respol-topic-selection

Research

Use when scoping or sanity-checking the research question for a Research Policy (RP) manuscript — deciding whether it is a genuine innovation-studies question RP owns versus an economics/strategy paper that will desk-reject as out of scope. Frames the question; it does not build the theory (respol-theory-development) or stake the gap (respol-literature-positioning).

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills/blob/HEAD/Research-Policy-Skills/skills/respol-topic-selection/SKILL.md

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Topic Selection (respol-topic-selection)

When to trigger

You are unsure whether the question belongs in RP or in an economics/management outlet
The paper studies a phenomenon (firms, R&D, patents) but the innovation-studies angle is implicit
A coauthor asks "is this Research Policy, or is this SMJ / ICC / Technovation?"
The literature you cite is "almost entirely economics journals or management journals" — RP's classic out-of-scope tell
The contribution is empirical and clean but has no innovation-theory or STI-policy payoff

What makes a question a Research Policy question

RP publishes work on the emergence, diffusion, and governance of innovation and technological change, read through an innovation-systems lens. A submittable question almost always (a) concerns an object RP owns — R&D, technological change, innovation systems (national/regional/sectoral/technological), science and STI policy, entrepreneurship and technology management, university-industry links, or IP — and (b) advances understanding of how innovation happens or how to govern it, usually carrying a policy or managerial implication. The SPRU/Freeman-Nelson-Pavitt heritage matters: RP rewards questions about systems and institutions of innovation, not just firm-level performance.

The decisive test is the so-what audience: an innovation-studies scholar (or a science/technology policymaker) must care, and your framing must speak to them — not only to labor economists or strategy researchers who happen to share your dataset.

Branch test: is this RP, or a sibling?

If your core claim is about…	And your audience is…	Likely home
How an innovation/STI policy or institution shapes technological change	innovation-studies + policy	Research Policy
How firms organize R&D, search, recombination to innovate (systems/sector view)	innovation studies	Research Policy
A firm's competitive advantage / performance from a resource or strategy lens	strategy scholars	SMJ
Industrial dynamics, capabilities, evolutionary economics (firm-centric)	I-O / evolutionary econ	Industrial and Corporate Change
Managing a specific technology/innovation in practice	technology managers	Technovation
New-product development process and outcomes	NPD / marketing	JPIM
A clean causal estimate with no innovation-theory payoff	applied economists	a field economics journal

If two cells fit, write the framing so the innovation-systems / STI-policy reading is the primary one; RP referees punish papers that "could be anywhere."

Sharpening moves

State the question in one sentence as "How does [innovation phenomenon/policy] affect [innovation outcome], and why does it matter for innovation theory and policy?"
Name the innovation-studies conversation it joins (e.g., absorptive capacity, sectoral systems, mission-oriented policy, science-technology linkage) — not the econometrics conversation.
Identify the policy or managerial decision your answer would inform; if none exists, the topic is likely better placed elsewhere.
Check the literature base: if your reference list has no RP / innovation-studies anchors, that is the out-of-scope risk made visible — fix the question or the outlet, not just the citations.

Checklist

The question names an innovation/STI object RP owns, not just a generic firm/market outcome
An innovation-studies scholar and a science/technology policymaker would both see why it matters
The framing reads as innovation studies first, economics/strategy second
The reference base is anchored in the RP/innovation-studies canon, not only econ/management journals
The sibling boundary (SMJ / ICC / Technovation / JPIM) is consciously chosen, not accidental
Current process facts cited are in resources/official-source-map.md or marked 待核实

Anti-patterns

An economics/strategy paper "re-skinned" with the word innovation in the abstract — referees see through it
A literature review built only from economics or management journals (out-of-scope desk reject)
A clean estimate with no STI-policy or innovation-theory payoff ("nice result, wrong journal")
Treating RP as a high-impact outlet of convenience rather than an innovation-studies community
Inventing exemplar papers, editors, fees, or limits instead of marking 待核实

Output format

【Journal】Research Policy
【Skill】respol-topic-selection
【One-sentence question】innovation phenomenon → innovation outcome → why it matters
【Innovation-studies conversation】the named RP/STI debate it joins
【Policy/managerial payoff】the decision the answer informs
【Sibling boundary】why RP and not SMJ / ICC / Technovation / JPIM
【Out-of-scope risk】is the lit base econ/management-only? [Y/N + fix]
【Verdict】pass / revise / reroute
【Next skill】respol-theory-development