1. Sharing relevant content and choosing a channel

When uploading your content, please ensure it is relevant to the topic of the Community, and consider which channel and badge would be best suited to the style of your post (e.g. ‘Behind the Paper’, ‘News and Opinion’, ‘On the Road’). If you’re having trouble deciding which channel your post fits into, have a look at our channel guide here. If you have any further questions regarding the style of your article, or which Community it might suit, please do not hesitate to contact the Communities team. 

This is not a moderated Community, however we want to help ensure that posts are relevant and useful to other Community users, so the team may review the content posted across the platform and we contact you if we think that your post might benefit from revision. Posts and comments that violate the Communities’ terms and conditions or these guidelines, will be removed.

  2. Avoiding sales and promotions 

Although we welcome you to share your content with the Community to grow your network and increase the visibility of your work, please ensure that your posts are not of a promotional nature. We believe that demonstration of expertise is much more valuable than the promotion of a company, product (i.e. books, publications) or service. If you have a product or service that you wish to sell or promote, however, feel free to contact us about advertising and sponsorship opportunities.

Please don’t post inappropriate links. You may only share links to another website if the content on that other site abides with these guidelines and our Website Terms of Use, and if that other website allows you to post links to their website.

  3. Considering copyright

If you wish to upload an image, video or any other audiovisual content or text, please ensure that you have the right to use it. Posting copyrighted material without permission may be unlawful and subject to removal of your content. 

For more information, see our Website Terms of Use. If you are unsure whether your contribution could be infringing copyright, please contact the Communities team.  

  4. Upholding user authenticity

Do not impersonate another person or violate someone else's privacy. This is a public forum and your personal information may be visible to others. Your profile should reflect you and not an affiliated business. Any accounts that are found to be impersonating others or that represent a business, group or wider organisation will be removed.

We encourage you to complete your profile and keep it up to date. The more detail you add to your profile, the more people will want to engage with you and your posts – and the more connected you'll feel to fellow members of the Community and your research field! We’ve created a useful guide on creating your profile on the ‘About the Community’ channel.

  5. Avoiding libellous or abusive language 

We ask that you please remain polite and consider your content. You should not make our encourage Community contributions that are:

• Defamatory, false or misleading;

• Insulting, threatening or abusive;

• Obscene or of a sexual nature;

• Offensive, racist, sexist, homophobic or discriminatory against any religion or group

Any content that is found to be unsuitable will be removed. 

The Communities team is not able to investigate any claims or accusations made against individuals, teams, or organisations, if you have a concern or issue of this nature, please contact the relevant organisation or institutional HR department. 

  6. This is a public forum 

Once your contribution is online, everyone with access to the internet may be able to view it. Please bear in mind that you are legally responsible for the content you submit. 

Please be polite. Do not use swear words, profane, crude or sexual language.

  7. Conflicts of interest

Please clearly disclose any potential conflicts of interest associated with your content, if applicable.

  8. Reposting content

When creating content within the Communities, we do not typically allow publication of content on the Communities that has already been published on another website or platform. 

However, If you are interested in sharing your Communities blog post more widely, you are very welcome to do so, provided that you acknowledge the original Community post. This could be by including the below in the reposted content: “This blog was originally shared on the [Community name]: read it here - [URL to post].”

  9. Including citations and links

Please attribute quotes and paraphrased comments to their correct sources. If you would like to include in-text citations or a small bibliography, you are more than welcome to do so. 

Links can be useful to allow users to navigate the Communities and beyond. However, please try to provide readers with some context to help them understand what the link is for. For example, try to avoid using ‘click here’ and instead describe where the link will take the reader. 

Please only post links to another website if the content of that site abides with these guidelines and our Website Terms of Use and is relevant to your contribution. If you are unsure, please check with the website in question.

  10. Ensuring accessibility for fellow Community members

When writing your post, be sure to consider how accessible it may be to other users of the Community. How might others perceive your contribution/s? 

Try to make your writing clear and easily understandable. This may involve using headers, for example, adding alt text to your images, avoiding unnecessary jargon and including captions to images and videos. 

Our Communities are composed of a diverse range of people, both contributors and readers! The more accessible and engaging your post is, the more our Community members will enjoy reading it. You can find out more on how to improve the accessibility of your blog posts here. Have a look at our ‘How to write an engaging blog post’ article for further tips

  11. Language and proofreading your content

Please proofread and edit your content carefully. We want to help you reach the widest possible audience for your post. If you have any questions on audience, language or tone you are welcome to share your questions with the Communities team.  

We ask that you please write your post in English to make the content accessible to the Community’s international audience. If you would like to incorporate another language into your post, we are more than happy to accommodate any translation queries or requests.

  12. Blog length

We recommend a blog length of approximately 1000 words.

You are welcome to adjust the length of your blog, if needed. However, posts that are composed of a single short paragraph or two small paragraphs, for example, are not deemed valuable contributions to the Community and may be removed.

  13. Reporting inappropriate content

Please help us to maintain high standards of participation within our Communities by reporting a contribution if you believe that it does not comply with these guidelines or our Website Terms of Use. This applies to content that is in breach of our guidelines and Website Terms of Use only – and not merely content that you may disagree with.

The Communities team reserves the right, although not the obligation, to take down any contribution that we feel to be unsuitable, or which is reported as being unsuitable for the Community. In such an instance, the author of that contribution will be notified. If you are aware that a contribution has been removed, we ask that you please do not deliberately resubmit it on any Community forum. 

Similarly, we reserve the right to permanently suspend or remove any user account that has been found to breach these guidelines or the Communities’ Terms and Conditions.

  14. Confidentiality policies

All manuscripts submitted to any Springer Nature journal should be treated with utmost confidentiality. Editors, authors and reviewers are required to respect the confidentiality of the peer review process and not reveal any details of a manuscript or its review, during or after the peer-review process, beyond the information released by the journal. 

Blog posts relating to a paper should only be publicly posted after the publication of the manuscript in the journal. Posting before publication may be considered a violation of the manuscript embargo and may be removed.

If you have any queries or concerns relating to manuscripts, please get in touch with your relevant journal contact. 

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If you have any questions or concerns regarding the Community guidelines, please reach out to our team. Please note that failure to adhere to these guidelines or repeated offences may result in the removal of content and/or contributor permissions on the Community.