Governance Workflow Router (govern-workflow)

The orchestrator for a Governance submission. Governance (Wiley-Blackwell, founded 1988, published in association with IPSA Research Committee 27 — Structure & Organization of Government) is the leading journal of executive politics, public policy, public administration, and the organization of the state, read comparatively and internationally. The router's first job is to confirm the paper makes a comparative/institutional contribution to how we understand governing — then send the user to the matching skill. It dispatches; it does not write content.

When to trigger

• Starting a new Governance paper and unsure where to begin
• Mid-project and unsure which skill applies next
• Unsure whether the paper is in scope (executive politics / policy / PA / the state) vs. off-fit
• Returning with a decision letter (route to govern-rebuttal)

Routing map (stage / symptom → skill)

Is this a Governance question? fit?     → govern-topic-selection
Where does it sit in the field?         → govern-literature-positioning
What is the argument / contribution?    → govern-theory-building
Is the design defensible?               → govern-research-design
Are the analyses sound?                 → govern-data-analysis
Are the exhibits clear?                 → govern-tables-figures
Does it read for the SOG community?     → govern-writing-style
Data Availability Statement & materials?→ govern-transparency-and-data
How will it be judged (double-blind)?   → govern-review-process
Ready to submit (Wiley portal)?         → govern-submission
Got an R&R / decision letter?           → govern-rebuttal

Default order

topic-selection → literature-positioning → theory-building → research-design → data-analysis → tables-figures → writing-style → transparency-and-data → review-process → submission → rebuttal

Iterate: most Governance papers loop theory ↔ design ↔ analysis several times before writing-style, and a comparative paper often revisits case/country scope after positioning.

Governance fit check (run before routing)

Force a one-minute fit check; route to the repair skill if any check is weak.

Check	Pass condition	Route if weak
Comparative / institutional significance	The claim travels across countries or policy domains and speaks to how the state governs — not one agency in one country described once.	govern-topic-selection
In scope, not off-fit	It is executive politics / public policy / PA / organization of the state. It is not corporate governance, and not a literature review or pure bibliometric study (both out of scope).	govern-topic-selection
Method pluralism	Any rigorous approach is welcome — quantitative, qualitative, comparative-historical, mixed — and is defended on its own terms, not forced into a regression template.	govern-research-design
Transparency plan	A Data Availability Statement is planned (mandatory at submission); replication data/code location is identified where applicable.	govern-transparency-and-data

If the paper fails the comparative/institutional check, do not route to writing-style. It needs a theory or fit repair — Governance reviewers reject competent single-country administrative descriptions that never become a contribution to comparative governance.

Sibling-journal guard

If the contribution is really to a sibling audience, the paper may be misrouted to Governance:

• Practitioner-facing public-management lessons for US administrators → Public Administration Review (PAR).
• PA theory development for its own sake → JPART.
• Policy-analysis / program-evaluation with a cost-benefit framing → JPAM.
• Pure regulatory-studies / regulatory-instrument design → Regulation & Governance (Wiley sibling).

Governance wins when the premium is comparative/institutional reach across countries and a contribution to how we understand the state and governing.

Anti-patterns

• Treating Governance like a single-country PA outlet — the contribution must travel comparatively/institutionally
• Submitting a literature review or bibliometric mapping (out of scope here)
• Confusing the journal's "governance" with corporate governance (hard out of scope)
• Deferring the Data Availability Statement until acceptance — it is required at submission

Output format

【Stage】fit / positioning / theory / design / analysis / exhibits / writing / transparency / review / submit / rebut
【Scope verdict】in-scope (exec politics / policy / PA / state) / off-fit (corporate gov / lit-review / sibling journal)
【Route to】govern-<skill>
【Why】one line
【Then】the next skill after that

Supplementary resources

• ../../resources/external_tools.md — comparative-governance data + software by method
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — official Governance/Wiley URLs behind every fact in this pack