We welcome contributions to the LSE Higher Education Blog. We strongly encourage our contributors to take a critical or multi-perspectival approach with an international audience of academics, educators, and students in mind. We only accept original content that has not been submitted or appeared.
How to submit your idea
If you have an idea for a blog post, please get in touch with us at lseheblog@lse.ac.uk with a brief outline of your idea (200-400 words) rather than a completed blogpost; we like to work with authors to ensure the piece is suitable for the LSE HE Blog audience. We will give you feedback and start the commissioning process if the idea is right for the LSE HE Blog.
When drafting a pitch, you may wish to consider:
- What are your key points or arguments?
- What’s new or topical about your blogpost?
- How does it relate to existing trends, evidence, literature?
- Is it about teaching, learning, and higher education?
- Why would it be of interest to our audience (academics, educators, and other HE staff/stakeholders)?
- Have you read some of the blogposts on the LSE HE Blog? Does your pitch relate to or build on any existing HE blogposts?
Our editing process
At the LSE HE Blog we tend to work closely with contributors on their pieces to refine their ideas and arguments. While considerably shorter than the typical process for publication in peer-reviewed journals, the editing process can have a quick turnaround, or in some cases, can involve multiple passes and/or meetings. Fortunately, in almost all cases, our contributors find our support and feedback to be constructive and collegial.
The post will be edited to enhance its readability in view of the blog’s wider audience, it might also be shortened if necessary. We will also work with you to bring out the argument clearly and strongly and ensure that the piece as a whole is sufficiently rigorous and critical.
Publication
We will let you know when your blogpost has been published and encourage you to share in with your networks and on social media. We will promote it on our social media channels, including X and LinkedIn, and use other channels where appropriate.
Creative Commons and article sharing policy
Unless otherwise specified, all of our articles are also published under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence (CC BY 3.0) and other blogs and publications are free to use them, with attribution.
Editorial guidelines
Tone
While we aim to hold blog posts to the same standards of academic rigour in argument, analysis and evidence, the tone of a blog post can be more informal while still civil and collegial. Reading the published posts on our blog should give you an idea of what we’re after. Posts should be written as standalone pieces, with the argument and evidence presented in the post itself, as far as possible, rather than relying too heavily on external sources.
Length
The recommended word count for the post is 800-1200. We run longer posts where warranted, but this is agreed in advance.
References
Our style is hyperlinks (linking two to three words max) in the body of the text rather than in-text citations or a list of references at the end. Links should direct readers to more detailed reports or other pieces of research, news items, or other blogposts. Open access sources are preferred to those behind paywalls.
Biography and photo
We will ask you for a very brief biographical note (please see our published blog posts for the length and style) and an accompanying headshot picture (ideally in colour and as a JPG). If there are any pictures or images you would like us to include along with the text, feel free to send them and provide captions and credits.
