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About

How to submit content to I by IMD

Published 17 March 2021 in About • 4 min read

I by IMD provides the latest business intelligence and thinking as well as learning exercises and tools  on the topics that matter the most to managers and business leaders across the world. In short, we challenge what is and inspire what could be. We are particularly interested in themes that will shape the future of business, such as technology, sustainability, innovation, leadership, talent management, and strategy. We welcome viewpoints from all perspectives, once they are well supported (either through research, case studies, or practice), relatable, readable, and articulate.

We strive to ensure that the content we share with managers and decision-makers in our global audience informs and empowers them to develop themselves as more effective and responsible leaders and enables them to transform their organizations in a way that makes a positive contribution to society.

We publish the full range of media content, from text articles, podcasts, video interviews, infographics to learning nuggets such as “brain circuits” and “coaching corners”. We welcome informed opinion pieces, practical translations of research papers, practice-based articles from industry… In fact, any content that might spark a flame in the minds of our readers and help them tackle today’s challenges and do their jobs more effectively.

We feature a range of voices from business, academia, and beyond. We do not expect you to be a household name, but we do expect you to be an expert and original thinker in your field with something fresh, credible, and thought-provoking to say.

We have four prerequisites for all content published on our digital platform and in our quarterly magazine:

  • Rigorous – your idea, insight, or argument must be well founded and grounded in tangible, robust evidence, either in research, practice, or experience that can be cited, illustrated, and translated effectively for our audience.
  • Relevant – the content must directly address a business need, opportunity, or challenge that is of consequence to diverse managers and leaders in today’s climate. Ask yourself what is the “so what”?
  • Insightful – you must present a point of view, argument, idea, or concept in a way that clearly advances the conversation in its field in an engaging, surprising, and relatable manner.
  • Actionable – the content is practical in nature and can be directly applied in the real world of business. How can our audience turn your thoughts into their actions?

The submission process

We are privileged and grateful to receive more article ideas and proposals than we can publish. If you are not successful at any stage, we encourage you to submit future ideas and articles. Please do so with the understanding that our teams are busy and are not always able to respond in real time.

We welcome submissions as proposals or fully fledged articles. However, we believe it is often preferable to receive a short proposal or outline first, and then to review and discuss the approach together with you before proceeding to a first draft. If we like the sound of your initial idea, we will assign an editor to work with you from proposal to final version.

If you have a complete article to submit, we are glad to receive those and, if accepted, we will work with you to fine tune the content for our audience, format, and style.

Generally speaking, articles range in length between 1,200 and 5,000 words but we do not place arbitrary limits on content; we prefer to negotiate the most appropriate length with authors depending on the purpose and nature of the content. In practice, however, content for the digital platform usually falls between 1,000 and 1,800 words, while the magazine tends to feature articles ranging from 1,500 to 5,000 words in length.

We do not want to rehash content that has been published elsewhere, especially recently. However, we are open to the idea of revisiting published content in new ways such as practical learning exercises, for example, in the format of “brain circuits”. In particular, we also like working with authors to translate longer research papers into practitioner-focused articles that resonate with our audience.

Please submit all ideas and articles to [email protected].

Headlines and imagery

While we are happy to collaborate on ideas for headlines and images, our editors retain the right to make a final call on these important factors in the publishing process. We know our audience and understand how to showcase our content in the most effective way, based on metrics and experience. Having said that, we will never seek to misrepresent your ideas or expertise and will always explain any changes. We appreciate your understanding in this regard. It’s a team effort.

 

Conflicts of interest and vested interests

We expect all authors to declare any interests related to the content of their articles. If such interests exist, this does not necessarily mean we will not publish you, but we will be explicit about those interests.

 

AI tools

We have a simple rule for AI tools. If you use AI to generate content, say so. We will flag this at the bottom of the article.

 

Bits and bobs

We need a hi-res image of each author or contributor, your social links, and a short bio (no more than 50-80 words). Please be ready to share these once we have agreed to publish your content. We also expect you to share the content with your own networks and across the appropriate channels. Along with our efforts, we hope this will create the greatest impact for everyone’s hard work.

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Log in here to join in the conversation with the I by IMD community. Your subscription grants you access to the quarterly magazine plus daily articles, videos, podcasts and learning exercises.
 
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