ors-topic-selection
Use when deciding whether a problem is a fit for Operations Research (OR) and which of its editorial areas it belongs to — testing for a genuine OR/MS methodological contribution and picking the correct area before formulating. Scopes and routes the problem; it does not build the model (ors-theory-development) or position it in the literature (ors-literature-positioning).
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill ors-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 & Area Fit (ors-topic-selection) ## When to trigger - You have a problem but are unsure it belongs in *Operations Research* versus a sibling venue. - You must choose the editorial **area** the submission will route into. - A co-author asks "is this methodological enough for OR?" ## The OR fit test *Operations Research* (INFORMS) publishes **mathematically rigorous OR/MS methodology** — optimization, stochastic/probabilistic models, simulation, decision analysis — favoring **provable results** and methodological novelty over purely empirical work. Ask: - **Is the core contribution a method, not just an application?** A new model class, algorithm with guarantees, structural theorem, bound, or analysis technique. - **Is there rigor?** Theorems/proofs, complexity or convergence results, or a validated stochastic/simulation analysis — not only numbers. - **Is it significant to the OR community?** The introduction (which must be **equation-free**) has to state the problem, the results, and *why the OR community should care*. - **Does an application carry genuine OR innovation?** Real-world OR is welcome via the **Real-World OR Innovations** area, but the innovation must
- When to trigger
- The OR fit test
- Pick the editorial area (route at submission)
- Sibling-venue triage
- Desk-reject patterns at the area-editor gate
- Fit-test vignette (illustrative)
- Anti-patterns
- Output format
What does the ors-topic-selection skill do?
Use when deciding whether a problem is a fit for Operations Research (OR) and which of its editorial areas it belongs to — testing for a genuine OR/MS methodological contribution and picking the correct area before formulating. Scopes and routes the problem; it does not build the model (ors-theory-development) or position it in the literature (ors-literature-positioning).
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill ors-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.