humrel-topic-selection
Use when deciding whether a question belongs in Human Relations (HR) and how to frame it for the journal's interdisciplinary work-and-society audience. Tests fit and sharpens the question; it does not develop the theory or invent evidence.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill humrel-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 (humrel-topic-selection) ## When to trigger - You have a workplace/organizational phenomenon but are unsure it is an *HR* question rather than a sibling-journal question - The puzzle is interesting empirically but you cannot yet say what *social-theoretical* understanding it would advance - A coauthor asks "is this Human Relations, Organization Studies, JMS, or Work, Employment and Society?" - The topic is timely (AI at work, platform labour, hybrid work, inequality) and you need it to be more than topical ## What makes a question an HR question HR is the **interdisciplinary social-science journal of relationships at and around work**. Its self-description is the test: research that advances "our understanding of social relationships at and around work through theoretical development and empirical investigation." Three things travel together for a strong HR topic: 1. **The relational/social core.** The phenomenon is about people *in relation* — power, identity, meaning, conflict, control, solidarity, emotion, institutions — not a firm-level performance lever or an isolated individual trait. If the question could be answered without reference to social relations, i
- When to trigger
- What makes a question an HR question
- Sibling boundaries — where the topic should and should not go
- How to sharpen the question
- Checklist
- Anti-patterns
- Output format
What does the humrel-topic-selection skill do?
Use when deciding whether a question belongs in Human Relations (HR) and how to frame it for the journal's interdisciplinary work-and-society audience. Tests fit and sharpens the question; it does not develop the theory or invent evidence.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill humrel-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.