arg?     → phg-argument-synthesis
What is the critical move?         → phg-critical-intervention
What is the forward agenda?        → phg-contribution-framing
Do the exhibits do synthesis?      → phg-tables-figures
Does it read as PiHG?              → phg-writing-style
Ready to submit?                   → phg-submission
How will it be judged?             → phg-review-process
Got an R&R / decision?             → phg-rebuttal

Default order

topic-selection → theory-building → literature-positioning → argument-synthesis → critical-intervention → contribution-framing → tables-figures → writing-style → submission → review-process → rebuttal

Iterate: most essays loop theory ↔ synthesis ↔ intervention several times before writing-style.

Anti-patterns

• Treating PiHG as a place to publish an empirical study "framed as a review" — it is not
• Writing an annotated bibliography and calling it a review (no cumulative argument)
• Submitting something billed as a Progress Report without a commission
• Reviewing a settled, niche literature with no live debate or stakes
• Overrunning the short (~8,000-word inclusive) cap because a review "needs to be comprehensive"

Output format

【Genre】review article / Progress Report (commissioned) / lecture-commentary
【Stage】topic / theory / positioning / synthesis / intervention / framing / exhibits / writing / submit / review / rebut
【Fit gate】not-empirical? review-worthy? has-intervention? synthetic? [Y/N each]
【Route to】phg-<skill>
【Why】one line
【Then】the next skill after that

Supplementary resources

• ../../resources/external_tools.md — systematic-review, bibliometric, and reference tooling for building a corpus
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — official SAGE/PiHG URLs behind every fact in this pack