Submission Guidelines

Publications for birth practitioners, childbirth educators and parents-to-be.

• General Guidelines
• About Midwifery Today Magazine
• MT Editorial Style Sheet (opens a PDF)
• Copyright
• Editorial
• Midwifery Today Features and Columns 
• Midwifery Today E-News
• Article E-Mail Guidelines
• Photographs and Artwork
• Overall Guidelines
• Artwork
• Film Images
• Digital Photos
• Scanned Pictures
• Photo Submission Guidelines
• Mission Statement / About Midwifery Today, Inc.

General Guidelines

Midwifery Today (a 72-page journal that includes International Midwife) is a quarterly publication for birth practitioners. We emphasize natural childbirth, breastfeeding, networking and education. Our aim is to foster communication between practitioners and families and to promote responsible midwifery and childbirth education around the world.

We seek a balance between scientific or technical material and "softer" personal and/or philosophical articles, including birth-related art, poetry and humor. We consider submissions on all aspects of pregnancy and childbirth. The professional and business aspects of midwifery and childbirth education are also of interest to our readers.

Concise material that clearly expresses your knowledge, experience, feelings or findings will receive consideration. If you are submitting an instructive article aimed at midwifery procedure or practice, please be accurate and factual. Identify and credit your sources of information. Please see our online MT Editorial Style Sheet and sample references for preferred reference format and general style guides. Proofread your work. We reserve the right to edit for clarity, content and length, but whenever possible, we give contributors the opportunity to approve all edits.

E-mail your article, if possible, to editorial@midwiferytoday.com, or send an electronic version on a disk. (See Article E-Mail Guidelines.) We prefer articles that are typed and double-spaced, although neatly hand-written articles are also accepted. Include your name, address and telephone number, as well as your FAX number and e-mail address on the first page. Your name, the article title and the page number should appear on each following page. Please include a biographical sketch of no more than 40 words. If you wish to withhold your name, please indicate this; instruct us whether you prefer an anonymous citing, your initials or a pseudonym.

Please Note:

• Send a self-addressed stamped envelope with all submissions.
• We will not consider previously published articles.
• We reserve the right to edit for clarity, content and length, but whenever possible, we give contributors the opportunity to approve all edits.
• We cannot guarantee return of material submitted. Submit high quality copies of your work; retain a copy of your article, photography or artwork.
• Midwifery Today is a nonpaying market. Contributors receive two copies, and authors of full-length feature articles receive a complimentary one-year subscription to the publication in which the article appears.

Copyright

All writers whose articles are accepted for publication will be required to sign and return an exclusive Copyright Transfer Agreement prior to publication of the work. Click here to view a copy of the agreement.

Editorial

Midwifery Today Features and Columns

Full Length Articles: We are interested in all pregnancy, birth and postpartum subjects directed toward midwives, doulas, childbirth educators or their clients. We accept technical, objective (journalistic reporting), instructive and personal experience articles. References are encouraged, where appropriate, and suitable photographs, charts, diagrams and other graphics may clarify or enhance your article. Please do not feel constrained by quarterly themes.

Midwifery Today Editorial Themes

Midwifery Today features the following topics in its publications:

• Birth stories by practitioners that share insights or information learned.
• Birth stories by mothers or other family members, with the intent of helping birth practitioners gain knowledge and understanding. These should be powerful, poignant, challenging, entertaining and educational.
• Recipes for tinctures, hot packs, herbal treatments, salves, teas and nutrition-packed recipes for pregnancy and labor.
• Remedies: Choose a favorite herb, aroma or homeopathic that you use for pregnancy, birth, postpartum or lactation and describe its preparation and use. Or choose a topic or condition and describe a variety of remedies. In either case, be specific about preparation and dosage.
• Business information, systems and suggestions to help midwives, doulas and childbirth educators improve their practices.
• Autobiographical or biographical portraits of practitioners: how and why did you or someone else enter the birthing field; your training, practice(s), goals, family, non-birthing interests and insights.
• News, litigation, information, advice, pending legislation and insurance issues concerning the practice of midwifery in your area.
• Opinion pieces.
• Pregnancy, birth and midwifery poetry.

Media Reviews: Each issue features reviews of books, videos and/or cassettes. If you submit a review, include the following information: authors/editors, name of product, cost, pages/length, format, publisher/producer name, address, phone. Limit reviews to 600 words. The item should be relevant to birth practitioners or parents. Explain why it is or isn't helpful and give readers a feel for what the product is like. What topics are covered? Are they covered clearly and thoroughly? Are references included? If it is a book, does it include photos or illustrations?

Networking: Air formal and informal comments and opinions, share news, ask questions, critique articles in past issues and give technical advice or spiritual support. Two to five paragraphs in letter form.

Tricks of the Trade: Share practical wisdom and helpful hints from your practice. Information you won't find in a textbook.

International Midwife: Midwifery from around the world. Send us articles that discuss pregnancy, birth and postpartum subjects, customs, traditions, remedies, cultural roles, legal issues, challenges or triumphs from a global perspective. Contribute birth stories from outside the US. Describe the status of birth and midwifery in your country. Alert readers to opportunities for working abroad. Relate your experience working in a country other than your own. Submission of photos is strongly encouraged.

Cards and Letters (international): We welcome your letters, opinions, updates on your international practice, submissions from midwives in all corners of the globe, descriptions of the joys and challenges as you practice in your own country, information on your country's midwifery organizations, etc. Limit length to two to five paragraphs.

