IndustryWeek Contributors' Guidelines

Articles accepted for publication will appear on IndustryWeek.com and may also appear in various IndustryWeek.com newsletters.

Word Count: Generally 600 to 1,200 words, with exceptions on occasion. 

All contributed content must be first-run by IndustryWeek. This means that articles or columns should not have already appeared elsewhere, even on the author’s own website.

Please attach the article as a Word or .rtf document. Send to IndustryWeek c/o  [email protected].  Unless there's a pressing time hook, we typically respond to unsolicited pitches within 2 to 4 weeks. 

Note: You can send a well-crafted pitch in lieu of the full article, if you'd like feedback before putting the time into the full piece. However, we only make final decisions on acceptance upon seeing the completed article.

Subject Matter: IndustryWeek is a business publication that focuses specifically on manufacturing. Our readers are generally executives, owners and higher-level managers at manufacturing companies ranging from 100 employees to 100,000. They are looking for tips and tactics to do their jobs, manage their workers, improve their leadership skills, understand the latest technology as it applies to their business and run their operations better. Your article/column should provide some nugget of information/expertise that they can take away and implement, or that they can modify and use, or provides great food for thought.

If your pitch seems like a good fit for us, you will hear from us within four weeks; most likely sooner.  

Tips:

Don’t try to tackle too large a subject, given the length of article. Don’t be too generic in your comments. Show how you understand the specific challenges of manufacturing—whether your topic is around talent, leadership, policy, continuous improvement, operations, technology, etc. Take a look at the website for examples of other contributed pieces. 

Try to write conversationally. This is not a white paper.

Articles will not be accepted if they appear to be pushing a particular product or service, or are otherwise too commercial or written in a promotional tone.  (Also in that vein, we discourage absolutist language like “you must do this” or “manufacturers who don’t do x, y, z will be doomed.") For example, a column written by a consultant called “Ten Reasons Why You Need a Consultant,” would not be accepted. Neither would an article by a CNC manufacturer saying, “Here is why my CNC machine would make your life better.” Demonstrate your knowledge of the subject matter. This is good for both you and IndustryWeek. Our manufacturing readers respond more positively if they see that you understand their business and their pain points. 

You are not required to be a professional writer. The editorial staff is happy to work with anyone who would like to contribute their expertise.

We leave the reporting to our staff reporters. Q&A's, interviews and pieces that "quote" interviewed sources are generally not accepted as contributed pieces.

Deadlines: Don’t worry about this. We are constantly looking for good material. However, if you’d like a deadline, we are happy to provide one.

Articles/columns are accepted or rejected at the sole discretion of our editor in charge of contributors. If your article is accepted, you will be required to sign a contributors' agreement. 

Contributed copy is subject to editing by our contributors editor, who has the final say. That said, the editor will work with the author to reach a mutually agreeable final version.

Bio and Headshot: If the author is new to IndustryWeek, please include a headshot (dimensions at least  300x300 pixels and 72 dpi) and an author bio. We encourage 1-2 authors for a piece. If the byline is shared, send photos and bios for both authors. 

Art or Graphics: You are not required to submit art with the story; however, if you have good photos, charts or graphics that help tell a story, we will consider using them. Photos should be at least 800 x 400 pixels (the larger the better) and 72 dpi. You must have the creator's permission to use the artwork. 

Attribution: We fact-check our contributed pieces. Please clearly state where any outside facts in the article come from, either within the article or through a hyperlink in the text. Attribution should be the original source, not a secondary source that mentions the statistic.

Please use hyperlinks to link to outside urls; do not put the full web address in the article. Please do not include footnotes; instead,attribute as you would see in a news article and include a hyperlink to the source if there is one. 

Style and Formatting: We use Associated Press style. 

Please include author name at the top of the piece, below the headline, and a 2-3 sentence author bio at the end that will run with the article. If you would like a longer bio for the author page, send that in a separate document.

Book excerpts: We sometimes run contributed excerpts from forthcoming books related to our subject areas, with full credit to the author and a link to the book. Please reach out to Laura Putre if you are publishing a book you would like us to consider. 

Will the article appear in the print issue as well as online? IndustryWeek's quarterly print issues are generally reserved for staff-written pieces. It is very unlikely a contributed piece will appear in print.

Can I use AI to help write my article? We seek original expertise in our contributed articles. For IndustryWeek's editorial purposes, no more than 10% of your piece may be created by or directly derived from verbiage produced by a generative AI tool. More than 10%, don't bother to submit the article. Below 10%--with AI used in the article's authorship--please indicate where and to what degree AI assisted you when you submit the article to your editor. 

To Get You Started:

Here are just a few examples of strong contributed articles to give you an idea of what we're looking for.

To Survive in the Smart Machine Age, Change Your Thinking

We REALLY Need to Stop Talking about Lean

Boeing: Once an Admired Company, Now Just Poorly Led

Taking Safety to the Next Level, with Gamification and More

The Importance of Listening to Employees

Updated 9/7/2022.