Submitting Articles

Professional Surveyor Magazine welcomes article submissions from freelance writers and practitioners in the industry such as surveyors, GIS professionals, and photogrammetrists. Indeed, most of our editorial content comes from individuals and companies in the surveying industry. Contributions can include feature stories, columns, and guest editorials.

Feature stories usually take the form of a case history involving a project that used a company's product or service, an overview of a certain activity or technology, or a discussion of a trend.

As for columns, we have several types that run throughout the magazine on a monthly or semi-regular basis. If you plan to submit something, we advise you to read several stories in the magazine and familiarize yourself with our guidelines. Then contact us to present your idea or discuss possibilities.
 
Our Writer’s Guidelines:

1. We look for exclusivity in that we publish stories that have not run in other national U.S. surveying magazines and are not being offered to them.
2. Length: 1500-2000 words for features, 1000-1200 words for columns, as a rough guide.
3. We always need images to go with an article. Photos should be high resolution (300 dpi) and of a good size. Photos should also have descriptions accompanying them. Please don’t embed graphics in Word documents—make them an attachment in the email. When downloading images from the internet, please be sure they are large enough for us to use at 300 dpi.
4. When you’re sending several images, please indicate which you would prefer us to use if we can’t fit all of them in the article. Name each graphic by figure number (i.e., Figure 1, Figure 2). If you have original photos (slides, prints), we can scan them at the appropriate dpi and return them to you.
5. We're also looking for possible cover photos, so keep an eye out for those. They need to be a minimum 8.5"x11" and vertical orientation, in addition to high res.
6. For instructions on how to use our FTP site to submit images, email Shelly.
7. An article should include a byline and brief bio of the author.
8. Feel free to write in first person and describe the experience, if appropriate.
9. Please go easy on the testimonials and advertising hype, as we don't want the article to appear like an advertorial. Like most magazines, we strive for objective, balanced journalism.
10. The author is fully responsible for identifying and obtaining publishing permissions for all information or images in the article.

Contact:

For feature stories and columns, contact Shelly Cox (email or call 301-682-6101).