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If you're interested in writing an article for Bluelight's revamped homepage, or know someone else who might be interested, the callout and submission guidelines are shown below, or alternatively can be viewed on this page. 
*
Are you a writer, journalist, photojournalist, blogger, etc? Or just someone with a story to tell, a particular area of expertise, or a passion for a subject relevant to Bluelight?
We’re looking for contributors and new content for the Bluelight website. Could you help us broaden the conversation on drug-related topics?
Potential content could include news stories; feature articles; interviews; book, film or event reviews; investigative journalism; or how-to guides. Chances are, if there’s a Bluelight forum or a popular thread dedicated to a topic, then there’s probably an audience for that topic.
While Bluelight remains focused on its harm-reduction mission, we have recently rewritten our mission to focus on a positive goal: to advance the health and wellbeing of people who use psychoactive drugs.
Any content that broadly relates to our mission will be considered by the Bluelight editorial team.
While our focus remains on psychoactive drugs, we’re also interested in performance- or image-enhancing drugs that may not be considered psychoactive. We are also interested in content relating to digital communities where stigmatized behaviours may be discussed.
Please note that all submitted content should also stay within the bounds of the Bluelight User Agreement (BLUA).
We hope to be able to offer payment to contributors in the future, but at this stage, creating content for Bluelight would not be a paid gig. However, it would be an opportunity to share your ideas with the community and maybe fill some gaps in the knowledge-base. You don’t have to be the world’s greatest writer or the world’s leading expert on your topic, and we’re happy to provide some editorial assistance.
We welcome work from people of all ages and genders, and by BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, neurodivergent and socially disadvantaged writers.
Please follow the submission guidelines below when submitting work to us.
To submit work to us, or to pitch an idea for an article, please complete the Bluelight Contributor Expression of Interest form.
Any other queries can be directed to our resident editor, Stu Hatton: [email protected]
Length: For articles, we generally prefer a word length between 500 and 1000 words (although exceptions might be made).
Language style: Bluelight uses American English spelling and grammar conventions. For a guide to using American English, we recommend you consult the Chicago Manual of Style.
Audience: Content should be aimed at a general audience with an interest in drug-related topics, as opposed to an academic or specialist audience. Some knowledge of drugs and their use can be assumed on the part of Bluelight’s audience. Rather than explaining the basics at length, it can be helpful to include hyperlinks or suggestions for sources of basic information, so readers can access this at their own discretion.
Citation of sources: Quotations or ideas taken from other sources need to be appropriately acknowledged. It is not necessary to provide full academic citations. Instead, you can hyperlink your text directly to source material where it is quoted, paraphrased or contains evidence supporting your claims.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): Content creators need to appropriately acknowledge any use of AI in their work. If you’re unsure about how to use AI legitimately, we recommend reading this guide for writers and/or this guide for content creators.
Copyright: Plagiarism should be avoided. Submitted content should be the content creator’s own work, except where appropriately acknowledged (e.g. citation of sources, or use of AI as outlined above).
Formatting your submission: We recommend using 12pt Times New Roman or Arial font. We prefer that articles be submitted as a Word document (.docx), Rich Text Format (.rtf), or by linking to a Google doc.
Images: Ideally, you should provide at least one image alongside your article. Images should be submitted in a common image format such as .jpg, .bmp, .gif, etc. For any image you provide, you should either own the copyright to the image, have permission to use the image, or otherwise have the right to use the image. Please provide information as to the source of the image (e.g. the image creator or a URL). If you do not have an appropriate image, we will source an image for you.
Author profile: All contributors will be asked for information to construct a public author profile, including name/title, pronouns, location, biography, LinkedIn or similar external website and profile image. Author profiles will be published alongside your article. Some authors may wish to remain anonymous. In this case, the Jabberwocky (staff) author profile will be used instead.
Declaration of interest: It is important for our audience to understand the relationship between the contributor and the content they have written. Please include a declaration of interest statement in your submitted article. Include any declarations of organizations you work or volunteer with or ventured that you are involved in that relate to the subject matter of your article. Be inclusive; if you are unsure if it is relevant, please include it. If you have no relevant declarations, please include a statement like “I have no relevant interests to declare”.
Licensing: Articles published on our website will use the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). This licence promotes the sharing and republishing of this content elsewhere under specific conditions: attribution of the author and publisher (yourself and Bluelight) with a byline and link back to our website for non-commercial purposes and in its original form (no derivatives). If these conditions are not met, the material could still be used but would require a specific agreement between the third party, the author and Bluelight.
