Submission Instructions

(Also available here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/page.cfm?section=submission_instructions)

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN welcomes ideas for articles on recent scientific discoveries, technical innovations and overviews of ongoing research. Our preferred authors have extensive first-hand knowledge of the field that they describe, and have usually made significant contributions to it. We very strongly encourage potential contributors to read recent issues of the magazine for a sense of form, style and level of complexity and specialization typical of our articles.

Before writing or sending us a manuscript, please send us a proposal letter (one to two pages is usually sufficient) that briefly summarizes:

• The subject of the article
• How you would tell the story of this subject
• The practical and theoretical significance of this subject
• How this article would differ from previous coverage of the topic (if any) in Scientific American or other media
• Your credentials for writing about the topic
• Any other information that you think would make the article interesting to our audience
• Significant financial ties to companies, products or procedures likely to be mentioned in the article

Some authors send us an outline in addition to their letter but that is generally not required. Include illustrations, other graphics, or copies of original research papers only as necessary to help explain your idea.

Keep in mind these tips:

• Generally speaking, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN presents ideas that have already been published in the peer-reviewed technical literature. We do not publish new theories or results of original research.
• Our articles are geared to general readers interested in science and technology. We avoid jargon and equations.
• We are looking for authors who can convey ideas with clarity and concision. Lengths of feature articles vary; the average length of a published article is approximately 2,500 words.
• Please allow six to eight weeks for the review process.

Send all proposals and manuscripts electronically to:
Editors@sciam.com

By post to:

Board of Editors
Scientific American
75 Varick Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10013-1917

Include your last name and the words PROPOSAL in the subject line.

IMPORTANT: If you would like hard copies of any materials you send returned, you MUST enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope. We do not accept responsibility for supplementary materials - include them at your own risk.

About Unpublished Book Manuscripts

Scientific American does not publish books and, regrettably, we do not have the resources to review unpublished book-length manuscripts. We will return only those unsolicited manuscripts accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope.

Relationship to Nature journals

As a consumer magazine, Scientific American is not a peer-reviewed journal. It is editorially independent from any other publication, but is a member of the corporate family known as the Nature Publishing Group, part of the Macmillan company.

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