RUSI Journal Contributor Guidelines

Research Articles

These are original, double-blind peer-reviewed research and analysis of contemporary defence and security topics. They should be between 4,000 and 5,000 words, including references and footnotes. A limited number of longer articles (up to 6,000 words) may also be considered following discussion with the Editor.

Professional Insights

Professional Insights bring real-world experiences and practitioner perspectives to readers. They should be between 1,200 and 2,000 words and are subject to editorial review. 

Features and Interviews

The most creative and accessible format within the RUSI Journal, designed to entertain and inform. They may be up to 3,000 words in length, often in the form of photo-essays, and undergo internal review. 

Reviews

The RUSI Journal publishes multidisciplinary media and culture reviews on important or useful newly released books, films, plays, podcasts, artworks or exhibitions that touch on all aspects of defence, security and military history. They should be approximately 1,000 words in length. If you would like to submit a book to be considered for review, please address it to: Reviews Editor, Royal United Services Institute, 61 Whitehall, London SW1A 2ET.

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editor are welcome and should be no longer than 700 words. They should not contain footnotes or hyperlinks.

To discuss a proposal or submission of a research article, professional insight or feature please contact Kevin Rowlands. For reviews, please contact Louise Chan.

The RUSI Journal accepts submissions on a rolling basis and all types are considered on their merit. Articles should be written in British English and must be the author’s original work. Simultaneous submission to other publications must be indicated. All articles should be provided as a Microsoft Word file and any graphics or figures should be attached separately and not embedded in the text.

Research articles must be anonymised and submitted using the ScholarOne platform. ScholarOne allows authors, editors and the publisher to track the progress of their submission throughout the production process. To submit a manuscript or register for an account please visit the RUSI Journal's ScholarOne site.

Submissions of all other types should be sent by email to the Editor or Reviews Editor as appropriate. 

Titles should be clear, informative, and optimised for discoverability. Please keep titles under 100 characters including spaces and focus on the article’s central topic rather than using clever puns or vague phrasing.

Research articles should contain an abstract of between 80 and 100 words. The abstract should be a standalone summary of the article and tell the reader what the paper is about, what was found and why it is important. Professional insights, features and reviews do not require an abstract.

The main body should be logical and flow naturally. RUSI articles do not include formal introduction, methodology or literature review sections but the early paragraphs should situate the topic. Subsequent sections may include headers and sub-headers if required. 

Contributors are invited to read and adhere to the Institute's reference style guide. Please pay particular care to the RUSI’s referencing style, the improper application of which will cause delay or result in rejection.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as large language models (LLMs) or multimodal models, continue to develop and evolve. The RUSI Journal and our publisher, Taylor and Francis, allow the informed, responsible and ethical use of AI applications. When submitting a manuscript, contributors should indicate which AI models have been used and for what purpose. RUSI currently permits the use of AI for generating images, sourcing initial background reading, translation from source language into English, rephrasing text to enable flow and basic proofreading.

All submissions undergo routine plagiarism and AI detection checks. In line with plagiarism policies, RUSI does not currently permit or publish articles which include research outputs produced wholly or in part by another person or generative AI and claimed as an author’s original work. Attention should be paid to the common risks associated with AI tools, including inaccuracy and bias, lack of attribution, confidentiality breaches and hallucination.

If AI is used to support the writing of an article, a brief disclaimer must be added, using the following template: 

An artificial intelligence language model [INSERT NAME OF MODEL(S)] was used for the following in the production of this article [ADD/DELETE AS APPROPRIATE]:

• Background research
• Data analysis
• Image creation
• Translation from [LANGUAGE] into English
• Copyediting and proofreading for clarity
• [ANY OTHER USE]

Authors alone are responsible for the content of their papers, including obtaining all permissions required prior to submission of the manuscript, including for the use of excerpts, images and graphics. The opinions and conclusions expressed in articles written by RUSI Staff and RUSI Fellows do not necessarily represent the views of the Institute. It is the policy of the RUSI Journal to give the fullest freedom to contributors and correspondents. Only by doing so can the Institute carry out the terms of its charter. The Institute reserves the right to edit all contributions to the Journal for space and clarity.

All research articles and other papers should be designed, reviewed and the research undertaken in a manner that ensures rigour, integrity and quality. This includes honest presentation of goals and findings. Where the conduct of research or the writing of an article involves the collection and/or use of personal data, an appropriate legal basis for processing the data must be identified and made explicit. Harm or potential harm (physical, emotional, reputational) to research participants or research subjects must be avoided.

Independence of thought is important, and any potential conflicts of interest must be clearly stated. Fraudulent research and/or the presence of mal-, mis- or disinformation will result in rejection.

The RUSI Journal is published by Taylor and Francis, with whom authors will be required to enter into a publishing agreement prior to publication online or in print. The publishing agreement process will be initiated by the Taylor and Francis once the final version of the article has been submitted to them by RUSI. 

By default, all RUSI Journal articles are subscriber-only access. This means that the article is freely available to RUSI members and organisations with institutional access, or as pay-to-read for non-members. There is no charge to the author.

Open access is also available. Open access makes published academic research freely and permanently available to anyone. Authors from affiliated institutions may be eligible to publish open access at no cost to themselves. Access a list of all institutions with an open access arrangement is available on the Taylor and Francis website. Only research articles are eligible; other types of paper, such as professional insights, features and reviews are not covered by this agreement. Authors not covered by an institutional arrangement may still opt for open access but will be required to pay an article publishing charge (APC) to Taylor & Francis. 

Subscriber-only access and open access options are selected during the publishing agreement process.

Guidelines last updated: 13/07/26