amanthro-review-process

Research

Use when you need to understand how American Anthropologist (AA) evaluates a manuscript — editorial screening, anonymous peer review under an ethics of care, the four-field editorial board, decision categories, and how section choice shapes the path. Sets expectations and shapes the paper to survive review; it does not contact editors.

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Review Process (amanthro-review-process)

Knowing how AA screens and decides lets you pre-empt the failure modes before submitting. AA is the four-field AAA flagship, uses anonymous peer review, and explicitly practices an ethics of care toward authors and reviewers — but the editorial bar is still four-field significance plus sound, ethical evidence.

When to trigger

Before submitting, to stress-test against editorial screening grounds
Choosing the right section (the review path differs for forums, multimodal, review essays)
Interpreting a decision letter and setting expectations
Understanding what reviewers are asked to weigh, including ethics

How AA review works

Editorial screening first. The editor-in-chief and associate editors (a four-field board) assess fit, four-field significance, and obvious ethics issues before sending out for review. A technically fine but subfield-bound paper can be returned or redirected here.
Anonymous peer review. Reviewers typically do not see author identities; anonymize the manuscript and file name and provide a separate title page (see amanthro-submission). Expect expert, sometimes cross-subfield, reviewers.
Ethics of care. AA states it strives for an ethics of care in editing and asks reviewers to do the same — constructive, non-destructive review. This does not lower the bar; it shapes the tone.
Decision categories. Reject; major or minor revisions (revise-and-resubmit); accept. R&R is the common positive outcome; exact portal labels and acceptance-rate figures are not fixed in this pack.
Section-specific paths. Vital Topics Forums and special sections are often invited or proposed (and AA may not always be accepting proposals); Multimodal and Public Anthropologies have their own editors and expectations; Review Essays are commissioned or pitched.

Shape the paper to pass

Make four-field significance explicit early (avoids the "subfield-only" redirect).
Engage the relevant conversations, including across subfields and beyond the metropolitan canon.
Clear ethics up front: consent, anonymization, heritage/repatriation, community accountability — an unresolved ethics concern is a serious problem at AA (see amanthro-transparency-and-data).
Match the section to the work; don't send a 1,500-word engaged piece through the Research-Article path or a full study to a forum.

Anti-patterns

Submitting a single-subfield paper to a four-field flagship with no broad framing
Ignoring an obvious related literature or a non-metropolitan scholarship
Treating reviewers' ethics-of-care tone as a sign the bar is low
Pitching a Vital Topics Forum when proposals are closed; mis-targeting the section
Leaving consent/heritage/anonymization unresolved and hoping review will overlook it

Output format

【Screening check】fit / four-field significance / ethics — any red flags?
【Significance】broad enough to clear "subfield-only"? [Y/N]
【Literature engaged】incl. cross-subfield + non-metropolitan? [Y/N]
【Ethics cleared】consent / anonymization / heritage resolved? [Y/N]
【Section】Research Article / Vital Topics / World / Public / Multimodal / Review Essay (right path?)
【Realistic outcome】reject / R&R / (rare) accept
【Next】amanthro-submission (or amanthro-rebuttal if decided)

What reviewers are asked to weigh (anticipate it)

Reviewer focus	What it means at AA	How to pre-empt it
Four-field significance	Does this matter beyond the home subfield?	State the cross-field stake in the introduction
Evidence & rigor	Is the claim grounded; is interpretation disciplined?	Ground each claim; name and adjudicate the rival reading
Reflexivity	Is the author's position visible and accounted for?	Make positionality part of the argument
Ethics & care	Consent, anonymization, heritage, no harm	Resolve and state these before submitting
Citational practice	Are marginalized/regional voices engaged?	Cite beyond the metropolitan canon
Craft	Is it well written and legible across fields?	Polish with `amanthro-writing-style`

Calibration anchors (hedged)

The ethics of care shapes the tone of review (constructive, non-destructive), not the bar: expect rigorous, sometimes cross-subfield critique even in a generous letter.
A revise-and-resubmit is the normal positive outcome; treat it as an invitation, not a near-miss (see amanthro-rebuttal). Outright first-round acceptance is rare.
Decision-category names, reviewer counts, and acceptance rates are not published as fixed figures in the checked public guidance; use the live Research Exchange/editorial letter wording.

Supplementary resources

../../resources/official-source-map.md — peer-review model, ethics-of-care statement, section types, editorial board