Thank you for your interest in contributing to the Hotter than a Habanero blog. If you are a new contributor or haven’t yet familiarized yourself, please carefully review our content submission guidelines before drafting and sending us your post.
Mission
Hotter than a Habanero is a climate science blog published by The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University. We are dedicated to inspiring informed conversations about climate science, what it means for water, and what we can do to improve our resiliency.
Scope
The blog covers a wide range of topics, including, but not limited to, the following:
- Fundamentals of how the Earth’s climate system functions
- How climate affects issues relating to water resources
- Climate and extreme events such as droughts, floods, and hurricanes
- Building urban and/or rural resiliency around climate
- Perspectives on climate-related articles and publications
We encourage a diversity of opinion and discussion, with an emphasis on scientific, fact-based evidence and the distinction between facts, expert opinion, and non-expert opinion. Please review previous blog posts to understand the tone and style of our content before submitting a guest contribution.
Audience
Hotter than a Habanero is aimed at engaging a wide variety of stakeholders. Our audience includes legislators, policy makers, resource managers, scientists, and non-technical readers interested in learning about topics related to climate science. Contributions to serve this audience should avoid jargon, corporate- and techno-speak. Ideally, contributions are engaging and conversational.
Word Count
Please limit to the range of 500–1000 words.
Format & Style
- APA style is preferred when contributors are familiar with it.
- Shorter paragraphs are suggested when possible (4 lines is optimal); please try to avoid large blocks of text.
- Headers and subheaders to organize content, when appropriate, are encouraged.
- Feel free to use bullets or numbered lists as appropriate/constructive.
- Images/videos to accompany the post are encouraged and should be submitted as high-resolution .jpg or .png files. You must have permission to use any images you send, and proper attribution is required.
- Link to other blog content and/or relevant external links as possible.
- End the post with a question or call to action to encourage further discussion/comments.
- All submissions should include a short bio (between 50-70 words), headshot, and link to the author’s website or blog. This will appear at the bottom of your post in the byline section.
- Links to resources/further reading may be provided and will be listed at the end of the blog post.
- Note for North American authors, one space after periods, not two.
- What We Don’t Want:Please do not send us press releases, sales pitches, product reviews, or advertisements.
Exclusivity
We prefer that articles not be published elsewhere previously, or simultaneously, however, we do not require this.
Copy Editing
We may edit guest contributor posts and/or return them for revisions. Copy editing is to correct grammatical errors, ensure style consistency, format, etc., and does not involve changes to content. Guest contributors will be consulted in the unlikely event that a content change is required for invited submissions. Unsolicited submissions will be evaluated on a discretionary basis by Meadows Center Staff. The Hotter than a Habanero blog is subject to customary standards of ethics in publishing. Contributors who have doubts or are unfamiliar with these are advised to consult Elsevier’s “Duties of Authors” guidelines.
Posting Schedule
Meadows Center Staff will advise Guest Contributors of the posting schedule for blog submissions following approval. Acknowledgment of submission status/acceptance will generally be given within two weeks of receipt.