Thank you for your interest in submitting your writing to 9DASHLINE. Below are some guidelines to keep in mind as you prepare your draft. Submissions that do not meet these criteria will not be considered for publication.

9DASHLINE welcomes unsolicited submissions of original opinions and analyses that fit with our editorial stance in support of liberal internationalism. We publish articles covering all aspects of the geopolitics, society and politics, economy, international affairs and diplomacy of the Indo-Pacific region (extending from the Western Pacific to South Asia) and the countries therein.

Preparing your article for submission

1. Like most of our published articles, your draft should be around 1,200 words. While we occasionally publish long reads of about 2,200 words, unsolicited submissions for this section are rarely successful; should you be interested in submitting a long read please contact our editorial team with a brief pitch before submitting a full draft.

2. All submissions must include a title of no more than 12 words — keep it short and engaging.

3. Break up your article into 2-3 sections with appropriate section headings. These should be short, descriptive and capture your content/argument. Do not use ‘conclusion’ as a heading.

4. Insert all references as embedded hyperlinks. We do not publish footnotes and endnotes.

5. Please refrain from including images and tables in the text.

6. Use standard British English throughout your piece.

7. Write using straightforward and jargon-free language, using active voice, and short sentences and paragraphs.

8. The introduction should communicate the topic and main argument of your piece clearly. Tell the reader why your argument is important.

9. Include a brief bio and your social media (Twitter, LinkedIn) handles at the end of the article.

10. Your article must be factual, well-researched, and non-defamatory.

11. The submission must be your own work in full and must not have been previously published anywhere else.

How to submit

1. Email your article as a .doc or .docx file to admin@9dashline.com with “Submission” written in the subject field. Since our editorial team invests significant time and effort in preparing your piece for publication, we ask that you do not simultaneously submit your article to other outlets.

2. If your piece is time-sensitive, please indicate that clearly in your submission email.

3. While we try our best to respond to every submission this may not always be feasible due to a large volume of submissions. If you have not heard back from us after 7 business days after submission, please assume that we are unable to publish your piece.

The editorial and publication process

1. All articles are reviewed by two editors to ensure their suitability and quality. Most submissions go through at least two rounds of editing before they are ready for publication. In the first round, you will receive suggestions and comments from our editors. Once these have been addressed, your piece will be copy edited and returned to you for final approval. There may be minor copy edits after this stage as your piece is proofread and prepared for publication.

2. We try our best to ensure that submissions are edited and published within 10 days of receipt. However, this may not always be possible if there is a high influx of submissions.

3. Once we publish your article, it should remain exclusive to 9DASHLINE for 30 days. After this period has ended, you are free to republish it on other platforms and your own website or blog. For article syndication articles, please see our terms and conditions.

4. Selected articles may be shared with our partners for publication on their platforms.

5. The published article will always remain your property and can be withdrawn by you at any point — no questions asked.

6. We reserve the right to remove any article at any time from our platform.

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