jel-topic-selection
Use when judging whether a literature is a Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)-scale survey topic — mature, important, and genuinely in need of synthesis — rather than a narrow review. Decides fit and frames the survey's animating question; it does not gather or synthesize the literature (that is jel-literature-synthesis).
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill jel-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 for a JEL Survey (jel-topic-selection) ## When to trigger - You have a candidate field and need to know if it is "JEL-shaped" - A topic feels either too narrow (a single-question review) or too sprawling (a whole subfield) - You are deciding between JEL and a sibling outlet (JEP, Annual Review of Economics, a field journal's review section) - The literature is young/fast-moving and you suspect it is not yet mature enough to survey ## The four JEL-fit tests A literature belongs in JEL when it passes all four. If it fails one, route accordingly. 1. **Maturity.** There is a *body* of research — multiple research lines, accumulated evidence, recognizable debates — not a handful of recent working papers. A field that is still being born produces a *premature* survey that will date in a year. (Fails → too young; wait, or pitch JEP instead.) 2. **Importance.** The questions matter to economists broadly, not only to a dozen specialists. A JEL reader is a *non-specialist economist* who should finish the survey understanding why the field exists and what it has settled. (Fails → too niche; a field journal's review section fits better.) 3. **Need for synthesis.** The literat
- When to trigger
- The four JEL-fit tests
- Decision table
- Framing the animating question
- Checklist
- Anti-patterns
- Output format
What does the jel-topic-selection skill do?
Use when judging whether a literature is a Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)-scale survey topic — mature, important, and genuinely in need of synthesis — rather than a narrow review. Decides fit and frames the survey's animating question; it does not gather or synthesize the literature (that is jel-literature-synthesis).
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill jel-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.