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American Journal of Sociology Skills
<p align="center"> <img src="assets/cover.svg" alt="American Journal of Sociology cover" width="220"> </p>
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Agent skill stack for manuscripts targeted at the American Journal of Sociology (AJS) — the discipline's oldest journal, founded in 1895 by Albion Small and housed for its entire history at the University of Chicago Department of Sociology, published by the University of Chicago Press (NOT SAGE/ASA). AJS is a generalist sociology venue with a strong reputation for theoretical ambition and comparative-historical work, welcoming quantitative, qualitative, ethnographic, network, and formal scholarship across sociology and related social sciences.
This repository is opinionated. It is not a generic social-science writing toolbox and it is not the American Sociological Review (ASR) pack renamed. AJS and ASR are both sociology flagships but very different journals: different publisher (UChicago Press vs. SAGE/ASA), different house style (AJS's own vs. the ASA Style Guide), a distinctive student-run double-blind review, a $30 submission fee, no fixed word cap, and a long Comment-and-Reply tradition.
What Is AJS, and Why a Dedicated Stack?
AJS's constraints differ from ASR and from field/methods journals:
| Constraint | AJS | Implication |
|---|---|---|
| Owner / publisher | University of Chicago (Dept. of Sociology) / University of Chicago Press | Not SAGE/ASA; submit via Editorial Manager |
| Premium on | Theoretical ambition + dialogue with current sociology | A bare finding or opinion piece is off-fit (AJS "prejects" these) |
| Methods | Quantitative, comparative-historical, ethnographic, network, formal — each on its own terms | Do not force one template onto every paper |
| Review model | Double-blind, student-run assignment; no reviewers from the author's network | Anonymize the manuscript; cover page is a separate file |
| Fee | $30 submission fee; waived for sole-author graduate students | Budget the fee unless the waiver applies |
| Length | No fixed word cap; concision encouraged (referees may need more time over ~18,000 words) | Long is tolerated, not rewarded; abstract ~150 words |
| Style | AJS's own author-date house style | Not the ASA Style Guide; confirm forms on the prep pages |
| Transparency | No advertised mandatory editor-verified replication deposit | Document well; verify current policy before claiming any deposit gate |
| Distinctive features | Comment-and-Reply tradition; substantial book-review section; Roger V. Gould Prize | Choose the right piece type up front |
Volatile specifics (current editor and term, the exact fee/waiver, length and abstract expectations, citation-style details, any data policy) change. The refresh notes in resources/official-source-map.md route each fact to an official UChicago Press, Editorial Manager, or University of Chicago source, and operational details should be live-checked in a browser immediately before upload.
AJS vs. ASR at a glance
- AJS — UChicago Press; theory-forward, comparative-historical strength; double-blind, student-run
review; $30 fee (grad sole-author waiver); no word cap; own house style; Comment-and-Reply.
- ASR — SAGE / ASA; discipline-wide flagship; masked review; $25 fee (ASA student waiver);
~15,000-word cap; ASA Style Guide.
Quick Start
Option A — Claude Code Plugin (recommended)
/plugin marketplace add https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/awesome-journal-skills
/plugin install ajs-skills
/reload-pluginsOption B — Manual Copy
git clone https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/awesome-journal-skills.git
cd awesome-journal-skills/American-Journal-of-Sociology-Skills
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -R skills/ajs-* ~/.claude/skills/
# or
mkdir -p ~/.codex/skills && cp -R skills/ajs-* ~/.codex/skills/First Prompt
Use ajs-workflow to tell me which skill I should use next for my AJS manuscript.Default Workflow
ajs-topic-selection
▼
ajs-literature-positioning
▼
ajs-theory-building
▼
ajs-research-design
▼
ajs-data-analysis
▼
ajs-tables-figures
▼
ajs-writing-style (polish)
▼
ajs-data-and-transparency
▼
ajs-review-process
▼
ajs-submission
▼
ajs-rebuttalajs-workflow is the router — it tells you which skill to use next based on where you are and whether the piece is a research article, a Comment/Reply, or a book review. AJS papers typically loop theory ↔ design ↔ analysis several times before writing-style; the theoretical contribution usually sharpens late.
Skills
| Skill | Purpose |
|---|---|
ajs-workflow | Router — decides which sub-skill to invoke next |
ajs-topic-selection | Fit: in dialogue with current sociology + a portable theoretical payoff |
ajs-literature-positioning | Locate the contribution in a live sociological debate (incl. Comments) |
ajs-theory-building | Turn evidence into a portable theory (quant, comparative-historical, ethnographic, formal) |
ajs-research-design | Defend the design on its own methodological terms |
ajs-data-analysis | Analysis norms, uncertainty, robustness, triangulation |
ajs-tables-figures | AJS exhibit conventions; discrete numbering; mandatory figure alt text |
ajs-writing-style | AJS's own author-date house style (NOT the ASA Style Guide); generalist-legible prose |
ajs-data-and-transparency | Documentation and sharing; do not over-state requirements (no verified deposit) |
ajs-review-process | Double-blind, student-run review; the "preject"; decision categories |
ajs-submission | Editorial Manager preflight ($30 fee, separate cover page, abstract, alt text) |
ajs-rebuttal | R&R response letter + author Reply in the Comment-and-Reply tradition |
Resources
resources/external_tools.md— sociology data sources (GSS / IPUMS / PSID / V-Dem / network & qualitative data) + R / Stata / Python and CAQDAS/QCA toolingresources/official-source-map.md— official UChicago Press / AJS URLs behind every fact, plus live-check notes for volatile items
What This Repo Does Not Do
- It does not write a submittable manuscript for you
- It does not simulate any specific editor's or reviewer's taste
- It does not assert volatile metadata (current editor and term, exact fee/waiver, length/abstract
rules, citation-style forms, data policy) without a current official-source route; live-check those items on the official page before submission
- It does not decide whether your work is theoretically ambitious enough for AJS — that is the researcher's call
Related
- awesome-journal-skills — Index of journal-specific skill packs
- American Journal of Sociology (UChicago Press) — publisher home, instructions, editorial policy
- AJS Instructions for Authors — current author guidance and submission mechanics
License
MIT