Author Brief Template

Copy and paste this into a PDF/document to share with your author. Be sure to customize all [bracketed information]. Updated Dec 2020.

Note: it may be easier to work with the Google Doc template.

Science for the People Author Brief

Commissioned: [Editor 1’s Name] / [Editor 1’s Email] (Lead Editor)

[Editor 2’s Name] / [Editor 2’s Email] (Secondary Editor)

[Fact Checker’s Name, if assigned] / [Fact Checker’s Email, if assigned] (Fact Checker)

Author: [Author’s Name] / [Author’s Email] Article Topic: [Topic] Project: Science for the People, Vol [#] No [#] Date: [Today’s Date]

Background

The focus of the issue, [Issue title] is [short summary of goals for the issue].

The mission statement of the publication is to introduce the principles of radical science to a new generation of activists looking to understand and transform the world around us. In the process, we hope to invigorate the older generation whose contributions over thirty years ago have inspired us to pick up the banner of Science for the People!

The target readers will be non-specialists, although our readership is composed of a number of academics, researchers, organizers and activists. Our publication features writing in a journalistic format and from a radical perspective. Your essay should interest a specialist and be accessible to the general public. Both types of reader should come away feeling that they have learned something. As such, you must define any specialized terms or jargon.

Authors are either working in STEM fields, scholars working in science and technology studies, and non-scientists/non-specialists. Authors either are or highlight activists and those organizing in the sciences, as well as those working in the humanities and arts at the intersection of science. SftP is especially invested in raising the voices of women, BIPOC, non-binary individuals, and others traditionally underrepresented in STEM.

The [Feature / Review / Report / Contribution] will highlight/explain/examine… [Description here - editors, fill this in from their original pitch with any detail/clarity/focus as needed, and any suggestions from the editorial collective on how to refocus/modify their original pitch]

Word count: [1,500-2,000 for features, 1,000 for reviews]

SftP Editorial Timeline

The first stage is developmental editing, handled by members of our editorial collective. At this stage, the aim is to ensure that your work is clear, sound, and thorough. This is the final stage for making substantive changes to article content and organization.

1st Draft Submission: [Two weeks from sending date]

2nd Draft Submission: [You should receive your draft within two weeks, turn around within 72 hours, and give authors about two weeks to turn the next draft around, so put this at 4 weeks from sending date]

The second stage is technical editing, where our technical editors verify all factual claims made in the manuscript for accuracy. The deadline for delivery is a hard deadline.

Delivery for Fact-checking Deadline: [ME will set this deadline]

The third stage is copyediting. At this stage, your document will be passed on to the copyeditor who will review the article for clarity, grammar and adherence to our Style Guide. This is the final chance to make sentence-level changes.

Delivery for Copyediting Deadline: [ME will set this deadline]

After all articles in the issue are completed, the contents are sent to our designer. They will turn around proofs of the article for you to review. You will also be asked to review your contributor bio. This is the final chance to correct typos or errors before publication.

Estimated Proof Deadline: [ME will set this deadline] Please note that all drafts should be submitted via Google Docs with Commenting or Editing Enabled. Once you submit a draft to your editors, please don’t make further changes until you receive feedback.

Please provide page numbers or URLs for any quotations or facts cited so that we can refer to the source for fact-checking purposes. For sources that may not be readily available, please provide PDFs or photographs of the relevant pages.

You may provide any digital media to accompany your article in JPEG format. Good visuals will make it easier to promote your work. Be advised, however, that rights restrictions may prevent us from using a particular piece of media. Our art editors will make any final decisions regarding illustrations or photographs to accompany the work.

References

Be sure to cite all of your sources and don’t wait to add them in later drafts as our technical editors need those sources to aid in fact-checking. Here’s SftP’s guide to citing and formatting in Chicago Manual of Style.

When submitting each draft, please cite all references used, even if they don’t end up cited in the final document; this aids our fact-checking process. It’s always preferable to work citations into the text, e.g., “In Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything (2014), she says, ….” vs “It is always easier to deny reality.”[footnote]. When including footnotes, add them only to the end of a sentence. Separate multiple references with a semicolon.

Tone of Voice

Smart, inspiring, energetic, informative. Simplifies scientific/tech info with down-to-earth-language and engaging narratives. [Editors: Update with your favorite excerpts!]

Example: Birth, Under Control by Andrea Natalia Rivera Rosado

“The 1930s also marked the arrival of Dr. Clarence Gamble, a physician and heir to the Procter & Gamble fortune. Gamble, an aggressive eugenicist, saw Puerto Ricans as a threat to Americans. These people were good for the fields and factories, but nobody wanted them invading the mainland. What would the country do with all those poor, ambiguously pigmented, Spanish-speaking “Americans?

Gamble was already recognized for birth control programs and experiments, so when contraception (including surgical sterilization) became legal in Puerto Rico in 1937, he saw an opportunity to continue exploring his methods”

Copyright and Usage

The Author retains copyright of the article, including any and all rights of whatever kind or nature now or hereafter protected by the copyright laws of the United States and of all foreign countries, in all languages and forms of communication. In the first publication and in any subsequent publication, a notice of copyright in the Author’s name shall be provided.

Articles submitted for the online issue may end up in the print edition of SftP magazine pending space and logistical concerns. The editorial collective reserves the right to make this decision following submission of the final proof.

Thank you, and we look forward to working with you.