IEEE Spectrum’s Guidelines for Expert Authors

What is IEEE Spectrum? 

Founded in 1964, IEEE Spectrum is the flagship magazine of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the world’s largest professional organization for engineers and technologists. We have a monthly print magazine, which goes to IEEE’s 500,000 members around the world, as well as a website, which posts a daily mix of news, features, commentary, interviews, and multimedia and attracts about a million visitors every month. Our mission is to keep people informed about major developments in technology, engineering, and science. Our international audience wants complex concepts explained in plain, jargon-free language, with details and deep reporting they can’t get anywhere else. They also count on Spectrum for thoughtful discussion of technology’s social impacts and expert analysis of trends and cutting-edge research.

How do technology experts contribute to IEEE Spectrum?

Expert authors contribute to Spectrum in two ways: They write guest posts, which are primarily published online-only, although occasionally they will be selected to appear in print. And they write feature articles, which typically run online-first and may be curated for a print issue.

Expert-authored feature articles range from about 1,500 to 3,000 words, and they’re written in an informal magazine style, rather than an academic journal style. In general, we don’t publish survey or review articles, and we don’t aim for comprehensiveness in the article. Instead, our features focus on a particular project or approach, and we aim to give the reader an exciting glimpse at technology that’s being developed and how engineers are going about solving the problems that arise. The total amount of time for a feature article, from accepted proposal to publication, is about four to five months, although it can be longer depending on how much editing is required and what else is in the editorial pipeline.

Guest posts range from about 800 to 2,000 words, depending on the topic. Guest posts tend to have an element of timeliness and a point of view—the author may offer insights and perspective on a recent news development. The turnaround time from receipt of manuscript to publication is typically shorter than for a feature article—again, it depends on the topic as well as how much editing is required, but it can be as short as a couple of weeks up to a couple of months. 

What should I send you?

To ensure that articles are a good fit for Spectrum, our editors like to work with prospective authors from the idea stage. Please don’t send an entire manuscript. We ask prospective authors to submit a short proposal (just a couple of paragraphs) outlining what they propose to write about, why now is a good time to cover the topic, and why they’re the right person to write the article. In your proposal, please specify whether you want to write a shorter guest post or a longer feature article.  

What will happen to my article proposal?

Once we have a solid proposal from an author, the editors discuss it at our twice-a-month editorial meetings. Assuming we approve the proposal, we usually give authors about a month to turn in a guest post and two months to turn in a feature article. 

What happens if my proposal is rejected?

We reject article proposals for various reasons. We may already have something similar in the works, or we may have recently covered the topic. The scope of the article may not be suitably timely or topical enough. We also look for perspectives from people who are deeply engaged in the field about which they’re writing and are involved in the project they’re describing. If you’re interested in writing an overview article about a technology, we may suggest you try to publish in a more specialized IEEE magazine or an IEEE journal; this recommender may help you identify a suitable IEEE publication. 

What is the editing process like?

If your article is accepted for publication, we’ll assign an experienced editor to work with you on getting it ready for publication. Authors should expect extensive editing and rewriting. We understand that the vast majority of our expert authors aren’t professional writers but rather subject-matter experts, and our job is to help our authors match the accessible style and conversational tone of IEEE Spectrum. 

Does Spectrum publish book excerpts?

Yes! Please reach out about your forthcoming book well in advance of publication. 

Do expert authors get paid? 

No. However, having an article featured in IEEE Spectrum is comparable to publishing in a prestigious academic journal, where the value lies in enhancing your professional reputation and credibility. Every Spectrum feature article is assigned a DOI number and is available through the database IEEE Xplore. 

What is Spectrum’s guidance on using generative AI?

Please see our generative AI guidelines. In brief, experts are expected to use their human brains and creativity to research and write for our publication. 

To whom should I send my proposal? 

You may contact Executive Editor Jean Kumagai, j.kumagai@ieee.org or Editor-in-Chief Harry Goldstein, h.goldstein@ieee.org 

You may also find it helpful to contact a specific beat editor:

Aerospace & Military

Glenn Zorpette, g.zorpette@ieee.org

AI & Biomedical

Eliza Strickland, e.strickland@ieee.org

Computing & Physics

Dina Genkina, d.genkina@ieee.org

Consumer Electronics & Careers

Gwendolyn Rak, g.rak@ieee.org 

DIY

Stephen Cass, cass.s@ieee.org

History of Tech

Jean Kumagai, j.kumagai@ieee.org

Power, Energy & Climate

Emily Waltz, e.waltz@ieee.org

Robotics

Evan Ackerman, evan.ackerman@ieee.org

Semiconductors

Samuel K. Moore, s.k.moore@ieee.org

Tech Policy

Lucas Laursen, l.laursen@ieee.org

Telecommunications

Margo Anderson, m.k.anderson@ieee.org

Transportation

Willie D. Jones, w.jones@ieee.org