brycewang-stanford World Politics Workflow Router (wp-workflow)
The orchestrator for a World Politics submission. Figure out the stage and the article type, then send the user to the matching skill. World Politics publishes scholarship in comparative politics and international relations — it is a specialist in that joint domain, not a discipline-wide generalist (unlike APSR/AJPS/JOP) and not IR-only. The router's first job is to confirm the question travels across cases or systems and sits inside the journal's scope.
When to trigger
- Starting a new World Politics paper and unsure where to begin
- Mid-project and unsure which skill applies next
- Deciding between a research article and a review article
- Returning with a decision letter (route to
wp-rebuttal)
First question: which article type, and is it in scope?
| Situation | Type | Route to |
|---|---|---|
| Original study posing a substantive comparative/IR question | Research article (≤ 12,500 words) | normal pipeline below |
| Synthesis of thematically related books that reframes a field's agenda | Review article (usually commissioned; still triple-blind) | wp-literature-positioning + wp-theory-building |
| Opinion / policy piece, stand-alone political theory, historical or journalistic narrative | Out of scope | stop — World Politics does not publish these |
Review articles "differ from conventional book reviews": they must advance how a field should pursue future work, not just summarize books. They are usually commissioned — confirm before investing (待核实).
Routing map (stage → skill)
Idea / fit & scope? → wp-topic-selection
Where does it sit in the field? → wp-literature-positioning
What's the argument that travels?→ wp-theory-building
Is the design defensible? → wp-research-design
Are the analyses sound? → wp-data-analysis
Are the exhibits clear? → wp-tables-figures
Does it read across cases? → wp-writing-style
Dataverse & transparency? → wp-transparency-and-data-policy
How will it be judged? → wp-review-process
Ready to submit? → wp-submission
Got an R&R / decision? → wp-rebuttal
Default order
topic-selection → literature-positioning → theory-building → research-design → data-analysis → tables-figures → writing-style → transparency-and-data-policy → review-process → submission → rebuttal
Iterate: most papers loop theory ↔ design ↔ analysis several times before writing-style.
Anti-patterns
- Treating World Politics like a generalist venue (APSR/AJPS/JOP) — the contribution must sit in comparative politics or IR and speak across cases
- Treating it like an IR-only journal — comparative-politics questions are equally central
- Submitting an opinion/policy piece, stand-alone political theory, or a historical/journalistic narrative (explicitly out of scope)
- Pitching an unsolicited review article without checking the commissioning norm
Venue-routing calibration (where a paper belongs)
Before dispatching internally, sanity-check that World Politics is the right home. It is a leading peer-reviewed journal of comparative politics and international relations — theory-driven work on the political economy of development, regime change, conflict and security, and institutions, using comparative, quantitative, qualitative, and formal methods, and known for analytical review essays.
| Symptom | Likely better home | Re-route signal |
|---|---|---|
| IR institutions / political economy, narrow | International Organization | Route there if the audience is IR-only |
| General-interest, any subfield | APSR / AJPS / Journal of Politics | Discipline-wide reach, not comparative-IR specialist |
| Comparative breadth, lighter theory | Comparative Political Studies | If the theoretical question is not big enough |
| Travels across cases, big theoretical question | World Politics | Stay; run the pipeline below |
If a neighboring outlet has the stronger audience claim, say so before investing in the pipeline.
Router pass for World Politics
Run this as a concrete capability pass. First lock the political mechanism, case scope, evidence warrant, and comparative or international implication; then test whether the manuscript addresses comparative and international politics reviewers who expect a big political question, credible evidence, and theory that travels beyond one case.
- Primary move: Run the pack as fit gate, evidence gate, writing gate, source-map gate, and output contract; stop when a gate lacks evidence.
- Decision ledger: return
claim / evidence / blocker / next editrows so the next pass can patch the manuscript directly. - Sibling comparison: compare against International Organization for IR institutions/political economy, Journal of Politics for wider political science, Comparative Political Studies for comparative breadth; if the neighboring outlet has the stronger audience claim, recommend re-routing before polishing.
- Verification floor: before submission-ready advice, re-open
resources/official-source-map.mdfor volatile rules and name the one unresolved fact that could change the recommendation.
Output format
【Stage】idea / positioning / theory / design / analysis / exhibits / writing / transparency / review / submit / rebut
【Type】research article / review article
【In scope?】comparative or IR, travels across cases? [Y/N]
【Route to】wp-<skill>
【Why】one line
【Then】the next skill after that
Supplementary resources
../../resources/external_tools.md— comparative + IR data and software by method../../resources/official-source-map.md— official World Politics URLs behind every fact in this pack