Pitch an article idea

Thanks for your interest in pitching an idea to The Conversation Canada. This page briefly explains our editorial priorities and shows you what makes a good pitch. You can then submit a pitch via the links.

Trust in our expert voices to express, assimilate and interpret information as a human creator is paramount to The Conversation. Generally speaking, stories produced using AI will not be accepted. Authors must disclose to their editor if generative AI tools have been employed for any part of their pitch.

What types of stories are we looking for?

The Conversation focuses on three priority areas:

• Timely, evidence-based analysis of what’s making the news;
• Articles explaining new research and its significance to a non-expert audience;
• Timeless “explainers” of complex issues.

Before pitching, please consider a keyword search to see what we’ve published on your topic. Keep in mind that pieces tied to major events, such as the federal election, should be pitched at least five business days in advance. Editors are rarely able to publish stories immediately and prioritize stories based on their timeliness.

Please wait for your editor to accept the pitch and send you a brief with the deadline and word count before filing your story – we often receive several pitches on the same topic and are unable to accept all pitches.

Your pitch should present a research-based analysis or argument, not an opinion piece, and be grounded in your own expertise or the work of others in your field. You should be able to support your claims with reliable sources, such as peer-reviewed articles, news articles and government reports. Please ensure you’ve detailed your expertise in the author profile you create and submit with your pitch.

Please disclose names of prospective co-authors when you pitch and ensure they’ve also created Conversation profiles.