Author Publishing Guidelines & Quality Standards

1. Who Can Publish

Any verified author approved through our Author Application Portal (`/author/apply`) may draft and submit technical articles, AI tool benchmarks, prompt blueprints, and custom GPT models to TechScout.

2. Content Requirements

Publications must focus on software engineering, distributed systems architecture, artificial intelligence, cyber security, DevOps/SRE, database internals, or frontier developer workflows. Articles must be original and provide actionable value to developers.

3. Quality Standards & Depth

We prioritize thorough, reproducible engineering deep dives (minimum 800–1,500 words) over superficial listicles. Include code snippets, architectural benchmarks, error handling strategies, and tradeoffs.

4. Formatting & Markdown Rules

Use clear hierarchical headings (H2, H3), bulleted lists, and syntax-highlighted code blocks with explicit language identifiers (e.g. ````python`, ````go`, ````sql`).

5. Images, Diagrams & Media

Include high-resolution architecture diagrams, Mermaid flowcharts, or system schemas. All images must have meaningful alt text for accessibility.

6. Citations & Academic Attribution

Directly link to original research papers (arXiv), GitHub source repositories, and official documentation when referencing third-party libraries or benchmarks.

7. AI Content Policy

We permit the use of AI tools (e.g. LLMs) for outlining, grammar refinement, and research assistance. However, raw, unedited AI-generated text without human engineering review is strictly rejected.

8. Copyright & Plagiarism

Plagiarism results in immediate disqualification and permanent ban from the Author Guild. Ensure all published code snippets and diagrams are either original or properly licensed.

9. Prohibited Content

Promotions of illegal exploit payloads, pyramid investment schemes, unverified affiliate spams, or deceptive benchmarks are strictly prohibited.

10. Review Process

Submitted drafts enter our Editorial Review Queue (`/admin/content`). Our staff checks technical veracity and formatting within 24 to 48 hours.

11. Publishing & Distribution

Once approved, your article goes live across the home feed, relevant topic hubs, the RSS feed, and is eligible for inclusion in the TechScout Weekly Newsletter Dispatch.