*
Can you help us broaden the conversation about drugs?
Are you a writer, journalist, photojournalist, blogger, etc? Or just someone with a story to tell, a particular area of expertise, or a passion for a subject relevant to Bluelight?
We’re looking for contributors and new content for the Bluelight website. Could you help us broaden the conversation on drug-related topics?
Potential content could include news stories; feature articles; interviews; book, film or event reviews; investigative journalism; or how-to guides. Chances are, if there’s a Bluelight forum or a popular thread dedicated to a topic, then there’s probably an audience for that topic.
While Bluelight remains focused on its harm-reduction mission, we have recently rewritten our mission to focus on a positive goal: to advance the health and wellbeing of people who use psychoactive drugs.
Any content that broadly relates to our mission will be considered by the Bluelight editorial team.
While our focus remains on psychoactive drugs, we’re also interested in performance- or image-enhancing drugs that may not be considered psychoactive. We are also interested in content relating to digital communities where stigmatized behaviours may be discussed.
Please note that all submitted content should also stay within the bounds of the Bluelight User Agreement (BLUA).
We hope to be able to offer payment to contributors in the future, but at this stage, creating content for Bluelight would not be a paid gig. However, it would be an opportunity to share your ideas with the community and maybe fill some gaps in the knowledge-base. You don’t have to be the world’s greatest writer or the world’s leading expert on your topic, and we’re happy to provide some editorial assistance.
We welcome work from people of all ages and genders, and by BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, neurodivergent and socially disadvantaged writers.
Please follow the submission guidelines below when submitting work to us.
To submit work to us, or to pitch an idea for an article, please complete the Bluelight Contributor Expression of Interest form.
Any other queries can be directed to our resident editor, Stu Hatton: [email protected]
Bluelight submission guidelines
Length: For articles, we generally prefer a word length between 500 and 1000 words (although exceptions might be made).
Language style: Bluelight uses American English spelling and grammar conventions. For a guide to using American English, we recommend you consult the Chicago Manual of Style.
Audience: Content should be aimed at a general audience with an interest in drug-related topics, as opposed to an academic or specialist audience. Some knowledge of drugs and their use can be assumed on the part of Bluelight’s audience. Rather than explaining the basics at length, it can be helpful to include hyperlinks or suggestions for sources of basic information, so readers can access this at their own discretion.
Citation of sources: Quotations or ideas taken from other sources need to be appropriately acknowledged. It is not necessary to provide full academic citations. Instead, you can hyperlink your text directly to source material where it is quoted, paraphrased or contains evidence supporting your claims.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): Content creators need to appropriately acknowledge any use of AI in their work. If you’re unsure about how to use AI legitimately, we recommend reading this guide for writers and/or this guide for content creators.
Copyright: Plagiarism should be avoided. Submitted content should be the content creator’s own work, except where appropriately acknowledged (e.g. citation of sources, or use of AI as outlined above).
Formatting your submission: We recommend using 12pt Times New Roman or Arial font. We prefer that articles be submitted as a Word document (.docx), Rich Text Format (.rtf), or by linking to a Google doc.
Images: Ideally, you should provide at least one image alongside your article. Images should be submitted in a common image format such as .jpg, .bmp, .gif, etc. For any image you provide, you should either own the copyright to the image, have permission to use the image, or otherwise have the right to use the image. Please provide information as to the source of the image (e.g. the image creator or a URL). If you do not have an appropriate image, we will source an image for you.
Author profile: All contributors will be asked for information to construct a public author profile, including name/title, pronouns, location, biography, LinkedIn or similar external website and profile image. Author profiles will be published alongside your article. Some authors may wish to remain anonymous. In this case, the Jabberwocky (staff) author profile will be used instead.
Declaration of interest: It is important for our audience to understand the relationship between the contributor and the content they have written. Please include a declaration of interest statement in your submitted article. Include any declarations of organizations you work or volunteer with or ventured that you are involved in that relate to the subject matter of your article. Be inclusive; if you are unsure if it is relevant, please include it. If you have no relevant declarations, please include a statement like “I have no relevant interests to declare”.
Licensing: Articles published on our website will use the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). This licence promotes the sharing and republishing of this content elsewhere under specific conditions: attribution of the author and publisher (yourself and Bluelight) with a byline and link back to our website for non-commercial purposes and in its original form (no derivatives). If these conditions are not met, the material could still be used but would require a specific agreement between the third party, the author and Bluelight.
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