Midwifery Today E-News

A free biweekly online publication for all childbirth practitioners and interested parents. Our intention is to reach beyond our print capabilities as well as expand our already existing Internet capabilities by offering a modern, quick and timely way to inform, network and support those who work with women during their childbearing years. E-News features convenient links to other appropriate and helpful sites, and an eventual link to the Midwifery Today articles database. It is also a springboard to other Midwifery Today Internet projects.

E-News invites you to submit material you would like to share with our subscribers. Please note the following guidelines:

1. All material must be e-mailed. Please send to this address:
   mtensubmit@midwiferytoday.com.
2. Your e-mailed submission must be received in the form of a standard e-mail message, not an attachment. Include your full name and city/state or country.
3. We do not accept graphics at this time. Photography and art are always considered for our print publications, however.
4. Please limit yourself to one to seven paragraphs. We are striving for brevity so busy birth practitioners can receive information that is highly useful yet quickly read. Longer submissions will be considered for Midwifery Today.

Please consider the following topics for submissions: techniques that have worked for you; news items (please cite your sources); and favorite herbal remedies or related therapies, such as aromatherapy or homeopathy. Also, ask questions, make comments, sound off or otherwise respond to material in past issues of E-News.

Article E-Mail Guidelines

Save your article in one of the following formats:

.rtf (Rich Text Format)
.doc (Microsoft Word)
.txt (Plain Text)

Send only one attachment per e-mail. E-mail your document to BOTH of the following addresses (using the "cc" function):

jan@midwiferytoday.com
editorial@midwiferytoday.com

Photography and Artwork

Overall Guidelines

We prefer images at the highest possible resolution, 300 dpi at least. It's best to have prints of film images or original digital files of digital camera output. Please avoid resampling digital files, and handle prints gently to avoid fingerprints and dust.

We generally pay $15 per inside shot, $25 for full bleed, $50 for Midwifery Today cover. You will also receive one copy of the magazine per inside shot and one copy for a full bleed or cover shot. There is no compensation for photos submitted with articles. Photos submitted specifically for our Photo Album are not paid, but the submitter will receive two copies of the magazine.

We like pictures of mothers and babies together, babies alone, siblings with babies, etc. Photos that involve midwives, doulas, midwifery students and specific procedures/positions/equipment are also helpful. Because birth photos are difficult to find, we are always happy to receive those.

Artwork

Please do not send original artwork, as it may not be returned. To submit art work, scan your image at a minimum of 300 dpi at a size of at least 3" x 3". Both color and black-and-white images are acceptable. Images used in the magazine will be printed in black and white. In the past we have used pencil and charcoal drawing, paintings and digital collages to illustrate our articles. Topics of interest include pregnancy, birth, midwives, mothers, babies and breastfeeding. Additionally, we often run articles on nutrition that lend themselves to illustration. If you are unsure if your artwork is suitable for our needs, please e-mail our design editor at layout@midwiferytoday.com for more specific information.

Film Images

We can work with a wide variety of prints. Our preferred photo format is 5" x 7" glossy prints, but anything from 2" x 3" up to 8" x 10" will usually work.

Please avoid sending matte photos. A glossy finish will scan much better. The irregular surface of a matte photo can cause distortions on a scanner.

Both color and black and white images are acceptable. Although our final output is black and white, we can convert a color photo into a black-and-white image. We do occasionally have use for color images (such as on book covers and our Web site).

About composition and picture quality:

1. Dust, lines, etc.: We have a lot of tools for "erasing" dust and lines without losing detail.
2. Background: Sometimes we will "blur out" the background. We've also been known to erase oddly placed light switches, etc. Cropping is easy.
3. Lighting: Even poor lighting can be fixed. As long as there aren't overexposed places where all definition is lost, we can usually compensate.

Digital Photos

To print a cover photo at proper resolution, a photo must be 9" wide by 11.25" tall, at 300 dpi minimum resolution.

To print a full-bleed image inside the magazine, a photo must be 9" wide by 11.25" tall, at 300 dpi minimum resolution.

For photos inside the magazine, a photo should be the equivalent of 3" x 5" (portrait or landscape orientation) at 300 dpi minimum resolution.

Picture format can be a limitation when using a digital camera. If pictures are taken with JPEG (.jpg) compression used, they will often have to be downsampled to smooth out the compression artifacts generated by the format. This can be minimized on most cameras by using "best quality" or "no compression." Some cameras will allow you to save in TIFF format (.tif). TIFF format is preferred, because it does not degrade the image quality.

The ideal is to keep your original photos as they come off the camera. For our use, we want the originals, not even opened and re-saved.

Scanned Pictures

If your pictures are taken with film, please make duplicate prints from the original negatives and send the duplicates to us. We prefer to do the scanning from a print. If you want to be sure we're interested in the photos before making and mailing prints, please e-mail us low-resolution scans (72 dpi JPEGs) ahead of time. We will let you know which photos we may be able to use.

Photo Submission Guidelines

Photographs or artwork sent via e-mail, must be saved in the TIFF format (.tif). Send only one attachment per e-mail. E-mail all photos to layout@midwiferytoday.com ONLY.

***Do not send photos to jan@midwiferytoday.com.***

For files larger than 800KB, please e-mail layout@midwiferytoday.com and ask for upload instructions.

Include a self-addressed stamped envelope if you would like your photos returned. Please retain a copy of your photography or artwork, as we cannot guarantee prompt return of your submission.

Mission Statement

Through networking and education, Midwifery Today's mission is to return midwifery care to its rightful position in the family; to make midwifery care the norm throughout the world; and to redefine midwifery as a vital partnership with women.

For more information about Midwifery Today, Inc., please click here.