---
name: jaar-workflow
description: Use as the entry point for any Journal of the American Academy of Religion (JAAR) manuscript. Routes to the right JAAR sub-skill by lifecycle stage, and enforces the journal's gatekeeping demand up front — the article must speak to a question of broad and fundamental interest to the study of religion, not just a subfield. It dispatches; it does not draft content.
---

# JAAR Workflow Router (jaar-workflow)

The orchestrator for a JAAR submission. JAAR's editorial office reads **every** submission and, before
any peer review, asks one decisive question: does this article address a problem of **"broad and
fundamental interest to the study of religion"** and reach **beyond the sub-specialty** it comes from?
If not, the editor **returns it for reframing before review**. The router makes you answer that first.

## When to trigger

- Starting a JAAR article and unsure where to begin
- Mid-project and unsure which skill applies next
- A draft reads as a contribution to one tradition/subfield only (reframing risk)
- Returning with a decision letter (route to `jaar-revision-and-response`)

## The gate before everything: the reframing test

Before drafting, state in one sentence what your article teaches **the study of religion as a whole**
— not just Buddhist studies, or American religious history, or philosophy of religion. If you cannot,
go to `jaar-topic-selection` and `jaar-scholarly-positioning` and reframe **now**; the editor will
otherwise bounce it back unreviewed.

## Routing map (stage → skill)

```text
Idea / fit + reframing?           → jaar-topic-selection
Where does it sit in the field?   → jaar-scholarly-positioning
What's the argument / "point"?    → jaar-argument-development
Texts, traditions, fieldwork?     → jaar-sources-and-evidence
Theory & method (reflexivity)?    → jaar-theory-and-method
How is the essay built?           → jaar-structure-and-exposition
Does the prose read well?         → jaar-writing-style
In-text citations + style?        → jaar-citation-and-style
How will it be judged?            → jaar-review-process
Ready to submit?                  → jaar-submission
Got a decision / R&R?             → jaar-revision-and-response
```

## Default order

`topic-selection → scholarly-positioning → argument-development → sources-and-evidence →
theory-and-method → structure-and-exposition → writing-style → citation-and-style → review-process →
submission → revision-and-response`

## Anti-patterns

- Drafting a subfield-only article and hoping the editor sends it out anyway (it won't)
- Treating JAAR like an empirical-social-science venue (no datasets/statistics/replication here)
- Using footnotes for citations (JAAR uses **in-text author-date**; see `jaar-citation-and-style`)
- Planning an unsolicited book review (JAAR reviews are **commissioned only**)

## Output format

```
【Stage】fit / positioning / argument / sources / theory-method / structure / prose / citation / review / submit / revise
【Reframing test】one sentence on what it teaches the study of religion writ large
【Route to】jaar-<skill>
【Why】one line
【Then】the next skill after that
```

## Symptom-to-skill dispatch table

When an author arrives mid-project with a complaint rather than a clean stage, route by symptom. These
are the recurring failure signatures at the AAR/Oxford University Press flagship.

| Symptom the author reports | Route to | Why |
|----------------------------|----------|-----|
| "A reader called it descriptive" | jaar-argument-development | Needs a contestable point |
| "Only specialists will care" | jaar-topic-selection → jaar-scholarly-positioning | Reframe for broad interest |
| "Told it's undertheorized / confessional" | jaar-theory-and-method | Make method load-bearing; redraw the about/for line |
| "Translation/source was challenged" | jaar-sources-and-evidence | Originals, provenance, representativeness |
| "Readers get lost in the sections" | jaar-structure-and-exposition | Throughline and signposting |
| "Footnotes for citations flagged" | jaar-citation-and-style | Convert to in-text author-date |
| "Identity visible in the file" | jaar-submission | Anonymize for double-anonymous review |
| "R&R letter arrived" | jaar-revision-and-response | Point-by-point, protect broad significance |

## Worked vignette: routing a stalled manuscript

An author says: "My essay on a Daoist liturgical manual is done, but a colleague said it only matters
to Daoist-studies people, and another said the citations look wrong." The router resolves this in order:

- **Reframing test first.** Can the author state in one sentence what it teaches the study of religion
  writ large? Not yet — so route to `jaar-topic-selection` (reframe around what the manual shows about
  the analytic of "liturgy" or text-as-ritual-object) and then `jaar-scholarly-positioning`.
- **Then the surface flag.** The citation complaint routes to `jaar-citation-and-style` (footnote-to-
  in-text conversion) — but only after the Gate-1 reframing risk is handled, since style cannot save a
  subfield-bound piece.
- **Sequence out.** From there the default order resumes: argument → sources → theory-method →
  structure → writing-style, then review-process and submission.

## Router anti-pattern → correction

| Author's instinct | Correction |
|-------------------|------------|
| "Fix the citations first, then worry about framing" | Clear the Gate-1 reframing risk first; style is downstream |
| "Skip positioning, my sources are strong" | Strong sources don't establish broad significance |
| "Submit and let the editor reframe it" | The editor returns it unreviewed; reframe before upload |
| "Plan a book review as an entry point" | Reviews are commissioned only — not a route in |

Hedged calibration: this router encodes the journal's stated gatekeeping logic (broad-interest screen,
double-anonymous review, in-text citation, commissioned reviews) and the typical skill sequence;
treat the ordering as advisory and confirm any process specifics against the journal's current
submission guidelines.

## Supplementary resources

- [`../../resources/external_tools.md`](../../resources/external_tools.md) — reference and research tools for the study of religion
- [`../../resources/official-source-map.md`](../../resources/official-source-map.md) — official JAAR URLs behind every fact in this pack