The cover image "Prince Regent National Park, Australia". is credited to NASA/EarthKAM.org/Earthzine

You may also check out our Editorial Calendar or  How to volunteer as a Reviewer or Editor, or send us an email: earthzineeditor@ieee.org



Why write for Earthzine?

  • Ideal medium to get others excited about what science you do and how it impacts them.
  • Good addendum to your published research papers so that it is accessible to a wider audience.
  • Increase the impact of your research. It could even go with your funding applications and improve your citations !
  • Great way to give back to the community by sharing your learning and expertise with the rest of the wider world.
  • Improves your writing skills and helpful for all types of careers. 
  • Explaining research to a general reader helps to clarify your thought process and fine-tune your pitches.
  • Hone your writing skills and receive guidance on effective communication
  • Get a boost on your CV, show-off your writing skills to potential employers. We provide authors with performance statistics such as number of reads and geographic readership to help you advertise the potential of your writing.
  • Earthzine articles will be further shared and publicized via our social media outreach portals, getting a larger visibility.

Get started now, get involved in science communication !

Who can write ?

Anybody, including researchers, professionals, educators, students & members of the global community interested in Earth/Ocean observation and information.

What can I write on?

Any field close to your heart, as long as it fits in with our broad themes such as Earth, environment, ocean monitoring and sciences, mentoring, science careers, science-related events and IEEE OES News. Check the list of upcoming Quarterly Themes and Monthly Focus topics and refer our Writer guideles below for greater detail about the format and style of Earthzine articles.

Earthzine content can be:

  • Original Articles: General interest and theme-based articles from contributions submitted by volunteer editorial staff, IEEE OES members, and non-member professionals and organizations. Original articles comprise the unique contextual contribution of Earthzine and serve to bridge the technical, expert and non-specialist in identified areas of societal needs.
  • Syndicated articles: News from other outlets that match the focus areas of Earthzine.
  • Quick Looks and multimedia: Brief descriptions and videos of Earth and Earth observing activities.
  • IEEE OES News: Updates of the latest developments from IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society.
  • Student Opportunities: Virtual Poster Sessions, Essay and Video competitions.
  • People: Interviews, biographies, and brief notes about Earth observers.
  • Reviews: Reviews of the latest books, websites, and multimedia related to the Earth observations.
  • Op-Ed: Columns from the Earthzine volunteer staff and volunteer Guest Editors, along with opinion pieces submitted by readers and contributors.
  • Images of Note: Solicit submissions from IEEE OES members and audience for the images that portray the beauty and complexity of Earth observations.
  • Events: Updated continuously with the latest in conferences, workshops, experiments, and Earth events.
  • Resources: Extensive list of websites with brief descriptions that are grouped and cross-referenced by theme.

Before you prepare an article for Earthzine, you may submit a query. 

You can email your query to earthzineeditor@ieee.org. If you include the following information, it will make it easier:

Your name:
Your institutional affiliation and/or position:
Preliminary title for your article: Are you submitting this article idea for a specific themed issue of Earthzine?

In a few sentences please give us a short summary of your article.

Writer Guidelines

Earthzine accepts articles via its OJS submission system at any time. 

Ensure the language is free of jargon and as accessible as possible to a non-specialized reader. For instance, use examples to show how a new technology or application would mitigate or solve a real-world problem. Earthzine serves an international audience. Therefore, articles should be written with a global perspective that does not assume specific regional or national knowledge by the reader.

Articles are typically between 500 and 2,500 words, depending on topic and scope. Please submit articles in a text format compatible with Microsoft Word (Open Office, Libre Office also accepted). This makes it easier to send copyediting changes as annotations.

Earthzine uses Associated Press (AP) style for its articles, and IEEE citation style for references.

Earthzine does not do rigorous technical peer-review. Hence, we would not be in a position to give detailed technical feedback for original research - for such articles, you may want to consider submitting to a peer-reviewed journal such as IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering. We recommend that technical statements that are not common knowledge, be backed by citations to already-peer-reviewed publications. Alternately, such statements may also come from citing experts or covering presentations at events. In the spirit of keeping up the quality, we will do a sanity check on the technical content.

Authors should submit photos and graphics in common formats such as jpg. Images should be of sufficient resolution to present all relevant detail. We suggest including at least three images per article or one image for every 400 words. Images must include caption and credit information, and the author(s) must have permission to use the images with the article. Images should properly attribute the source of the image. Refer to Creative commons attribution guidelines for CC-licensed images, and try to use images from the public domain or Creative commons friendly image sharing platforms such as FlickrUnsplashWikimedia commons or Canva. A CC-search tool can be used. Make sure you attribute the images as per its copyright license.

Earthzine does not pay royalties or use copyrighted material without permission. Submit a completed Earthzine copyright form with your final article.

Create hyperlinks within your article to words and phrases that should be defined, individuals and organizations with Web sites, and other external links pertinent to your topic. Links to related previously-published Earthzine content is encouraged. Please do a search on the Earthzine website to find related articles and their connection to your content.

*** You may download a template article available in pdf or .docx form (download both here) as a guide to Earthzine’s requirements and helpful hints for preparing your article for submission. Note that each article should include a squib, or summary, at the top, along with information for categorizing the article based on Topic, Region, and Interest Level. 

Earthzine’s practice is to capitalize “Earth” and "Ocean" in honor of the blue planet on which we live.

Earthzine solicits and publishes voluntary submissions. You can also see our Reviewer Guidelines and Editorial Policy.