The door is open at Himal Southasian. We do not have staff writers: our magazine is comprised of contributions from journalists, scholars, writers, researchers and other thinkers from all over Southasia and the world – many of whom approach us directly. We are always interested in hearing from new writers. Write to us at: editorial@himalmag.com.

We are a small team with a large workload and so are not able to respond to all pitches. If you do not hear from us within two weeks of sending in your pitch please assume that we will not be taking it on.

WHAT WE PUBLISH 

Himal Southasian is not a news or features magazine. We publish rigorous and reflective journalism, including long-form reportage, political analysis, essays and opinion, interviews, photo essays, reviews and videos that relate to Southasia. We also publish fiction. Take a look at our site to get a sense of the sorts of stories we have covered and how we cover them, on subjects from agriculture to pop culture. We are interested in stories we do not yet know – and in new ways of looking at old stories – as long as they are explored thoughtfully and in depth. Himal is not defined by corporate interests or limited by ‘national interests’ in the range of subjects it can address. Our intention is that our coverage should be as varied as the Southasian region itself.

We seek articles that are regional or cross-border – that show the interconnectedness of the issues we face across Southasia. At the same time we remain interested in very localised stories told with a regional perspective and focus on issues with larger impact. Our readership is extremely diverse and our articles should engage specialists, but also inform non-specialists and general-interest readers. The reader, we like to imagine, is curious, intelligent and could be anyone, based anywhere.

PITCHING

We invite writers to pitch ideas to editorial@himalmag.com. We discourage one-line pitches as they tell us only about the topic but not about the treatment. We want to know why we should be interested in the article you are proposing. Pitches should be 300-600 words and should introduce the proposed article, its arguments or narrative, and a tentative outline. The writer is encouraged to send links (no more than three) to their previously published articles or writing samples, especially any samples of long form writing. Writers submitting completed articles may additionally attach those.

Things to bear in mind when pitching: 

• We only publish original, unpublished pieces – without exception.
• We don’t carry news or feature stories (stories that are found in newspapers or weekend supplements, for example). We also avoid publishing writing dense in academic jargon and clearly written for a niche audience of subject experts.
• We do accept pieces that have been submitted simultaneously to other publications but writers must alert us to this while pitching. If a piece is accepted for publication by Himal (and the writer wishes to proceed with that offer of publication) then it must immediately be withdrawn from other publications.
• We are a digital platform and able to absorb audio, video and other augmentation of stories but this must be discussed before submission.
• We rarely publish articles that are shorter than 800 words. Most of the articles we publish range between about 2000 and 4000 words. We also publish shorter commentary pieces of between 800-1500 words. Occasionally, we publish articles that exceed the 4000-word mark, only if the content justifies the length.

FICTION

We occasionally publish fiction pieces, but tend to prioritise non-fiction, publishing, on average, one fiction piece every 3 months. As a consequence, there may be significant delays in processing fiction pitches. Please bear this in mind when submitting fiction pitches to us.

PROCESS  

All pitches and submissions made to Himal are considered by the editorial team, and are read by more than one editor. We may also ask for a brief clarification or extension of a pitch so that we may consider it further.

If a pitch is accepted, this sometimes takes the form of a commission, or in other cases, we may make a decision only upon seeing it in draft form. (Please send your drafts as Word documents – not PDFs or Google Docs links.) Our editorial process is rigorous and it is not unusual for a piece to go through a few rounds of editing. Editing most often takes the form of asking questions to strengthen argument, suggestions made for clarity of line and structure and discussion with the writer to make the piece as strong as possible. All substantive changes are referred back to the writer at each stage. Every article is fact checked as a matter of rigour (not mistrust!) and proofed before publication to ensure consistency with the Himal in-house style guide. 

PUBLICATION AND PAYMENT

We are always working on multiple pieces of multiple natures – some timebound, some timeless – and consequently our publication schedule is intricately plotted. So, we ask writers not to have definite expectations regarding publication dates. But if a writer wishes their piece to be published within a specific timeframe, then we ask that the writer communicates this at the outset of correspondence. However, articles that are limited by news-related deadlines are probably not suitable for us.

On average Himal pays USD 100-150 for an article, subsequent to publication.

Occasionally, as with any publication, a piece does not make it all the way to publication – but this is rare, a decision never taken lightly and always in discussion with the writer themselves.  

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PLAGIARISM AND AI-GENERATED CONTENT

We are committed to delivering bold, original journalism and expert analysis from across Southasia. As an entity dedicated to accuracy, accountability, and ethical reporting, we follow a zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism.

We define plagiarism as using another individual’s work without proper attribution or consent. We also do not accept self-plagiarism, where statements or passages are re-used from one’s own prior work without due acknowledgement.

Forms of plagiarism include:

1. Using material from external sources without credit or attribution. This also extends to incomplete or selective attribution.

