AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy Medium submission guidelines
The AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy Medium blog strives to reach scientists and engineers interested in diplomacy, international relations professionals and scholars interested in science and innovation, students and educators, and others seeking to learn about and strengthen science diplomacy.
We aim to publish as many evergreen, original stories as possible about science diplomacy. We will consider submissions that fit the criteria outlined below.
Content that Fits Within the Concept of Science Diplomacy
Stories must have a science diplomacy (#SciDip) angle, of course. They can align with one or more of our current themes: (examples from the Science & Diplomacy journal) relationship building, national approaches, mechanisms, capacity building and development, health diplomacy, international research and large-scale infrastructures, transboundary issues and shared spaces, and regional integration and trade. We love promoting insightful stories about science diplomacy in practice — and inside and outside the classroom — including highlighting lessons learned and policy-relevant recommendations.
Content that Tells a Story
Each submission should include a story, no matter how brief, to draw the readers into — and ideally have them learn something new about — the science diplomacy angle of your work. We’re looking to publish stories between 750–1,700 words. The types and format of stories we publish include: Op-Ed’s, high quality listicles, journalistic pieces about events or conferences, fascinating interviews with experts, and policy thought pieces and perspectives.
If you have a more scholarly article on science diplomacy, the Center for Science Diplomacy also publishes Science & Diplomacy, a policy journal. Have a look at the journal’s submission and author information.
Entertain & Educate
Each story should try to tie into an important topic about your work, someone else’s work, or other targeted musings with a science diplomacy angle. Our Medium blog seeks to explore and generate conversation on issues at the crossroads science, diplomacy, technology, and international affairs.
Correct Content that is Visually Appealing
We’re also looking for stories which have been carefully structured, and edited for grammar, spelling, readability, and cohesiveness. We suggest that writers get help from places like Grammarly and/or friends who can provide critical feedback prior to submitting your piece!
All submissions should have a featured image above or below the title. One favorite stock photo site is Pexels. Bonus points for articles with beautiful, rich media (video, data visualization, charts, or other creative content) throughout the story. All images must be owned by you or include a cited source. We retain the right to remove images from submissions and replace them with those our editors pick if necessary. Please use Medium’s formatting features, including headers, quotes, italics, etc. A careful use of formatting is what helps make a story easy to read and share.
Things to Remember
Please Only Submit Original Content and Unpublished Drafts
In the spirit of trying to get your science diplomacy story the most exposure possible, we prefer unpublished drafts over published stories.
We Reserve the Right to Alter and Edit Your Story
The #SciDip team retains the right to edit the content of your story for clarity and if grammatical errors are found, along with adding logos, bylines, images, etc. to your story. If you remove this content after your story is published, we reserve the right to remove the story from the publication.
We’re Looking For Long-Term Relationships
Once we’ve published your story on the AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy Medium, we ask that it remain in our publication. We will only publish author bylines that are 1–2 sentences long. Do feel free to include a few links, too. Anything longer will be removed (including author photos, newsletter forms, excessive links, etc).
Response Time
Our response time varies, but we’re usually pretty quick. If you haven’t heard back about a submission within 72 hours, please assume it won’t be published. To have your submission considered, please send us an email to sciencediplomacy [at] aaas [dot] org.
We look forward to your submission!
