Guidelines for Authors

If it’s your first time publishing an article for Culturico, please use this link to submit your article, otherwise send us the document by email at editorial@culturico.com.


Type of article

  • Macro-stories (a minimum of 800 words, excluding links, references and captions. No length restriction applies). Articles are expected to provide a new point of view on a macro-topic concerning society, politics or science.
  • Micro-stories (no minimum or maximum length). Articles should provide meaningful real stories that can be used as an example to convey a clear social message.
  • Commentaries (a maximum of 1000 words, excluding links, references and captions). Commentaries should directly refer to a previously published article (ideally within the last 12 months) and should provide counterarguments. Commentaries should discuss, from another perspective, why the viewpoint on a particular topic should differ from the original perspective.


What should be included in your article?

  • Educational component: articles should address the general public and educate people on a particular topic.
  • Description of facts / events: if relevant, the article should provide a clear background.
  • Opinion: our articles are Op-eds. They should include a novel, unprecedented perspective on a topic. However, the author’s opinion should be well argued and supported by evidence.
  • A social message (or take-home message): the reader should learn something new. A social message should be clearly included.

Articles that fail to address these points won’t be considered for publication in Culturico.


Format and style

The article should follow guidelines concerning length, style and format.

Technical terms: these should be properly introduced in the article.

Symbols, abbreviations, and acronyms: these should be written in full the first time they are used in the article, and the abbreviation should be included between brackets.

Example: International Relations (IR): from then on, “IR” is sufficient.

References: a list of references should be included at the end of the article. References must be numbered in the order in which they appear in the text; citation numbers should be placed within parentheses and italicized. Add references only for books or for articles appearing in academic journals (but not media outlets or other websites). If a book or an article is cited more than once in the text, simply repeat the same citation number.

How to make a reference in the text: (1), (2), (3), (4)…(n)

How to make more than one reference in the text: (2, 3) (3-6) (1, 4-8).

References do not have to be extensive. The following is required: the list of authors, the title of the publication and the year of publication.

Examples:

a) one author: Marx, K., “Das Kapital”, 1867.
b) two authors: Marx, K. and Engels, F., “The Communist Manifesto”, 1848.
c) more than two authors: Haapaniemi, E. et al. “CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing induces a p53-mediated DNA damage response”, Nature Medicine, 2018.

Please note: if you refer to an article published in a journal, please include the name of the journal (see “Nature Medicine” in the previous paragraph).

Links: a list of the links to other online resources, articles or websites should be included at the end of the article. Link numbers should be placed within parentheses and italicized. Do not add links for books or articles that appear in academic journals – these should be cited as references. If the same link is cited more than once in the text, simply repeat the same link number.

How to make a link in the text: (L1), (L2), (L3), (L4)…(Ln)

If you need to make more than one link: (L1) (L2, L3) (L3-6) (L1, L4-8).

Including links in this format will be of great help to our editors. Please do not include links as hyperlinks. This process will be performed by our editors once the article is ready for publication.

Figures, pictures and tables: please provide a short caption for your figures, pictures and/or tables. Please do not use images found on the internet, unless this is absolutely necessary and only if these are copyright-free and can be reused. To produce your own figures and schemes use software such as Adobe Illustrator or Microsoft PowerPoint.

Fonts: you are free to submit using your favourite (but legible) font.

Language: English.


Editorial decisions

Culturico wishes to publish outstanding articles. For this reason each article is scrutinized by our editorial staff. Generally the publication process will follow this procedure after submission:

  • Our staff read the article and take a decision on whether we intend to proceed with it or not (a response is sent within 7 days).
  • Accepted articles are assigned to an editor (please keep in mind our editorial team may decide not to publish an article at any stage of the revision process, for any reason). The editor checks the manuscript and suggests changes (normally within 7 days). The article will be sent back to the author.
  • More than one editing step is possible, if required. Editing will proceed until both the author and the editor are satisfied with the quality of the article. We encourage authors to respond promptly by resubmitting their articles to editorial@culturico.com.
  • Once editors and authors are satisfied, the article is assigned to a linguistic editor, who proofreads the article (normally within 7 days). Once both parties approve the article, it will be listed as “ready for publication”.
  • The author is notified up to one day prior to publication. Publication time, after final acceptance, varies depending on the number of articles awaiting publication and the topic.

During the editorial process, your article will be kept with confidentiality.


Editorial process: how to edit your article

Culturico’s editorial staff will send you your article with comments and tracked changes made using the Microsoft Word reviewing and tracking system.
Please address all of the editor’s points and keep track of the changes using the Microsoft Word reviewing system. Make use of comments if necessary.

If you are unfamiliar with Microsoft Word’s reviewing panel, please check this helpful video.


What if your article is related to breaking news?

In this case, please specify it in the submission form.
If our editorial staff considers your article for publication to be urgent, we immediately proceed with a high priority editorial process.

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