2. Reusing prose from any other published or unpublished work without acknowledgement or attribution, but presenting it as part of original work. This applies to instances of verbatim overlap, and also to cases where a base of such reused prose is modified to disguise it.

3. Using AI chatbots, writing tools, or auto-generative systems to produce content or analysis.

4. Presenting as your own without acknowledgment or attribution, any work translated from another language. 

Our fact-checkers conduct an initial check on all submissions (including text, video, multimedia, and other forms), by running them through automatic plagiarism checkers and AI-content detectors. All pieces are then manually fact-checked prior to publication, with vigilance for plagiarism of any nature.

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COPYRIGHT

Copyright of the published article remains with Himal unless otherwise agreed.

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VIDEO SUBMISSIONS

SUBMIT YOUR VIDEO PITCH HERE 

We seek videos that are regional or cross-border – that show the interconnectedness of the issues we face across Southasia. At the same time we remain interested in very localised stories told with a regional perspective and focus on issues with larger impact.

You may send us a pitch related to the topics that fall under the below mentioned themes. You may also pitch a story that doesn’t come under these themes but could be compelling for the Himal audience.

• NEWSMAKERS: Stories of prominent people who made news in your region/country.

• CULTURE: Stories on food, clothes, art forms, monuments, traditions, institutions, etc. that have a cross-border angle.

• MEDIA: Stories of journalists and regional media groups that cover marginalised groups and/or are being persecuted by the state.

• NEWSWORTHY: Stories on newsworthy events in your region/country that have a larger impact.

• CLIMATE CHANGE: Stories on how climate change is impacting people and places and what actions are being taken to mitigate its effects.

• COVID-19: Stories on the impact of COVID19 pandemic on our personal, political and cultural lives.

Note: We are currently accepting pitches for short videos (1-5minutes) only.

PROCESS:

All pitches and submissions made to Himal are considered by the editorial team, and are read by more than one editor. We may also ask for a brief clarification or extension of a pitch so that we may explore it further.

• Step 1: If your pitch is selected, we will ask for a rough outline or script for the video story.

• Step 2: You will be required to send us a revised script/storyboard after reporting. Script/storyboard should include details on soundbites, b-rolls, data sources, etc.

• Step 3: For editing, we will share Himal’s video-editing guidelines with you for the package.

• Step 4: Once the package is approved, we will schedule the video for publication and initiate the payment process.

On average Himal pays USD 300-350 for a video story, subsequent to publication.

The stretch of land (and water) from Afghanistan to Myanmar, and from Tibet to the Maldives is Southasia for us. Namely, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Tibet. We are also interested in stories and issues affecting the diaspora with origins in this region.

We welcome submissions and ideas from anyone. See our submission guidelines above.

We are open to including multimedia components such as graphics, photos, audio clips, or videos that augment a story – but check with us before you send it.

We make an effort to reply within two weeks – and you’re welcome to prompt us if you haven’t heard back within that timeframe.  But do read about our submissions process above and you’ll see why a small team with a large workload can’t always respond as soon as we’d like to.

We only accept original, unpublished submissions. Have a look at our submission guidelines above and see if you’d like to pitch us a story?

Easy – just write to us at editorial@himalmag.com and tell us you’d like to withdraw your pitch or article.  Conversely, if we accept a story that you’ve pitched us, and you’ve agreed to proceed with us you must then withdraw it from any other publication to which you’ve submitted it.

Is it possible you write to us a lot?  If you have submitted several ideas that are not relevant to Himal, you may find we stop replying. Our submission guidelines above should help to give you a sense of what we do and don’t publish. Also, please submit one pitch or draft at a time and wait for the decision on that before submitting another.

All pitches and articles are considered by more than one editor, to ensure the process is fair.  Due to the large volume of correspondence we receive we are unable to respond at length to each pitch/article.

We are always working on multiple pieces of multiple natures – some timebound, some timeless – and consequently our publication schedule is intricately plotted.  So we ask writers not to have definite expectations regarding publication dates.  But if a writer wishes their piece to be published within a specific timeframe, then we ask that the writer communicates this at the outset of correspondence. Keep in mind that we don’t plan our publishing dates by news deadlines.

Unless otherwise agreed, Himal pays USD 100-150 for an article.

We begin processing payments at the end of each Gregorian month. Expect us to contact you within the first ten days of the month following publication of your article. So – if your article is published on October 1, you will hear from us by November 10; If your article is published on October 31, you will also hear from us by November 10!

Please be patient as the rules governing Himal as a not-for-profit guarantee limited company, as well as laws governing foreign remittances, require some time for completion. If your article has been published in a given month and you haven’t heard from us by the 15th of the next month, please contact us at admin.colombo@himalmag.com.

If you have submitted all the relevant payment details to us but have not received the payment even after six weeks from the date of submission of paperwork, please alert us at admin.colombo@himalmag.com.