Write for WE&T

As the flagship publication of WEF, WE&T covers a wide range of water quality and municipal wastewater treatment issues from the design, engineering, and management of domestic water resource recovery facilities to watershed management and wet weather issues as well as the utility management and emerging topics that concern the water sector.

WE&T welcomes all submissions.

WE&T’s annual editorial calendar focuses each issue on a set of four topics. Each issue contains three to eight feature articles corresponding to these topics.

Additionally, sections such as News, Research Notes, and Waterline examine in-depth topical issues of the day.

Other sections, such as Products, Business, and Projects provide short updates of what’s happening throughout the water sector.

2019
Water Environment & Technology
Editorial Calendar

Email questions to
Steve Spicer, WE&T Managing Editor

Submitting a Feature Article
Prospective authors are encouraged to visit the Article Guidelines (below) and the WE&T archives to become familiar with the magazine’s style and breadth of topics.

Authors are highly encouraged to submit an abstract or outline rather than a finished article. Submissions should be 300- to 400-words long and describe what topic(s) the article will cover as well as what audience the article will target.

Fully developed submissions are accepted and will be considered but may require significant editing.

Authors will receive a response after their proposals are reviewed by the WE&T editorial advisory board — typically within 4 to 6 weeks.

Since WE&T editors are working on feature articles several months in advance of publication, authors are encouraged to submit their proposals as far in advance of the desired publication issue as possible.

Submissions must be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word format to magazine@wef.org. Submissions must include

author name(s),
telephone number, and
e-mail address of the corresponding author.

Please note: WE&T does not accept simultaneous submissions or articles that have been previously published.

Deadlines and publication date are set by the editor once an article is accepted.

Authors must sign an author agreement in order for the article to be published in WE&T.

Feature Article Guidelines

While WE&T strives to offer a variety of voices and writing styles in each issue, each article must follow some basic guidelines.

Audience
WE&T readers are an international audience of more than 36,000 utility professionals, consulting engineers, academics, and others in the water quality field.

Length
Feature articles typically contain between 1500 and 3000 words. Longer articles will be cut or published as multipart series.

Format
Submitted articles should resemble a magazine feature rather than an academic paper.

All articles should have a headline, as well as one or two short introductory paragraphs that hint at (but do not give away) the outcome.
Short subheads should be used to break the article into accessible chunks of information.
The article should have a logical flow from beginning to end, whether it is chronological, spatial, or by order of significance.
Footnotes are not used; any references, which should be kept to a minimum, should be attributed within the text of the article.
Information that is relevant but not central to the story — such as a list of Internet resources — should be listed separately in a sidebar.

Content
Feature articles should be of interest to the general water sector audience, informational, and free from any promotional language. Specific product information should be made generic unless its inclusion is essential for the reader’s understanding.

SI units
All WEF technical periodicals use the international system for units of weights and measures.
Authors submitting articles that contain English units will be asked to provide conversions.

Brief author bio
Authors should submit biographical information, including title or professional discipline, company name, office location, and company headquarters.
Professional or educational degrees, titles, and certifications are not included in the biographical information.

Artwork
Authors are encouraged to submit artwork, especially original photos, to accompany their articles. Original graphic files (photos, figures, tables, and charts) must be sent separately from text files.

Photos and figures should be

TIFF, JPEG, or EPS format and
high resolution (file sizes should be at least ~1 MB)

Tables must be in Microsoft Word or Excel format. Charts must be accompanied by original (Excel or Word format) spreadsheet files.

Authors submitting photos also must provide and photo credit information.

Publication Process

Editing ensures that articles are in the best possible shape for publication. Once your article is accepted, it will be assigned to a WEF editor.

Editing
Articles are edited for clarity, cohesion, substance, and style. WEF follows its own editorial style that dictates grammatical preferences and how words are treated.

For example

Stormwater is one word, not two.
Water resource recovery facility, not wastewater treatment plant, is the preferred term.

While prospective authors are not expected to tailor their submissions to WEF style conventions, all articles are edited to conform to this style before they are published. However, WEF editors recognize that each writer has a unique writing style, and make every effort to preserve that style.

Author review
Author always have the opportunity to review and approve changes. Once an article has been edited, it is sent back to the author for final review. Authors also may be asked to revise their articles or provide additional information.

The final draft is the author’s last opportunity for editorial input.

Layout and design
Articles are edited individually, but may require changes once the whole of the magazine is assembled. Therefore, headlines and subheads may be rewritten.

Use of photos and figures may vary.

The final draft authors receive is the editor’s best approximation of how the article will appear, but the nature of the production process is that additional small changes may be made. The editor will contact the author if any questions or significant content changes arise during production.

Post-production and author copies
The corresponding author will receive two copies of the magazine per author (up to a maximum of 8 copies) once the issue has been printed.

Bulk copies can be purchased by contacting WEF customer service.

Submitting Products, Projects, & Business Items

WE&T accepts submissions for these update sections. These items are published on a space-available basis.

Because of the volume of submissions received, editors cannot guarantee if or when a submission will appear in print or online. Nor can editors track where in the process a particular item may be.

Products
This section presents 50- to 100-word descriptions of a specific product. Photos are included when provided.

Send press releases and high-resolution photos to prods@wef.org. New products only. No product literature.

Business
This section provides brief updates on contracts, promotions, new locations, and awards. Photos are encouraged.

Send information and photos to biznews@wef.org.

Projects
This section includes 70- to 150-words reports of new and notable projects throughout the water sector. Photos highly encouraged.

Send information and high-resolution photos to magazine@wef.org.