Submissions

The Madras Courier covers a broad range of topics related to art, culture, environment, biography, public policy and global affairs. We welcome submissions from authors on a rolling basis.

Unless otherwise informed, we assume any article submitted to us is being offered exclusively and that no piece accepted for publication will be published elsewhere simultaneously in any form without our knowledge.

All submissions should be accompanied by full contact information and a brief note describing the author’s current and past positions, recent publications, and relevant experience.

We look for insightful articles that present an interesting perspective on important issues that foster our understanding of the world in meaningful ways. The best guide to what we are looking for, in terms of both substance and style, is what we have already published, so prospective authors should start by browsing our archives.

We expect the authors to make a coherent argument that demonstrates clear thinking. Articles must be written in English such that they can be read with ease by a broad general audience. Please avoid jargon, use active verbs and present your argument in simple english.

We value facts and analysis. But please remember that facts are relevant for human beings. We would like the authors to tell our readers how facts – which can, at times, be dry sounding numbers – can have an impact on people’s lives.

Historical stories (we publish many of them) need to be rooted in academic references. We do not expect you to conduct a three year research. But if you did, tell us about your research – why it is important, what your findings are and the story about how you went around conducting your story. Personalise it.

If you are a history journalist, please validate your story with academic references or high quality sources.

If you are writing an Opinion, Policy or Environment piece, please cite relevant data (from authoritative sources) to back your argument.

We avoid using footnotes in our articles. However, we provide hyperlinks to appropriate citations/reference material for facts or quotations. Authors are expected to provide citations for their pieces contain as hyperlinks.

Citations must be either as online links from reputed sources or from published books and research papers. Individual blogs do not count as valid references or citations.

If the quotations are taken from social media posts, please share the links and screenshots of those posts. The author is expected to keep a copy of the evidence with them. We do not have fact checkers and rely on authors to ensure the veracity of their statements.

We publish articles of varying length. As a rule of thumb, the acceptable word limit is anywhere between 800- 1000 words. However, at times, we publish longer essays (between 2,000-5,000-words) that present an interesting analysis of important social, political or cultural phenomenon.

When you submit articles to us, you agree and represent that you have created this content, or you have received permission from, or are authorised by, the owner of any part of the content to submit it to us.

You agree that you, by submitting content to us, are granting us an unconditional, irrevocable, exclusive, royalty-free, fully transferable, perpetual worldwide licence to use, publish or transmit, or to authorise third-parties to use, publish or transmit your content in any format and on any platform, either now known or hereinafter invented.

You acknowledge and agree that when you provide us with content, or view content provided by others, you are doing so at your own discretion and risk, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, of this content. You further acknowledge and agree that the views expressed by you and other users in this content do not necessarily reflect the views of the Madras Courier, its subsidiaries or its parent company. You must acknowledge that we do not support or endorse any user content and that we have no obligation to pre-screen, monitor, review, or edit any content provided by you and other users to us.

We, or authorised third parties, reserve the right to refuse to publish, cut, crop or edit your content at our or their sole discretion. We may remove your content from use at any time. We accept no liability in respect of any content submitted by users and published by us or by authorised third-parties.

You warrant that the content you submit to us is not obscene, threatening, harassing, libellous, deceptive, fraudulent, invasive of another’s privacy, offensive, defamatory of any person or otherwise illegal. You warrant that the content you submit to us does not infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other intellectual or proprietary or privacy right of any party or individual.

These are our terms and conditions by which you agree to be bound should you submit any content to us for publication, including any letters, comments or other correspondence, graphics, data and images you may wish to send to us.

Poetry Submissions

We welcome you to submit poems written by you. Poems must be original works, written by the person submitting the poems. Please provide full details (Full Name, Address and Contact details such as phone number etc) and biography, including any links to your previous publications.

Please do not share poems written by someone else. Should they be written by someone else or are translations, you must take express consent from the authors of the poems before sending them to us. We are in no way liable for claims arising out of such claims.

We assume that poetry submissions, much like other submissions, are meant exclusively to the Madras Courier. They must not have been published in other platforms – including social media feeds or blog posts.

Letters to the Editor

We welcome you to share your thoughts by writing a letter to the editor. However, it should be no more than 500 words. Due to the high volume of submissions, we are unable to reply to them. Please refrain from sending junk mails, spam, links or WhatsApp forwards as letters to the editors.