Submissions

Paid Reporting

Mongabay is always seeking pitches for news articles, features, and in-depth reporting related to one of our ongoing Special Reporting Projects. Please follow the specific directions for submitting pitches to each individual reporting opportunity.

Other Submissions

As stated, Mongabay only accepts pitches for paid reporting via the special reporting project opportunities linked above.

If you are interested in unpaid publishing opportunities on Mongabay, see below.  We do our best to respond quickly to all submissions, especially if a news peg is urgent, but we operate with a small staff, so sometimes it may take up to three weeks. We ask that you please be patient and refrain from emailing us for updates.

Commentaries/editorials

Mongabay publishes commentaries, editorials, and opinion pieces which reflect the viewpoints of their author(s). These are unpaid contributions that are published at Mongabay’s sole discretion. Mongabay does not edit commentaries, but we do recommend adhering to the following guidelines for the submission to be seriously considered:

  • Commentaries/op-eds pieces need to be structured around an argument the writer is putting forth; the argument or position/course of action being advocated for/against must be stated clearly near the top of the piece, and the rest of the piece should support that argument.
  • It’s okay for a writer to use some of their own research/work experience as an example to bolster their argument, but the piece cannot be centered on that work/experience, nor can the piece be promotional of that work/experience
  • The tone should not be overly academic, it’s fine to get into the science behind your argument but piece should still be written for a more general audience
  • Appropriate length is no more and no less than is absolutely necessary to make a compelling argument.
  • Length is flexible: we’ve run pieces ranging from 400 to more than 2,000 words.
  • Provide a few images to accompany the text.
  • Please review the published Commentary feed for examples of the style and format.

Mongabay does not publish commentaries that:

  • are promotional of an organization or individual,
  • are effectively a press release,
  • have already appeared elsewhere (it’s fine to republish the piece after it is posted on Mongabay),
  • or are attack pieces.

You may share draft texts by submitting your idea using this form. Please do not send commentary pitches, only full drafts.

We do our best to respond quickly to all submissions, especially if a news peg is urgent but we operate with a small staff and it may take up to three weeks to receive a response. We ask that you please be patient and refrain from emailing us for updates.

  • India-specific commentaries are reviewed by our India bureau. To pitch India commentaries, please submit and review the guidelines here.

Terms and conditions:

  • Mongabay reserves the right to reject any submission for any reason. Not all articles submitted to Mongabay will be published.
  • You will not be paid for your article unless you apply via one of our established Mongabay.org programs. Compensation for stories outside these specific programs is not possible.
  • Your article must be carefully edited before submitting to Mongabay. Submissions with grammar or spelling errors will be rejected immediately. Your submission may be edited by Mongabay. After editing, Mongabay will provide you with a final version for your approval before the article is published.
  • Your piece may be published on our news site (news.mongabay.com) or on our blog depending on the content. Any selected piece will be promoted via social media channels.
  • Your submission may run on Mongabay indefinitely unless you ask for its removal or until Mongabay elects to remove your submission from the site. Mongabay does not guarantee that your article will run for any specific period of time.
  • Mongabay is not responsible for content submitted by users. You, the submitter, are responsible for the accuracy of your article. You must have rights to your content; you cannot submit material copyrighted by other persons unless you have their express consent to do so. You are responsible for all liability, claims, or legal action that may arise from your article, and any costs that Mongabay incurs as the result of claims or legal actions that arise from the posting of your submission.
  • Your submission to Mongabay is non-exclusive. You may submit your article to any other venue or website for publication or posting, although Mongabay generally doesn’t post articles that have been first published elsewhere.
  • Submission of your materials to Mongabay constitutes your express consent to each and every of these terms and conditions.

Please keep in mind that the mission of Mongabay is to raise interest in wildlands, wildlife, and ecology. Your submission has the best chance of being accepted if it follows this philosophy and is well-written, accurate (well-researched if applicable), carefully edited, and interesting. We recommend looking at our style guide before submitting your story.

What we generally don’t publish

  • Poetry
  • Press releases
  • Content that has been published elsewhere
  • Any content created for expressly purposes of SEO (e.g. keyword links)