If this was useful, we write about stuff like this every Friday in TalkHead. One analysis, one number, one company's experiment, and something from our own research.
Format. An original expert byline of 1,000 to 1,200 words, excluding the author bio and references. Agree a longer length with the editor if the argument needs it.
Language. Articles are published in British English.
Contributors. Practitioners, researchers and specialists with direct experience of the subject.
Send an outline. Include a working headline, the business question you want to answer, why it matters now and two or three sources or examples you can substantiate.
Show your expertise. Tell us your role and how you were involved. If you’re pitching on behalf of someone else, name the proposed author and explain what evidence or access they can offer.
Use our questions as a starting point. For invited contributions, we usually send a proposed angle and a set of questions. Use them to guide the reporting, then develop the structure and conclusions in your own voice.
Agree the deadline. Confirm timing with the editor before drafting. Tell us if the piece or a substantially similar version has appeared elsewhere or is under consideration.
Reporting and evidence
Explain a real decision. Use a documented implementation, test, calculation or business example. Explain how it worked, what it cost, where it added complexity and what people still had to do.
Support every claim. Link to original research, filings, records, technical documentation or interviews. Be ready to share underlying material for fact checking. Quote sources accurately.
Show the basis for results. Give the baseline, timeframe, sample size or denominator, geography and method where available. Identify who ran and funded the work. Explain which outcomes were measured and which remain unknown.
Attribute findings precisely. Distinguish your observations from company or client claims and your own interpretation. Put limitations beside the figures they qualify. Anonymised examples are welcome when we can verify the basis for the claims.
Write for business readers. Open with a specific problem or result. Explain technical terms in plain English, show the operational and commercial implications, and explain European relevance where the evidence supports it.
Company links and disclosures
Link to supporting material. Company links in the article are accepted only when the destination supports a specific point. Link directly to an original dataset, published case study, research report, technical documentation or other substantive resource.
Keep the piece editorial. Leave out promotional links, product pitches, service descriptions and sales calls to action. A professional profile link can accompany the author bio.
Disclose relevant interests. Tell us about employers, clients, vendors, investors, funding, equity or other ties relevant to the subject. Identify anyone who supplied data, software or access.
Disclose AI use. Tell the editor which tools you used and how. Verify claims, quotations and references against original sources. Fabricated reporting, manipulated evidence and plagiarism are grounds for rejection.
What to send
Draft. Send an editable document with source links beside the claims they support. Include supporting data or methodology where relevant.
Byline materials. Send your preferred byline, current role and affiliation, a short bio, one professional profile link and a high resolution headshot you have permission to share.
Visuals. Provide credits and permissions for any charts, screenshots or photographs. Flag confidential material or anything that requires anonymising.
Originality and rights
First publication. We publish original, previously unpublished work. Your article should not appear elsewhere before it runs on Industry Contents. After 30 days you may republish it, provided you credit Industry Contents as the original publisher and link back to the original article, or use a canonical tag pointing to it.
Copyright and licence. You keep the copyright in your article. By submitting it, you grant Industry Contents a non-exclusive, perpetual licence to edit, publish, archive and promote it, including in our newsletter, on social media and in excerpts, with exclusive first publication for the 30 days above.
Author confirmation. By submitting, you confirm that the work is your own, that you hold the rights to everything it contains, and that it contains nothing defamatory, confidential or in breach of a non-disclosure agreement.
Employer and client permission. If the article draws on work for your employer or a client, you confirm you have permission to share that information publicly.
Consent of people named. Anyone you quote or name must have agreed to be quoted or named. Don’t include personal data about identifiable people unless you have a lawful basis to share it.
Editorial review
Review. Every article goes through editorial review for accuracy, sourcing, disclosures and suitability before publication.
Edits and revisions. We make light edits for clarity and house style while preserving your voice. We reserve the right to request one round of revisions.
Final editorial control. Industry Contents retains full editorial control, including the right to edit the draft, choose the headline and presentation, and decide whether to publish.
Fact check before publication. We may send you the edited version to check facts. This check is for accuracy only. The headline, presentation and edits remain our decision.
After publication
Byline and link. Published articles carry your byline and bio. We’ll send you the link when the piece goes live.
Corrections. Tell us promptly if you find an error so we can follow our corrections policy.
Removal requests. Published articles form part of our permanent record. We don’t remove or unpublish articles on request, including after a change of employer. We fix errors through our corrections policy and remove content only where the law requires it.