EMS1 Article Guidelines for Authors

Thanks for your interest in contributing an article to EMS1.com, the leading news and information website for EMTs and paramedics.

Do you have a passion for EMS safety, education or quality improvement? EMS1 welcomes contributors from all facets of EMS, from new recruits to seasoned veterans, from large metropolitan to rural departments. EMS1 promotes healthy and respectful discussion from those with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Check out our topic sections, product categories and most recent columnist articles for insights and ideas of the topics, products and themes we regularly cover. These are themes which can be broadly interpreted based on interests, knowledge and experience.

Publication on EMS1.com is the best way for EMS leaders, paramedic chiefs, educators and training officers, as well as field EMTs and paramedics, to reach the largest audience of EMS providers in the United States. Articles are distributed by eNewsletter, social channels and optimized for search engine discovery and ranking. Many of our authors cite their published articles on EMS1 as important to receiving conference speaking invites, work recognition, and growing a national professional network.

Lexipol is committed to conducting our business in accordance with the highest standards of business ethics.  EMS1 editorial standards promote accuracy, fairness, balance and accountability, while promoting the advancement of the industry and the safety of those who serve their communities.  Learn more: EMS1 Ethics and Standards.

Submit an article proposal to EMS1

Before you submit an article, please send an email to the EMS1 editor. For each article you are proposing, include:

• Working title for the article
• 2-3 sentence description of the article
• Brief bullet list of key points
• Date article will be submitted by

Include in the proposal, if not recently sent, an up-to-date resume or CV. 

We regularly consider article proposals for:

• Current events, news analysis and opinion
• Recaps (“Quick takes”) of industry webinars, events or programs
• Research analysis of EMS-related research
• Feature and human-interest articles
• Product, movie, documentary or book reviews
• Process explainers – training, purchasing, leading teams, etc.
• Tips, how tos and best practices
• Career tips: from resume writing to how to become an EMT
• Incident reports: Unforgettable calls
• Essays, poems, book excerpts, illustrations and cartoons 

Submit an article for review

If a site editor accepts your proposed article idea(s), review and follow these important specifications for submission style and format. As you consider the format for your article, readers respond well to tips, resources, best practices, and lists.

EMS1 article specifications:

• Contributions must be unique and original writing that has not been previously submitted to other publications.
• Each submission should be 600-1,500 words in a Microsoft Word document.
• Format text as Arial font, 12-point, single-space with breaks between paragraphs, and one space after periods.

With your submission, please include:

• Inline links to any references when the URL is available. If the references are not online, please cite by including a number at the end of the sentence, and provide a numbered list of references in a publication-ready format at the end of the document. 
• Include original photo(s) of related procedures or equipment with your submission.
• Include a three- to five-sentence biographical statement with up to 1 hyperlink.
• A high-resolution headshot.

Note: Authors are accountable for the accuracy and originality of their content. We understand contributors may utilizt generative AI to research article ideas and context. We ask authors to share whether and how they’ve used these tools when submitting their article. 

Editing and revising before publication

If the EMS1 editorial team determines that the article matches the proposal, and meets our editorial needs and interests of readers, the editors will edit the document. In most cases, the edited document will be returned to you for approval of edits and required changes. After you return a revised document back to us, we will perform a final review and prepare the article for posting to EMS1 and schedule promotion to registered EMS1 members.

Finally, our regular columnists generally started as contributors. Based on the performance and quality of contributor submissions we consider bringing on a writer as a regular columnist.