Editorial Policies, Procedures and Guidelines
- Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome, although submission is always on speculation. USFRA reserves the right to exercise its editorial judgment and reject any article at any time for any reason.
- Editorial decisions to publish or not to publish an article are made at the discretion of USFRA and are based on factors including but not limited to: relevance to the industry, interest to readers, timeliness and caliber of writing, as well as space limitations within the given publication.
- Submit only complete works, rather than outlines or pitches. USFRA will not consider partially completed works.
- Submit only exclusive content that has not been published elsewhere (e.g., on websites or in blogs, newsletters, magazines, books, etc.).
- All submissions will be edited for accuracy, clarity, quality and length. USFRA does not guarantee that authors will review their work prior to publication due to time constraints inherent in the production process.
- Include any applicable charts, graphs and images with your submission, but know that we typically cannot run every chart, graph or image due to space constraints. Please provide applicable labeling and caption information with these submissions. It is the author’s responsibility to secure the publishing rights to any charts, graphs or images submitted. Submitted charts, graphs and images should not be embedded in Word documents but saved separately as a TIFF, or JPEG file at 300 dpi resolution. Photos should be largest, high-resolution file size possible.
- USFRA does not pay authors for unsolicited work that is selected for publication.
- Submitted content should not be promotional in any way. Do not write for yourself or your employer. Write for your peers and your industry. This is a chance to showcase your thought leadership—not promote your company, products, services, etc. Offer the reader clear takeaways/next steps to maximize the full impact of your contribution. Consider including multiple points of entry (e.g., subheadings, sidebars, stat boxes, key facts/data points).
- The views expressed in all of USFRA’s publications are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the official positions or policies of USFRA.
- None of the original editorial content that USFRA publishes in this channel is influenced by advertisers, politicians, private or industry sponsors, members, donors, partners or collaborators.
- Please submit article via e-mail. Include your name, address, company, title and e-mail address. Feature articles are roughly 500-3,000.
- Bios: At the end of our articles, the author biography should consist of name, position, affiliation and an e-mail address where the author can be reached for more information.
- References: If detailed attributions are necessary, please incorporate them into the text.
- No links of any sort will be accepted inside the article.
Research/Insights
- USFRA supports the meaningful exchange of information to help create an environment that fosters the continuation of knowledge, thought leadership and a free exchange of ideas. Such an environment requires the authors of USFRA's submissions/assigned stories to share their research findings and insights, if applicable, upon submission.
- When quoting others’ work, include attributions within the body copy following journalistic, Associated Press style. Do not include footnotes, endnotes or lists of references.
Copyright
- All writers whose original submissions are accepted must sign USFRA copyright forms. By doing so, the writer is/are saying that he or she is the sole owner of the material and that it is original, and he/she grants the USFRA rights regarding his/her material, including rights to edit, re-title and reprint it, and to grant permission to others to reprint it. Articles are edited by USFRA’s staff of professional editors, who generally rewrite all titles, subtitles, and subheads to conform to the brand's style. We will not accept responsibility in case of loss.
Censorship
As defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, to censor is “to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable.” USFRA neither condones censorship, nor knowingly engages in it. USFRA reserves the right to exercise its editorial judgment. Editorial decisions to publish or not to publish a submitted article are made at the discretion of USFRA and are based on factors including but not limited to: relevance to the industry, interest to readers, timeliness and caliber of writing, as well as space limitations within the given publication.
Plagiarism
As defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, to plagiarize is “to steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one’s own,” “use another’s production without crediting the source,” or “present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.” USFRA considers other forms of plagiarism to include “self-plagiarism”: instances in which an author borrows from his or her own previously published work without the proper citation within the newly submitted article.
Conflicts of Interest
Conflicts of interest may arise in a variety of situations (e.g., stakeholder relationships, consulting relationships, employment history, etc.), and, therefore, the author is required to be 100% transparent and inform USFRA of any such conflict.
Advertising
After Publication
- All authors are encouraged to promote their USFRA contributions once they are published by USFRA via personal and company websites, social media outlets, e-mails to colleagues and peers, etc.
- Please notify the editor with whom you worked on your submission that you would like to receive a PDF post-publication.
Submit your article to submitstory@usfra.org c/o Allison McCullough