How to Contribute to the Hub

Global Souths Hub is a free to access news and resource platform that encourages debate and fosters collaborations in the field of Global South Studies. We welcome contributions from all who have knowledge in the area, including early-career researchers, students, practitioners, policy experts, journal authors, aspiring journal authors and bloggers.

1. What issues do we cover?

We are looking for interesting and informed articles that take original angles on subjects by including personal experiences and thought-provoking analysis. 

Global Souths Hub covers a vast range of topics including politics, social issues, economics, development, gender, health, the environment, art and culture. Find out the full list of topics we cover on our who we are page.

2. What kind of items do we publish?

We publish a wide range of formats, including: interviews, summaries of academic articles, short commentaries, conference wrap-ups, op-eds, features, reflective pieces (journalling), essays, listicles, photo essays, videos, podcasts and more.

Check out our ‘how to’ guides:

• Write up an event for our blog
• Write a blog post about your journal article
• Make a video about your research

3. Who is our audience?

Our intended audience is global, diverse and informed, but not necessarily specialised in the field.

4. What to think about when writing a blog for us?

Bloggers should please follow our editorial guidance below:

• Be concise: Make sure you translate your arguments into succinct points and use links to other relevant sources. Blogs should be between 800 to 1,500 words in length. Please use hyperlinks to provide evidence for the points you make as we do not publish footnotes.
• Engage: Choose a thought-provoking title. Your piece should spark curiosity. Storytelling and key quotes can help bring a story to life.
• Avoid using jargon and write in a conversational style: Please avoid technical language unless completely necessary, and translate any specialised language into plain English. 
• Make it visual:  Relevant photos or videos can be more inspiring than words and can help break up the text. But please make sure you have the appropriate proof of permissions obtained or the photos have the appropriate copyright licence. 
• Be accurate: As you would with an academic article, please double-check your facts and use appropriate grammar. Use British English Spelling.
• Be personable: Provide your own unique perspective on something you care about, write with an active rather than a passive voice and don’t be afraid to use personal pronouns such as I, you or we.
• Choose subjects that are topical and relevant: Think about the bigger picture, and whether the topic will resonate with a broader audience who might not be familiar with the subject area. 
• Original work: Collaborations and co-authored pieces are welcome, but all content submitted to us should be original and should not be published anywhere else.

Submissions that are critical are welcomed, but the language and tone must be balanced and respectful throughout.

If you want further advice, visit the Taylor and Francis site to learn how to write a journal article and explore their page on how to write an academic blog post. 

5. Do I have to be previously published in TWQ or CAS to write for you?

Not necessarily! While the blog has been set up by the editors of two academic journals, Third World Quarterly (TWQ) and Central Asian Survey (CAS), you do not have to be an existing author to contribute to the Global Souths news site.

However, if you have been previously published in TWQ or CAS or another journal, we would love to hear from you. We welcome short posts that summarise your article’s research.

6. Do we have a word limit?

Our blog posts are typically 800 words, but we publish shorter (400 words) and occasionally longer posts (1,500+ words). We rarely publish pieces that are over 2,000 words unless they are of particular importance.

7. Should I submit my blog post pitch first?

If you would like to sound out your idea first, you are welcome to submit a blog post pitch. You can reach us through our contact form or via the [email protected] email address.

Please include the following information in your pitch email to us:

• Your contact information: Your full name, your email address, your affiliation (if applicable), your phone number, and any relevant social media accounts. 
• Your proposed writing format, elevator pitch and a potential title: Is your piece an interview, opinion piece or journal summary etc.? What’s the topic? Who will be interested? Why now? Who will you talk to? What research have you done on the subject?
• Your experience: Why are you best placed to write this piece? You can also include another writing example if you have one. Propose a deadline.

8. How should I submit a blog post?

We also accept full blog posts, but we may ask for edits. Please submit your blog post as a word document (.doc and .docx). Submissions should fulfil the following requirements:

• Include your credentials (for example, your full name, affiliation, institution or company)
• Include any funding information that supported your work
• Your headshot (.png or .jpg with name) in high-resolution (600 DPI for greyscale images and 300 DPI minimum for colour images)
• Some suggestions for images (preferably 2-3 images) to accompany the blog, ideally one you might have taken yourself or has an appropriate copyright licence to use. Include image credit in your submission. The images should be in high-resolution (typically between between 100K and 60K)
• Your Linkedin and X handles if you would like to be tagged in our social media posts

9. When will you hear back from? How long is the process? 

We endeavour to respond promptly to emails. Our policy is to respond to an email within 2-4 working days, but this timescale depends on the blog content, as some pieces may require more reflection than others. We can’t gaurantee that we will publish every article that is submitted to us but we will endevour to get back to you with a helpful response.

10. Can other outlets republish my published article?

Please note that the Hub operates under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International license and our posts can be republished in print and online platforms without our permission being requested, as long as the piece is credited correctly.

We ask those who cite the Hub to:

• Include a clear attribution to the author(s).
• Include a clear attribution to Global Souths Hub with a link to the original (“This article was originally published on Global Souths Hub [link to original]”).
• Ensure it is published for non-commercial reasons only.
• Ensure the text is not changed.
• Ensure that the article is free to read.

If you have an original piece of research, and would prefer to submit an academic article for either of the journals, please refer to the journal websites (Third World Quarterly and Central Asian Survey) or the ‘Writing your Paper’ author services section.