Submission Guidelines
for Blog Articles
Essential rules and requirements
(read before submitting your work)
Article format
On the European Relations Blog, different kinds of pieces are published.
This includes
(1) news articles (250-750 words) covering a time-sensitive development and providing context to the news,
(2) analyses (1500-2500 words) developing an in-depth discussion of an analytical argument and answering a specific question,
(3) opinion pieces (750-1500 words) commenting and engaging in current public debates by presenting an opinion and supporting it with arguments and evidence.
A unique article format of the European Relations Blog is the (4) explainer (500-1500 words). Unlike an analysis, which addresses a specific research question (such as “How has the European Data Protection Board influenced the national interpretation of ‘legitimate interest’?”), an explainer introduces and clarifies a subject more broadly without such a specific question. Its goal is to provide a well-rounded understanding of the topic (for example, an institution like the European Data Protection Board, or a EU policy, etc.) by exploring it from multiple perspectives, including its historical development, political context, structural and functional characteristics, legal foundations, economic implications, or cultural meanings, as relevant.
Writing and Article Style
British and American English are both accepted, although British English is preferred. However, articles must be consistent in using spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc., conventions of either British or American English.
Reading should be engaging and not tedious for our broad audience; that is why we ask you to structure your article logically in digestible paragraphs and some subheadings. Lead the reader through your argumentation, starting with a catchy title (50 characters max.) that is explained by a subheading (100 characters max.), an introductory paragraph followed by the main body, and a summarizing and conclusive final paragraph.
Please use hyperlinks for references to substantiate factual statements and indicate when you refer to other people’s ideas or suggest further reading. Keep the hyperlinked text to between one and four words. Alternatively, you can reference the links in the footnotes. If a source you used is unavailable online, you can reference it in the footnotes.
Referring to other opinion pieces on the European Relations Blog is possible and desired. While engaging in current debates, we encourage authors to develop their own original arguments in their articles and opinion pieces to enrich the debate.
Analytical articles can link an argument to a more theoretical debate in, e.g., political sciences or International Relations. However, note that the European Relations Blog is not an academic publication but addresses a broad academic, political, and private sector audience.
Contributions are always expected to use objective and respectful language. While a pluralistic debate, critical analysis, and well-argued criticism of existing norms are desired, articles shall not be polemic, promote violence, hate, and extremism, or call directly for disregarding national or international law, especially high principles like human rights.
Submission
Up to three people can submit articles collaboratively. All information provided during the submission process (such as the consent to submission) must apply to all the authors.
Please fill out the form truthfully to submit your article and insert your article into the text editor. The editorial team will adjust formatting, such as font type and size, to match the standardized format of the European Relations Blog. Assign your article to a thematic category and the respective article format. You can also provide up to five tags that accurately describe the article’s content.
An editor will review your submission and either accept it, send it back to you for minor changes, or reject it (particularly in the case of misconduct like plagiarism, etc.). Besides formatting changes, the editor will make no changes to your article without contacting you for consent.
Alternatively, (e.g., if you cannot submit your article due to technical problems with the submission form) you can send it in PDF format to [email protected]. Please include the same information as required in the submission form, including the consent to the submission Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy.
Disclosures
In their contributions, authors express their own opinions, not those of European Relations. Authors shall disclose their possible (legal) involvement in the issue they write about directly in the text.
European Relations considers AI a valuable tool if it is used meaningfully to support complex analytical tasks or linguistic corrections. The use of AI should be explicitly stated (e.g., “AI was used for linguistic correction.”).
Copyright
The European Relations Blog follows an Open Access policy to contribute to public discourse with qualitative and freely accessible articles.
Authors retain full copyright to their submitted contributions.
Authors grant European Relations a non-exclusive, perpetual, and royalty-free right to publish, archive, and promote the contribution across its digital channels and in the context of its public outreach (including social media and newsletters).
Authors are responsible for ensuring that their work does not infringe any third-party rights. In the case of co-authored pieces, all contributors must agree to the usage terms.
For this purpose, European Relations and the author(s) enter into a publishing agreement sent to the author(s) after the article’s review and prior to its publication.
📌 It may be very helpful to read the Review Guidelines before submitting your article or while revising it, as they clarify the editorial standards used by the editors when reviewing article submissions.