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 1200 words, and most of the articles we publish range between about 2000 and 4000 words in length. We occasionally publish articles that exceed the 4000-word mark, but only if the content justifies the length.

FICTION

We occasionally publish original short stories. Please submit a completed draft of your story for consideration.

PROCESS  

All pitches and submissions made to Himal are considered by the editorial team. 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 Himal’s in-house style guide. 

PUBLICATION AND PAYMENT

We are always working on multiple pieces of multiple natures – some time bound, some timeless – and our publication schedule is often planned several weeks into the future. 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.

Himal has set rates of remuneration for articles, with the final sum based on the length and nature of the article. The standard rate will be communicated to you as part of any commission or offer of publication. Payments are processed on a calendar-month cycle, subsequent to publication. We process payments as quickly as possible, but required bureaucratic and banking procedures that are beyond our control can delay payments by up to two months on some occasions.

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.