FCR Workflow Router (fcr-workflow)

The orchestrator for a Field Crops Research submission. Figure out the stage and the article type, then send the user to the matching skill. FCR is an empirical field-agronomy journal — the router's first job is a scope gate: is this genuine field-based research with multi-season and/or multi-environment relevance? If not, fix that before anything else.

When to trigger

• Starting a new FCR paper and unsure where to begin
• Mid-project and unsure which skill applies next
• Deciding which article type fits the work
• Returning with a decision letter (route to fcr-revision-and-rebuttal)

Scope gate (ask first, every time)

Question	If "no"
Is it field-based (not greenhouse/pot/root-restricting only)?	Likely out of scope → fcr-topic-selection
Does it have ≥ 2 seasons and/or multiple environments?	Redesign or reframe → fcr-experimental-design
Is the crop a field crop (not horticultural/woody-perennial/non-cultivated)?	Out of scope → fcr-topic-selection
Is it more than corroborative / descriptive / local?	Sharpen the contribution → fcr-topic-selection

First question: which article type?

Situation	Article type	Route to
Full original field/modelling study	Original Research Paper	normal pipeline below
Concise, complete, focused study	Short Communication	normal pipeline, tighter scope
Critical synthesis of a topic	Review (usually invited; propose first)	fcr-literature-positioning + fcr-topic-selection
Perspective / position piece	Opinion Paper	fcr-topic-selection + fcr-writing-style
Invited major review	Loomis Review (by invitation)	fcr-literature-positioning

Routing map (stage → skill)

Idea / scope fit?               → fcr-topic-selection
Where does it sit in the field? → fcr-literature-positioning
Is the design defensible?       → fcr-experimental-design
Are the analyses sound?         → fcr-data-analysis
Are the exhibits clear?         → fcr-figures-and-tables
Data availability & reporting?  → fcr-reporting-and-data-policy
Does it read for agronomists?   → fcr-writing-style
Need a cover letter?            → fcr-cover-letter
How will it be judged?          → fcr-review-process
Ready to submit?                → fcr-submission
Got a decision / revision?      → fcr-revision-and-rebuttal

Default order

topic-selection → literature-positioning → experimental-design → data-analysis → figures-and-tables → reporting-and-data-policy → writing-style → cover-letter → review-process → submission → revision-and-rebuttal

Iterate: most papers loop design ↔ analysis ↔ figures several times before writing-style.

Desk-reject triage table (route before you draft)

The Editors-in-Chief screen for scope before a manuscript reaches reviewers; most fast rejections are predictable. Catch them here and route to the repair skill instead of polishing prose on a paper that cannot pass the gate.

Symptom an editor sees	FCR-specific risk	Route to
Pot/greenhouse trial is the only evidence	Out of scope (controlled-environment exclusion)	fcr-topic-selection
One site × one season, no environment spread	Fails the ≥2-seasons/-environments expectation	fcr-experimental-design
Tomato, grapevine, turfgrass, or medicinal species	Wrong journal (horticultural/woody-perennial exclusion)	fcr-topic-selection
"First measurement of trait X in region Y"	Local/descriptive, not general insight	fcr-literature-positioning
ANOVA on pooled plots, blocking ignored	Statistics do not match the trial structure	fcr-data-analysis
Yields reported, no link to a biophysical process	Weak agronomic significance	fcr-literature-positioning

Worked routing vignette (illustrative)

Illustrative scenario, numbers chosen to demonstrate the gate — not real data. A team has a new drought-tolerant maize hybrid yielding 8.4 t ha⁻¹ versus a 7.1 t ha⁻¹ check, measured at one farm in one season. They ask where to begin a manuscript. The router runs the scope gate: field-based (pass), field crop (pass), but one site-year fails the multi-environment expectation and the 1.3 t ha⁻¹ margin sits at a single point in the G×E space. Verdict: do not enter the drafting pipeline yet — route to fcr-experimental-design to add seasons/sites (e.g., 2 seasons × 4 environments) so the hybrid advantage can be shown to hold across environments, then resume the default order. Routing a half-evidenced paper into writing-style first is the classic wasted cycle.

Anti-patterns

• Skipping the scope gate and investing in controlled-environment-only or single-site data
• Treating one season at one site as enough (FCR expects multi-season/-environment relevance)
• Forcing a Review/Opinion frame onto what is really an Original Research Paper
• Leaving the data-availability statement and highlights to the last minute
• Polishing format on a paper whose G×E×M evidence cannot yet support a general yield claim

Output format

【Scope gate】field-based? multi-environment? field crop? more than local? [pass/fix]
【Stage】idea / positioning / design / analysis / exhibits / reporting / writing / cover / review / submit / revise
【Article type】Original Research / Short Communication / Review / Opinion / Loomis Review
【Route to】fcr-<skill>
【Why】one line
【Then】the next skill after that

Supplementary resources

• ../../resources/external_tools.md — agronomy data + software by method
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — official FCR URLs behind every fact in this pack