2.1 Word length: all articles will, on average, be 1,000 words or less. That’s the standard we aim for. An article can go up to 1,400-1,500 words if it is very good – in terms of content as well as writing and photographs. If it’s a story of truly exceptional merit or on a crucial subject, we can consider a longer word limit for that article – and it can go up to 2,000 words.

Ideally, the screening editor or first editor should be able to assess and decide the word length. Accordingly, she/he can work with the author to tighten/reduce or to add to the length (usually, by addressing content gaps) before the article reaches the final edit stage.