openDemocracy publishes writing in English from all corners of the world, and from all types of people - from career academics to PhD students, writers of repute to aspiring journalists, representatives of international NGO's to the voices of the global street.

Writing for openDemocracy can often lead to media appearances, conference invitations or simply to inspired debate with the unique set of engaged citizens that occupy the openDemocracy forums.

• Testimonials
• Unsolicited submissions
• Copyright
• Syndication
• Media appearances
• Data protection

Testimonials

Unsolicited submissions

We welcome unsolicited submissions. If you would like an article to be considered for publication, we appreciate it if you first read the following guidelines:

• Please try and keep article length to 800-1200 words. Once a week, openDemocracy publishes a long essay of around 3,000 words. If you would like your article to be considered for this slot, please state so clearly in your accompanying correspondence. Do bear in mind that we accept fewer essays than articles, because they are scheduled less frequently.
• Please familiarise yourself with our content before deciding whether your article is suitable for us. In particular, it is useful to check previous coverage of the topic you are addressing, so your submission complements rather than duplicates it.
• We do not accept submissions sent simultaneously to several publications, as we prefer not to reproduce material available elsewhere.
• Please tell us if your article has been published elsewhere, either on the web or in print, providing links if possible.
  
• If you are responding to an article already published on our site, please consider posting your response in our forums. A wide range of people populate openDemocracy forums and the best posts can be featured on the website's frontpage and in our regular email updates.
• Please bear in mind when you're writing that although we are based in London, we serve a global audience. Therefore please avoid references to region-specific arguments, institutions or artefacts without providing a simple explanation for a non-regional audience.
• All the usual disciplines for web-writing, like keeping paragraphs short, apply. Please supply us with any links that provide context, explanation or further reading for your piece that you come across during your research.
• If this is the first time you are writing for us, please supply a biography with any links you feel are appropriate and, if possible, a .jpg image of yourself. For examples of author biogs, please click here.

Please email your submissions as an attachment in .rtf or .doc format to submissions@openDemocracy.net. openDemocracy responds individually to all unsolicited submissions, so please bear with us if it takes us some time to get back to you.

Copyright

With almost all the material published on openDemocracy, copyright remains with the author. However, we assume the right to syndicate your writing to commercial publications around the world for one year (see Syndication). We further assume the right to include your work in our unlimited academic licence package, which grants academic institutions the right to use openDemocracy content as an educational resource, and in our newly-established quarterly journal.

To assure our writers gain as much exposure as possible around the world, openDemocracy has adopted a UK Creative Commons, attribution, non-commercial, no derivative works licence for its content. All openDemocracy articles are published under this default licence unless previously agreed with the individual author. To view the licence click here, or learn more about this scheme here. Rare exceptions are made to this rule.

For more information, read the guidelines for publishers, and find out more about the reasons behind openDemocracy's adoption of the licence in Siva Vaidhyanathan's 2005 article.

Syndication

We assume your permission to syndicate your writing around the world for one year after publication, and will offer to split revenue generated by this activity 50/50 between openDemocracy and the author.

Syndication provides extra revenue for openDemocracy, revenue which keeps openDemocracy going. It also provides the opportunity for openDemocracy to spread its brand to a wider audience. We therefore request that if writers are approached by any publication or website wishing to reprint their work, that they direct that request to Grace Davies (grace.davies@opendemocracy.net), openDemocracy's Managing Editor, who will negotiate contracts and fees, and deal with invoice administration

Abiding by our syndication terms gives you a better chance of seeing your work reach a wider audience through our network of contacts in the international media. Content originally published on openDemocracy has appeared in:

• The Guardian (UK)
• The Times Higher Education Supplement (UK)
• The LA Times (USA)
• The Globe & Mail (Canada)
• The Toronto Star (Canada)
• Le Monde (France)
• El Pais (Spain)
• De Standaard (Belgium)
• Prague Post (Czech Republic)
• La Repubblica (Italy)
• The Santiago Times (Chile)
• Le Monde Diplomatique (International)
• The Zimbabwean (UK)
• Internazionale (Italy)
• The Weekender (South Africa)
• The Mail & Guardian (South Africa)
• Financial Times Deutschland (Germany)
• O Estado de S.Paulo (Brazil)

 

Media appearances

Because of the depth and diversity of the material we publish, openDemocracy is approached daily by the international broadcast media to provide experts and opinion-formers on subjects in the current affairs arena. openDemocracy puts the broadcast media in touch with you, the experts, in the shared understanding that writers do all they can to spread the word about openDemocracy.

Data protection

openDemocracy never gives out email addresses or other contact details of any of the authors we publish. Our policy when approached for author contact details - whether that approach is from a long lost relative or the BBC - is to forward a request for contact to the author ourselves. We ask that you provide us with contact details that reflect the often very short lead in times of the broadcast media, for example, if you do not check your emails regularly, please provide us with a telephone number.