Secular World Submission Guidelines

General 

Experienced, knowledgeable writers are requested to research and write articles for upcoming issues of AAI's quarterly magazine, Secular World.  Fresh and novel approaches to the topic of atheism are encouraged.  Interested parties should contact the magazine editor at secularworld [at] atheistalliance [dot] org with details, including proposed subject matter and length.

Secular World strives to contain mostly first-time published material. In those rare cases where previously-published material selected for publication, it must be treated very carefully.  We cannot reprint material from other publications without written permission from the publisher. If you quote substantially from other publications, you also must obtain permission for Secular World to use the material, credit the author and give the publication title and date - even if you are quoting from your own work that has been published elsewhere. You are not always protected by changing some of the words or paraphrasing, so please be sure you have permission where needed. For further information regarding the "fair use" doctrine, see the websites: http://publishing.about.com/cs/fairuseinfo/ and http://www.publaw.com/fairuse.html.

We need your help

Please understand that Secular World works with limited staff, so we ask those who submit material to help us as much as possible. We cannot use everything we receive and what we do use must be in the correct form. Well-written material that incorporates the following rules has the best chance of being published in Secular World.

Deadlines

1Q issue (Jan - Mar): 1 November
2Q issue (Apr - Jun): 1 February
3Q issue (Jul - Sep): 1 May
4Q issue (Oct - Dec): 1 August

Any questions should be directed to secularworld [at] atheistalliance [dot] org.

Articles
The best length for articles is 1,000 to 2,000 words. Some articles can be longer, but we prefer that you inquire first before sending longer material. In very few cases will we use an article that exceeds 3,000 words. Rarely, long articles may be split between two issues, but this will also be an exception. If your article has been published before, you should obtain written permission from the publisher to reprint it in Secular World, and include it with your submission, even if we have your (the author's) permission. However, we seldom reprint previously published articles. Please see the information above about fair use.

When sending an article, please include a short bio: a few lines about your background and affiliations. Use other authors' bios in Secular World as a guideline. Please include this information with your article so we don't have to ask for it later. A small head-shot photo may accompany articles. Include your mailing address, so that if your article is printed, we may send you a copy of the magazine.

Secular World is a publication of Atheist Alliance International and is unlikely to publish articles that are inconsistent with its philosophy of being a positive voice for atheism. Certainly any atheist publication will include some criticism of religion, but our emphasis is on atheist-humanist activism. If you wish to publish disagreement with any of our views, Letters to the Editor is the best place for such criticism.

Letters to the Editor
Letters on any subject appropriate to Secular World are welcome. They may be on a new topic or politely critical or supportive of previous articles or letters or of Secular World as a whole. Letters should be under 200 words. All letters must contain the name of the writer, city, state/province and country. Letters sent anonymously will not be published. Secular World may, on rare occasions, agree to not publish a letter-writer's name, but Secular World must know the writer's name and contact information. If letter-writers would like to be contacted by email by Secular World readers, they should note this and include their email address. We won't publish letter-writers' email addresses except by permission, which should be included with the Letter to the Editor. Extremely long letters will either be rejected or shortened. Letters chosen for publication may be edited for correct usage or length. Abusive letters will not be published. If a letter is critical of an author or article, we will allow the author to respond. If it is not possible to include an author's response in the issue where a critical letter appears, a response may be included in the following issue.

Books
We welcome ideas for book reviews. Please include the title, author, publisher, and price, and a paragraph or two about the book and why it would be of interest to Secular World readers. Readers are welcome to send reviews of books they have read. Reviews should be in the range of 300-500 words. Occasionally a longer review will be accepted. The reviewer should include his or her name and city and state, plus some bio information. As with other material, if the review has been published elsewhere, we must have the permission of the publisher to reprint.

Suggestions
We welcome ideas and suggestions about Secular World, including those that you are not submitting for publication. If your letter is for our information only and you don't wish to have it published, please make note of that on the letter itself.