Submissions Guide
E-International Relations is the world’s leading source for International Relations scholarship and insight, reaching over 3 million readers annually via our web, email and social channels. We publish accessible academic-styled works and informed topical analysis. We welcome submissions from any discipline/perspective that has something to say about international affairs – as long as the work is well written, well sourced, and comes from evident expertise. As an academic oriented publisher, we define expertise as distinctive scholarly research/insight, primary data collection/fieldwork, or professional reflections from practice.
Two important notes to consider before proceeding with a submission:
Works that appear to be generated in whole, or in part, by AI will be rejected on sight.
Submissions must not be under consideration, or already published, elsewhere. They must be fully completed and original works (no pitches) that are presented to a high standard in one of three different formats that conform to our style guide, as outlined below:
SCHOLARLY ARTICLES (guide length 2000–3500 words) from emerging and established academics or practitioners. The most important signifier of what we are looking for in a Scholarly Article is an author who can avoid overly dense jargon-laden writing and express their ideas accessibly. So, if your ideas cannot be understood (within reason) by an informed lay person, you should send your work to an academic journal, not to us. We welcome pieces testing out new ideas or challenging existing research, book excerpts reshaped to work stand-alone, excerpts of PhD research, and summaries of (or responses to) longer/other works. To support accessibility, Scholarly Articles should start with a basic overview of the issue they are exploring and reference supporting material throughout via hyperlinks and/or the Chicago Manual of Style’s author-date system. Headings, if used, must be bold set and left aligned. We do not allow footnotes or endnotes in any form (for referencing, or otherwise).
*Submissions, such as essays, written for university assessments will be rejected on sight. If you are a student (below PhD level), have conducted original research/data collection (beyond desk research), and can present your work in a fresh format as per our guidelines, you are welcome to proceed though your work would need to stand alongside professional academic standards to be considered.
OPINION PIECES (guide length 800–1500 words) from emerging and established academics and practitioners/experts that reflect on topical/newsworthy issues in a way that engages a scholarly audience. We do not seek amateur commentary – you must have academic or professional expertise on your subject. Opinion Pieces should give a basic summary of the issue before developing an analysis over an engaging series of concise paragraphs. We expect a decent number of embedded hyperlinks through the text pointing to reputable sources to back up/support claims made, and flag up deeper/wider reading. We do not allow footnotes, endnotes, headings, or academic references/lists (other than hyperlinks) in Opinion Pieces.
*You must have academic or professional expertise, and/or have conducted primary research, on the subject of your opinion piece. Amateur commentary will be rejected.
REVIEWS (guide length 800–1500 words) of books as well as other media such as films, video games and podcasts. We would expect that authors have already obtained the works needed. Reviews are expected to critically analyse the content (whether that is positive, negative or mixed), not merely describe it. We welcome reviews focusing on one work, or a Review Feature that considers a series of interrelated works. Authors should situate the subject area the work under review exists within by referencing supporting material via hyperlinks and/or the Chicago Manual of Style’s author-date system. We do not allow footnotes, endnotes or headings in Reviews.
Style Guide
Our style guide applies to all types of submissions (see above) and ensures that our team can go through the large number of submissions that we receive productively. Deviations will result in an on-sight rejection.
Present your work in Microsoft Word format (.docx)* in publishable English (any variant is fine), conforming to one of the three formats above. *Free services (such as google docs or Libre Office) can export in word format.
AI tools are permissible only in an assistive capacity (e.g. translation, editing).
Include a narrative form bio (20–100 words) for each author. Include affiliations, titles, positions and preferred pronouns (as applicable). We are happy to reference notable publications (please hyperlink these). Please supply a link to one website and/or your main social profile.
Shape a catchy title that directly describes the content. It must be no more than 80 characters and in Title Case.
Do not indent the first sentences of paragraphs. Leave one clear line of space between each paragraph.
Referencing, depending on the type of submission (see above), should be via embedded hyperlinks and/or the Chicago Manual of Style’s author-date system.
We do not allow footnotes or endnotes in any form (for referencing, or otherwise).
Indent quotes longer than two lines. Do not italicise quotations.
Do not punch a double space after each period / full stop (single space please!).
If you have used figures/tables/images, compile these at the bottom of your work and number them. If used, these must be integral to the content and be created/owned by you, or supplied with attribution and a link to the source confirming each is public domain.
► When ready, send your work to submissions.e.ir@gmail.com with the email subject/title ‘SUBMISSION’. It must be attached in Microsoft Word format (.docx) and include an author bio.
Submission of your content confirms that you have read and understood our Publishing Agreement.
On submission you should get an auto-response noting that our team will get back to you within 14 days – please do not chase us for a response until 14 days have passed, and check your spam folder. Our response will be either a notice of publication, a revise and resubmit request, or a rejection. If we publish your work we typically make a range of minor presentational copy edits and formatting amendments, though nothing that will alter your meaning. We are happy to consider post-publication amendments on request.
Substack
If you are an author of multiple pieces on our platform (3 or more) we can add your substack byline to your publications. Please contact us (here or by email) and provide the email address you use to sign into substack so we can set this up.
Publish a book with E-International Relations
We also publish open access books. If you have an idea for a book, you can get in touch (here or by email) and let us know what you have in mind. Typically, we seek edited collections – though monographs and textbooks are also welcome.