We’re delighted you’re interested in publishing with Edge Effects. We encourage you to read through the Edge Effects website to get a sense of the magazine’s voice, the content we offer relating to environmental and cultural change, and our editorial commitments. We also encourage you to read about how to submit a pitch (below) and to follow those guidelines carefully to ensure your pitch reaches our editorial team.
What we publish
We are interested in engaging posts about the environment and society from a range of approaches, including scholarly and creative. We’re committed to publishing across boundaries, at the intersections of the sciences with the humanities, of academe with the public, of narrated pasts with imagined futures. Because we aim to reach a public audience, we do not encourage submissions written for specialists without a broader appeal. We generally prefer not to republish writing that’s previously appeared in print or online. Please let us know if the writing you submit to us has been previously published elsewhere (in whole or in part), and where it appeared. We publish content in many formats—text, image, video, and a podcast—while maintaining a commitment to clear, accessible prose. For more about the different formats we publish and expected word counts, see the list below.
Who we publish
We invite submissions from anyone interested in bringing interdisciplinary environmental work to a public audience. We are especially interested in publishing graduate students, adjuncts, practitioners, early career scholars, and other voices adjacent to the traditional professoriate.
How to submit
In approximately 200-250 words, include the following in the body of your email to edgeeffects@nelson.wisc.edu:
- A summary of the post, including its format (see chart of suggested formats) and argument or angle
- A description of how you would make it exciting to both those who are familiar with its topic and those new to the subject who happen upon it online
- A discussion of why you think your piece would be a good fit for Edge Effects, with our readership of academics and non-academics interested broadly in questions of environment and society
- Any professional or biographical information relevant to the content of the piece, as well as a brief explanation of any affiliations or financial ties you have to organizations your piece would feature
- A sense of your schedule. When could we reasonably expect a first draft? How available would you be to work with an editor on subsequent drafts after that?
Please include the word “pitch” in the subject line of your email.
For general submissions, we prefer to work with you on a brief pitch that might fit Edge Effects before we read a full draft. If you do send a complete draft, however, make sure you still include a full 200-250 word pitch.
When you’ll hear back
We aim to respond to pitches within two weeks. If you don’t hear from us within three weeks, feel free to send a follow-up email.
Our editorial process
For every post on Edge Effects, a primary editor works directly with the author(s) throughout the editorial process. Our editorial process is fairly rigorous. Authors can expect editorial feedback to include comments and suggestions, but also detailed line edits which we offer in the spirit of improving clarity while respecting your voice(s). We are dedicated to working closely with authors to consider carefully every post we take on, whether solicited by us or pitched by the author. However, we cannot guarantee publication and we sometimes find it necessary to reject a piece that falls outside of the tonal or content scope of Edge Effects, even after the editorial process has begun.
Unfortunately, we do not pay contributors at this time.
We look forward to hearing from you!
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