SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

​

First Draft is the official, online publication of Jindal School of Journalism and Communication (JSJC). We publish journalistic and analytical work by students and faculty members. We do not usually publish unsolicited work by people who are not part of JSJC but might consider it on a rare occasion. Please read the submission guidelines carefully and go through our website before sending us your work.

​

WHAT DO WE PUBLISH?

FD publishes a wide range of work from news articles about Jindal Global University or JSJC, analysis of local or global events, data-based reportage, photo essays, audiovisual or only audio-based work.

We DO NOT publish fiction or poetry at the moment. 

 

Look through our website to see what we publish. We are interested in new stories, and in looking at old stories in a new way. Our readership comprises the JSJC and JGU community, but also people outside. While we do not have any political affiliation, we try to maintain journalistic balance, which has become more and more difficult to find in our world.

​

GENERAL GUIDELINES:

When you send us your pieces, please keep the following in mind:

​

• We publish only original, unpublished work — NO EXCEPTIONS.

• While we will be publishing in-depth essays, we try to stay away from work written in technical language, clearly intended for a niche audience.

• For written work, you can adhere to the following word limits:

  Short form:1,000-1,500words(max)

  Long form:2,000-5,000words(range)

 

We shall stray from this occasionally, only when the content justifies it. On most occasions, we shall edit the piece to fit this range.

​

• Audio/visual work should not be more than 30 minutes long.

• We DO NOT encourage simultaneous submissions. If you have chosen to submit to us, wait for a response before sending it elsewhere.

• Please follow the following formats for sending us your work:

       a. Text: MS Word (No PDF etc.)

       b. Pictures: JPG

       c. Data: Excel

       d. AV: MP4

       e. Audio only: MP3

• All submissions must be sent as an attachment to submissions_firstdraft@jgu.edu.in. 

• We DO NOT accept any other form of submission.

​

PROCESSES:

All submissions made to FD are considered by the editorial team, comprising students and faculty members, and are read by more than one editor. If we are not sure of either an acceptance or rejection, we will get back to you for clarifications.

 

Our editorial process is rigorous, and it is not unusual for a piece to go through a few rounds of editing.  Editing most often takes the form of asking questions to strengthen argument, suggestions made for clarity of line and structure and discussion with the writer to make the piece as strong as possible. All substantive changes are referred back to the writer at each stage.  Every article is fact checked as a matter of rigour and proofed before publication to ensure consistency with the FD in-house style guide.

​

All submissions are also checked for plagiarism, and any author found to have submitted unoriginal work is banned from future submissions.

 

COPYRIGHT:

Copyright of the work published remains with FD.

 

PATIENCE:

We are a small team with a large workload. We usually try to respond within a fortnight, but please be patient with us. 

If we have not replied within THREE MONTHS, please do send us a reminder.