MedTech Strategist Contributing Author Guidelines
MedTech Strategist is the gold standard for analysis and expert thought leadership about the global medical device industry.
Senior executives and strategists use it to anticipate industry trends, understand what’s happening beyond their areas of expertise and to identify risks and opportunities, new technologies and business models, novel deal structures, and compelling leadership styles.
We welcome contributed articles from industry experts, providing the content is exclusive to MedTech Strategist and did not/will not appear in another format elsewhere.
Here are some guidelines outlining what we’re looking for from contributors. We want to help you tailor your material most easily and efficiently to our audience’s needs, saving editorial time for you and us. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Our Readership
Many of our subscribers are in medical device, diagnostics, and biopharma companies. Our biggest subscriber bases are:
senior industry executives
business development, commercial and corporate planning
senior marketing, including market access
healthcare investments bankers
equity research groups
venture capitalists and other investors
major life sciences consulting firms
Crafting The Story
First and foremost, we are looking for a clear, concise and compelling “so what” to any piece of material.
Why will our readers be interested in what you write?
What actions should they take based on your article?
We would appreciate a short one- or two-sentence summary of the so-what at the top of the submission.
Remember that our readers are experienced industry executives. Thus we rarely find general “state of the industry” overview pieces helpful. That’s not to say we reject trend pieces; they must simply be focused on a particular, well-defined and clearly exemplified trend; and in particular a trend our writers and contributors haven’t yet noticed or on which you take an unusual stance or from which you draw unusual implications. Stories that feature original research are of particular interest. An informed opinion can bring an additional element of originality to a story as well.
We do seek concrete examples and illustrations of points made or trends highlighted. Which company tried this, did it work? Who is trying it now? Specifics – company and product examples, well-vetted and independently derived statistics – are of far more value to our readers than abstract descriptions or theoretical analyses without any proof of their use in the real world. Examples needn’t – and we know often can’t – include real names. Using generic descriptions – for example, "a strategic medtech" or "a medical device start-up" – is often sufficient, granted, of course, the story is true and specific. This will not only be more useful to our readers, it will also provide credibility: this contributor’s idea is already being tried out.
Please include quotations from other people. Additional voices and perspectives always enhance articles.
Break out relevant subtopics as sidebars or boxes – that will improve the way the story looks and reads.
If you don't have access to MedTech Strategist, we are happy to send you some recent articles so you can familiarize yourself with our format and level of coverage.
Article Length
MedTech Strategist feature articles are typically 2,000 to 3,000 words long. Shorter articles and opinion pieces run between 750 and 1,500 words.
Format
Summary: All articles must include a 2-3 sentence summary (the “so-what” summary mentioned above).
Intro: For feature-length articles, we require four to five paragraphs of introductory text presenting the issue and argument, and broadly scoping the piece before you dive into the heart of the matter.
Subheads: Subheads should be included at four- to eight- paragraph intervals, breaking the piece into logical subtopics.
Graphics: We encourage the use of charts, other graphic material and/or text boxes that advance the story where appropriate. All should be clearly labeled and sourced. If you have submitted graphics to accompany your story, we will need original source files (xls, ppt, pdf), rather than mere images pasted into your Word document. Our in-house designers will modify the appearance of your graphics to match MedTech Strategist’s style. If we make substantive edits to exhibits we will discuss them with you.
Bylines and bios: We will run a brief bio note at the end of the article. Please provide names, email addresses and job titles for all bylined authors.
Submission Process
First, discuss the basic idea of the article with a MedTech Strategist editor who will determine if the story is a good fit for us and decide which of our editors is best for you to work with. Then, rather than writing an entire article only to find that we can't use it, submit a bulleted outline (either in an email or Microsoft Word document), starting at the top with the so-what described above and then list four or five key points outlining the essential elements of the argument. Your editor will then reach out to you with any comments and suggestions. At that point you should feel free to start writing the piece.
Please file your draft story as a plain MS Word document (no company templates, please). MedTech Strategist cannot accommodate complex formatting or footnotes. If you want to cite a specific source for a fact, please incorporate it into the text of the story.
When you file your draft, we will edit it and send our comments back to you. Once all parties are satisfied with the story, we will send it through internal editing and proofing. It's unlikely there will be substantive changes to the content at this point. If there are, we will let you know. We won't inform you about minor, stylistic changes.
Note that it generally takes six to eight weeks between the time you file your draft to the time the story is ready to post.
Posting, Publishing and Promotion
We will send you a proof to review prior to publication. Once the article posts and publishes, we will send you a magazine-quality pdf for your internal use. Our sales team is always happy to discuss reprint/reposting rights if you'd like to distribute the piece to a broader audience. MedTech Strategist owns the copyright to everything we publish. Once your story posts online, we will promote it via email alerts, Twitter and other social media. We encourage you to do the same.
Questions? Please contact MedTech Strategist's managing editor Nancy Dvorin at n.dvorin@medtechstrategist.com.
Complete the form below to submit an article abstract
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