aerj-topic-selection
Use when deciding whether a topic fits the American Educational Research Journal (AERJ), now an integrated field-wide journal, and whether the manuscript's dominant education-research lens is clear. AERJ rewards broad significance to education research, not subfield-only description. Tests fit; it does not generate research questions.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill aerj-topic-selection --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Topic Selection & AERJ Fit (aerj-topic-selection) AERJ publishes work that spans the **whole field of education research** and matters **beyond a single subfield**. Before anything else, decide two things: is the question of **broad significance**, and what dominant education-research lens makes it legible to the integrated AERJ audience. ## When to trigger - Choosing or sharpening the question for an AERJ paper - Unsure whether the topic is "big enough" for a flagship general journal - Naming the dominant lens: policy/institutional, teaching/learning, human development, or cross-cutting - Weighing AERJ vs a specialty outlet (e.g., a subfield or methods journal) ## The fit test (broad significance) 1. **Field-wide stakes.** Could a researcher in a *different* education subfield care about the finding or the framing? If only one niche cares, it may be off-fit. 2. **Significance for policy and/or practice.** AERJ values work that informs how education is organized, taught, or experienced — name the stake explicitly. 3. **Conceptual contribution, not just a result.** What do we *understand* differently afterward? Tie this to `aerj-theory-and-framework`. 4. **Equity and context.** AE
- When to trigger
- The fit test (broad significance)
- Naming the dominant lens
- Anti-patterns
- Fit-and-routing decision grid (AERJ-specific)
- Worked fit vignette (illustrative)
- Common rejection-at-the-gate patterns and the fix
- Output format
- Supplementary resources
What does the aerj-topic-selection skill do?
Use when deciding whether a topic fits the American Educational Research Journal (AERJ), now an integrated field-wide journal, and whether the manuscript's dominant education-research lens is clear. AERJ rewards broad significance to education research, not subfield-only description. Tests fit; it does not generate research questions.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill aerj-topic-selection --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, a repository with 909 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.