amanthro-topic-selection
Use when deciding whether an anthropology project fits American Anthropologist (AA) and which section to target. AA is the four-field AAA flagship, so the test is significance across anthropology (sociocultural, archaeology, biological, linguistic), not single-subfield novelty. Helps frame the question and pick a section; it does not collect data or conduct fieldwork.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill amanthro-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 & Fit (amanthro-topic-selection) AA is the **flagship four-field journal** of the American Anthropological Association. The bar is not "new to my subfield" — it is **"matters to anthropology broadly."** A great paper makes a finding in sociocultural, archaeological, biological, or linguistic anthropology legible and useful to readers in the *other* fields. Use this skill to pressure-test fit and section before you invest. ## When to trigger - Choosing among possible projects or framings for an AA submission - A reviewer/colleague said the paper feels "too narrow" or "subfield-only" - Deciding among Research Article and the journal's shorter/engaged sections - A field or community partner has reframed what the project is *for* ## The AA fit test A strong AA paper usually clears all four: 1. **Four-field reach.** A scholar in a *different* subfield should see why it matters — the shared stakes are anthropology's enduring questions: culture, power, kinship, exchange, language, embodiment, deep history, human variation, colonialism and its afterlives. 2. **A real contribution, not just a description.** It changes how the field thinks, theorizes, or accounts for someth
- When to trigger
- The AA fit test
- Reach past your home subfield
- Section choice
- Anti-patterns
- Output format
- Supplementary resources
What does the amanthro-topic-selection skill do?
Use when deciding whether an anthropology project fits American Anthropologist (AA) and which section to target. AA is the four-field AAA flagship, so the test is significance across anthropology (sociocultural, archaeology, biological, linguistic), not single-subfield novelty. Helps frame the question and pick a section; it does not collect data or conduct fieldwork.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill amanthro-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.