Prospective authors are always free to message the CIMSEC editorial team at Content@cimsec.org with their ideas and drafts. Described below are various ways to contribute. 

Active Calls for Articles: Readiness for Pacific War 2027 – Articles due October 21, 2024.

Short Story Fiction – Submissions due November 18, 2024.

The CIMSEC Warfighting Flotilla also puts out member-only calls for articles on occasion. Join the Flotilla to learn more.

Articles: CIMSEC publications usually range from 1,200-3000 words, and we offer prospective authors great flexibility with word count. Some may choose to write longer pieces, or break up a publication into a multipart series. To promote research papers, authors may adapt an article from the longer publication. Draft submissions cannot be under consideration by other outlets simultaneously. 

Writing Guidelines: Authors are recommended to do the following to ease the editorial process and speed the review and publication of their drafts:

• • Clearly articulate a thesis early in the piece. Be upfront about the core concept and argument that animates the article.
  • Explain complex things simply. Err on the side of being more understandable rather than more dense.
  • Write in the third-person and for an international audience. For example, instead of “our Navy,” write the “the U.S. Navy,” or instead of “here I will outline,” write “This deserves further examination,” and so on.
  • Keep acronyms to a reasonable minimum and effectively define them when they first appear. 
  • Do not laundry list, e.g. “We will deny, degrade, disrupt, destroy, defeat, deter, etc.”

Topic Weeks: CIMSEC runs monthly topic weeks on issues of interest. A call for articles is issued for each topic week and provides the due date for submissions as well as the dates the topic week will run. 

Reviews: Authors may review books or consult CIMSEC’s policy papers database to review open source papers. CIMSEC maintains relations with publishers to secure copies of interesting titles. Reviews are secured on a first-come, first-served basis.

Interviews: Share recommendations for CIMSEC interviews for our Sea Control podcast. Contributors may conduct interviews on behalf of CIMSEC in collaboration with editorial staff. Reach out to the Sea Control podcast team at Seacontrol@cimsec.org.

Republishing: CIMSEC republishes quality content from other outlets. Reach out to recommend publications the CIMSEC audience may find interesting. 

Featured Image: General Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, standing on an anchor windlass speaking to the crew of the battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64) in the Persian Gulf on Sept. 1, 1990, during Operation Desert Shield.