The orchestrator for a Current Anthropology submission. Figure out the stage, the subfield, and the article type, then send the user to the matching skill. CA is the transnational, all-fields journal published by the University of Chicago Press for the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and its defining feature is the CA✩ Treatment: an accepted Major Article is circulated to invited commentators whose signed Comments are published alongside it, followed by the author's Reply. The router's first job is to make sure the work is built to survive and reward that public, multi-voice scrutiny.
curranthro-rebuttal)| Situation | Article type | Route to |
|---|---|---|
| Field-shaping theoretical/methodological intervention, broad reach | Major Article (6,000–10,000 words) → gets the CA✩ Treatment | normal pipeline below |
| Sharp finding, provocation, or new framework, shorter | Report (3,000–5,000 words) | curranthro-topic-selection + curranthro-data-analysis |
| Curated multi-author debate on a pressing issue | Forum | curranthro-topic-selection + curranthro-writing-style |
| Critique/reply to a CA piece from the last ~8 months | Discussion / Comment (≤ 800 words) | curranthro-rebuttal + curranthro-writing-style |
| Bridging academic and applied work | Current Applications (open-access section) | curranthro-topic-selection |
CA spans all subfields: sociocultural, archaeology, biological/physical, linguistic (plus ethnohistory, prehistory, applied). Method and ethics demands differ by subfield — name yours before routing (see
curranthro-research-design). Only Major Articles get the full CA✩ commentary.
Idea / fit / article type? → curranthro-topic-selection
Where does it sit in the field? → curranthro-literature-positioning
What's the conceptual argument? → curranthro-theory-building
Is the fieldwork/design sound? → curranthro-research-design
Is the analysis/inference sound? → curranthro-data-analysis
Are exhibits clear & ethical? → curranthro-tables-figures
Does it read across the fields? → curranthro-writing-style
Ethics, consent, accountability? → curranthro-transparency-and-data
How does CA✩ review work? → curranthro-review-process
Ready to submit? → curranthro-submission
Got Comments / an R&R? → curranthro-rebuttal
topic-selection → literature-positioning → theory-building → research-design → data-analysis → tables-figures → writing-style → transparency-and-data → review-process → submission → rebuttal
Iterate: ethnographic and theory-driven papers loop theory ↔ fieldwork ↔ interpretation many times, and
the ethics-and-accountability check (curranthro-transparency-and-data) should run early and again
before submission. The CA✩ logic also runs throughout — from topic-selection onward, ask "who are
my likely commentators, and what will they attack?"
| Check | Pass condition | Route if weak |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | A scholar in another subfield (e.g., a linguist reading an archaeology paper) can state why it matters to anthropology writ large. | curranthro-topic-selection |
| Commentary worthiness | The argument is bold and synthetic enough that international commentators would have something substantive to debate. | curranthro-theory-building |
| Mode honesty | The method (ethnographic, archival, material, lab) is defended in its own idiom, not forced into a quantitative template. | curranthro-research-design |
| Ethics of care | Consent, anonymization, heritage/repatriation obligations have an explicit plan. | curranthro-transparency-and-data |
If the paper fails the reach or commentary-worthiness check, do not route to writing-style — a CA Major Article that no one would bother commenting on is not yet a CA Major Article.
【Stage】idea / positioning / theory / design / analysis / exhibits / writing / ethics / review / submit / reply
【Subfield】sociocultural / archaeology / biological / linguistic / ethnohistory-applied
【Article type】Major Article (CA✩) / Report / Forum / Discussion-Comment / Current Applications
【Route to】curranthro-<skill>
【Why】one line
【Then】the next skill after that
../../resources/external_tools.md — anthropology data sources, archives, CAQDAS, lab/quant tooling by subfield../../resources/official-source-map.md — official CA / Wenner-Gren / UChicago Press URLs behind every fact in this pack