ESR Workflow Router (eursr-workflow)

The orchestrator for an ESR submission. ESR is the flagship quantitative-sociology journal of the European Consortium for Sociological Research (ECSR), published by Oxford University Press. The router's first job is to confirm the work is a rigorous quantitative contribution — usually comparative and/or longitudinal — and to send the user to the matching skill for their stage.

When to trigger

• Starting a new ESR paper and unsure where to begin
• Mid-project and unsure which skill applies next
• Deciding among a full Article, a Comment/Reply, and a Data Brief
• Returning with a decision letter (route to eursr-rebuttal)

First question: manuscript type

Then confirm the method shape, because design and analysis advice turn on it: cross-national comparative · panel/longitudinal · multilevel · event-history · causal-inference · SEM/measurement.

Routing map (stage → skill)

Idea / fit?                          → eursr-topic-selection
Where does it sit in the field?      → eursr-literature-positioning
What's the theoretical argument?     → eursr-theory-building
Is the comparative/panel design sound? → eursr-research-design
Are the models defensible?           → eursr-data-analysis
Are the exhibits clear?              → eursr-tables-figures
Does it read in ESR house style?     → eursr-writing-style
Replication package + DAS ready?     → eursr-transparency-and-data
How will it be judged?               → eursr-review-process
Ready to submit?                     → eursr-submission
Got an R&R / decision?               → eursr-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: comparative and multilevel papers loop theory ↔ design ↔ analysis as the cross-national data dictate.

Symptom-to-skill dispatch

ESR rewards a tight pairing of a portable sociological mechanism with a quantitative design that defeats the leading confound. Most symptoms map cleanly to one sub-skill — use this lookup before defaulting to the linear order.

Worked micro-example (illustrative routing)

A user arrives mid-project with a cross-national education study and a vague worry.

User: "I have ESS data for 20 countries and good multilevel models, but a colleague says it's
  'just a country-comparison, not an ESR contribution.'"
Router read: the worry is theoretical portability, not data → start at eursr-theory-building (name the
  macro–micro mechanism the country variation identifies), then eursr-literature-positioning (the live
  comparative debate), then eursr-research-design (what the cross-national variation lets you rule out).
Type: full quantitative study → Article (~8,000 words incl. references), not a Comment.
Then: eursr-data-analysis (multilevel SEs, country-level df) → eursr-tables-figures →
  eursr-transparency-and-data (replication package early, since the work is statistical).

The router resists the linear default and sends the comparative paper to theory and positioning first, where its fit risk actually lives.

Referee-stage pushback → which skill answers it

• "One-country result dressed as comparative." → eursr-topic-selection then eursr-research-design (what the cross-national contrast identifies).
• "Country-level inference with too few clusters." → eursr-data-analysis (degrees of freedom, appropriate SEs / Bayesian or design-based alternatives).
• "Anonymity is broken." → eursr-submission masking sweep before re-upload.

Calibration anchors

• Quantitative rigor on a portable mechanism is the gate. ESR's first question is whether a defensible quantitative design carries a mechanism European sociology can use — route there when fit is in doubt.
• Comparative/longitudinal data set the path. Cross-national and panel designs loop theory ↔ design ↔ analysis; do not force them through a single linear pass.
• Transparency is now load-bearing. For statistical/computational work a replication package is required at conditional acceptance (submissions from 1 Jan 2025); plan it early, not at the end.

Anti-patterns

• Treating ESR like a general or US-sociology journal — the target is rigorous European quantitative work
• Forcing a single-country descriptive paper into a comparative frame after the fact
• Padding a focused critique into an Article when a Comment/Reply fits
• Forgetting the Data Availability Statement and (for statistical work) the replication-package mandate

Output format

【Stage】idea / positioning / theory / design / analysis / exhibits / writing / transparency / review / submit / rebut
【Type】Article / Comment-Reply / Data-Brief
【Method shape】comparative / panel / multilevel / event-history / causal / SEM
【Route to】eursr-<skill>
【Why】one line
【Then】the next skill after that

Supplementary resources

• ../../resources/external_tools.md — European data (ESS / EU-SILC / SOEP / EVS) + software by method
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — official ESR / OUP / ECSR URLs behind every fact in this pack