--- name: the-international-journal-of-robotics-research description: Use when targeting The International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR) or deciding whether a robotics manuscript fits this venue. Encodes the journal's fit, the longer-form conceptually-framed-and-general contribution bar, depth-and-generality rigor, the IJRR-vs-T-RO routing, house style, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics. --- # The International Journal of Robotics Research (the-international-journal-of-robotics-research) ## Journal positioning The International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR), published by SAGE, is a flagship archival venue for **longer-form, conceptually framed robotics research**: foundational methods, extended treatments, and contributions whose value rests on **generality and depth** rather than a single working demonstration. The defining expectation is an idea developed thoroughly — formalized, analyzed, and evaluated across conditions — that advances how the field thinks about a problem, not only a system that performs one task. Compared with its sibling `ieee-transactions-on-robotics`, IJRR favors the deeper, more general, more conceptual treatment, while T-RO favors complete and tightly validated results; route by whether the strength is generality-of-idea or completeness-of-validation. This skill is a **fit / venue-selection / re-framing** tool. It does not replace the journal's current official author guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live IJRR/SAGE author information. ## When to trigger - The author names IJRR for a robotics manuscript with a foundational or conceptually general contribution and wants a fit/framing check. - A result must be re-framed from "our system does X" into a general method or principle, developed and analyzed beyond a single demonstration. - The author is choosing between IJRR and `ieee-transactions-on-robotics` by depth-and-generality vs. completeness-of-validation. - The author needs IJRR's depth/generality bar and desk-reject heuristics. ## Scope & topic fit - Foundational methods in planning, control, estimation, learning, and perception for robots, presented with generality and analysis. - Manipulation, locomotion, and navigation when the contribution is a principle or framework that transfers beyond one platform or task. - Algorithmic and theoretical robotics: complexity, guarantees, representations, and formal treatments grounded in robotic problems. - Extended treatments that consolidate, generalize, or deepen a line of work into an archival reference. - System and architecture contributions when the design embodies a generalizable concept, evaluated across conditions, not a one-off demo. ## Method & evidence bar - The central object is a **general, well-developed idea**: a formalization, method, or framework whose scope and limits are characterized, not a single tuned result. - Evaluation should probe generality — across tasks, platforms, parameters, or conditions — and may combine analysis, simulation, and real-robot experiments. - Analysis (assumptions, guarantees, complexity, failure modes) is expected where the contribution is methodological, supporting the claim of generality. - Experiments matter, but a single impressive demonstration is not sufficient if the conceptual generality is not established and tested. - Position the work in the broader arc of the field; the contribution should change how a problem is approached, not just report a better number. - Reproducibility: enough detail (and ideally code/data and video) to let others build on the framework, per current policy. ## Structure & house style - SAGE long-form archival article; IJRR accommodates fuller development than a letters/short format — match the depth to that scope and re-check current article types and length policy on the live guide. - The introduction frames the conceptual problem and the field-level gap, then states the general contribution; it situates the work in a broad intellectual context. - The development is thorough: clear formalization, analysis, and a discussion of scope, assumptions, and limitations. - Figures and tables support both the concept and its multi-condition evaluation; a supplementary video supports any hardware demonstration. - Related work is substantive, reflecting the archival, reference-quality positioning. ## Official-submission checklist - Before giving submission-ready advice, read `../../resources/source-basis.md` and `../../resources/official-source-map.md`; start from the SAGE anchors, then cite the current IJRR author-guidelines page you checked. - Search the live site for "International Journal of Robotics Research submission guidelines" and follow the current SAGE/manuscript-system version. - Re-check article types, length expectations, and the IJRR/SAGE manuscript format. - Confirm data/code-availability, video, and reproducibility expectations. - Re-check competing-interests, funding, author-contribution, and AI-use disclosure requirements, and open-access options. - If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win. ## Pre-submission self-check - [ ] The contribution is a general, well-developed idea or framework, not a single tuned demonstration. - [ ] Generality is established and tested across tasks/platforms/conditions, not asserted. - [ ] Methodological claims are supported by analysis (assumptions, guarantees, complexity, failure modes). - [ ] The work is situated in the broad arc of the field and changes how the problem is approached. - [ ] Development depth and length fit IJRR's long-form archival format. - [ ] Reproducibility detail (and ideally code/data/video) lets others build on the framework. ## Common desk-reject triggers - A single working system or demo with no generalization, analysis, or conceptual framing. - Incremental result better suited to a shorter, tightly validated format than long-form archival. - Method asserted to be general but evaluated on one task/platform only. - Application paper where the robotics idea is incidental and not developed. - Thin related work and shallow analysis inconsistent with reference-quality positioning. ## Re-routing decision - Complete, tightly validated single contribution → `ieee-transactions-on-robotics`. - Control-theoretic result with guarantees as the core → `ieee-transactions-on-automatic-control` / `automatica`. - Industrial-robot deployment with hardware-system focus → `ieee-transactions-on-industrial-electronics`. - Medical/surgical-robotics imaging contribution → `ieee-transactions-on-medical-imaging`. - Focused, timely result → a robotics letters venue or conference. ## Output format ```text [Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason) [Target] The International Journal of Robotics Research [Topic tags] <2–3 closest robotics subtopics> [Conceptual contribution] [Method/evidence] [Top risk] [Article type] Long-form archival article [Official items to re-check]
[Re-route suggestion] ```