Submission Guidelines for the Quantastic Journal

Join the Quantastic Writers’ Circle and Submit Your Story!

—Last update Friday 27th September 2024

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”—Carl Sagan

The Quantastic Journal

If you have landed on this page, you possibly are one of us who are passionate about science and believe that somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known and to be explained with abandon to everyone who is unaware. We are dedicated to understanding science and making it comprehensible and accessible to the broader public.

At Quantastic, we love to explore humanity, science and technology, bringing scientific knowledge, exploration, and debate to interested readers in the form of compelling stories. We publish engaging content on theories, observations, innovations, and historic or philosophical perspectives.

Our commitment is to illuminate advancements and foster a community eager to understand and discuss the implications of scientific developments on humanity.Each article seeks to educate, inspire curiosity, and foster critical thinking among both enthusiasts, and professionals. We welcome contributions from both seasoned writers and passionate individuals.We support writers by editing and submitting their articles on Medium, offering a platform for emerging talents to express their views.

What to Write About and How?

You can write about everything incredible that is somewhere waiting to be known, as long as you can draw and explain it by your writing through the lens of science. Be rigorous but comprehensive. Follow scientific rigour but remember to write a story and not a research paper. We want to be a source of assistance to writers, to be a source of encouragement to readers, democratizing knowledge of science and technology, and engaging in debates.

We like to cover disciplines, such as biology, astronomy, physics, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, psychology etc. or subdisciplines, such as neurology, genetics, quantum theory, etc.However, we are even more fascinated by inter-disciplines, connections and interrelations, between sciences, their theories, and applications.

If you are new to science writing, we suggest that you have a look into some articles in popular journals, such as , , etc. Of course, you should also review some articles recently published by Quantastic.

We also recommend four books to those writers who wish to deepen their passion and understanding of science writing:

• “The Elements of Journalism” by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel
• “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser (particularly Chapter 15 on Science & Technology)
• “Telling True Stories” by Mark Kramer and Wendy Call
• “”

We are a Human-Only journal and strictly do not accept articles containing any kind of AI-generated text. Only “your” voice is accepted, and “your” words matter to us. We would love to read your unique style and wording.

What Are the Must-Haves?

At Quantastic we want thoughtful, intelligent and well-written stories. While we acknowledge scientific detail and rigour, we like:

• personal interaction: humanity and warmth
• simplicity but thought-provoking
• avoiding clutter
• focusing on the audience
• thoughtfully selecting words
• good usage of language
• following Medium Rules, Medium Quality Guidelines, and Partner Program Guide

Particularly, we would appreciate it if you share and develop with us your unique style of writing that would distinguish you as an author.Be sure that the format and layout of your article adheres with Medium’s best practices:

• We recommend reviewing “The Best Medium Article Formatting Guide” and also have a look through “Using the story editor” to learn about the many formatting options (title, subtitle, header 1, header 2, etc.)
• Do have a clean layout, cohesive and organised structure. If necessary, use Title, Subtitle, Featured Image, Drop Caps formatting.
• Do elaborate on a captivating title, subtitle, and introduction; remind that your title is what readers see before they decide reading your article or not.
• Avoid plagiarism, document and provide the correct references
• We recommend that you spellcheck your article for any residual typing and punctuation errors with , , or similar software. Do not use these tools, however, for alternative text or word generation, since they use in the background LLMs such as GPT.
• Be reminded that we help you with our editorials. That said, you do not need to be afraid of submitting an article that might need further editorial support.
• Also, we recommend that you use the speech capability of your device to hear a reading of your article before you submit it.

What We Do Not Publish!

There are things that are unacceptable, when you like to publish in the Quantastic Journal.

• If you do not follow Medium Rules and Medium Quality Guidelines.
• If you do not spellcheck and do not proofread at all.
• Any kind of discrimination of individuals or communities.
• Plagiarism and lack of comprehensive references, where necessary.
• Work written or texted by Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Work that contains traces, fragments, or portions of AI-generated text.
• GPTesque, Claudesque, or any kind of AI-esque style of writing. Your personal style, language, and narrative structuring are particularly valuable to us.
• Encyclopedic articles. We publish ‘stories’ and not Britannica or Wikipedia pages.
• Articles that are written in bulleted format. Our readers like narratives and not lists or counted paragraphs by bullets, numbering, or headlines. Only use headlines, bullets, and numbering where specifically necessary on the spot to create better structure in your narrative.

Furthermore, limit self-promotion and CTAs. Include no more than one inside link per story, and place subtle calls to action at the end. If readers are interested, they will seek more of your work.

How to Submit?

If you’re interested in contributing to the Quantastic Journal, here’s how to get started:

1. We recommend: to read the Submission Guidelines and a few of our published articles. If you like the Quantastic, click on the Follow button of the journal to keep informed.
2. Contact the Editor: send a message to our chief editor, Sam Vaseghi (in a reply or private message), on Medium to express your interest in becoming a writer for our journal.
3. Get Added as a Writer: once you have been contacted and added as a writer, you are ready to submit your work.
4. Prepare Your Draft: please ensure that your draft is unpublished before submission. This allows us to feature your article prominently in the journal.
5. We recommend that you: submit always articles as ‘Draft’ and not as ‘Self-published.’ As Medium emphasizes too, draft submissions can be better curated by the journal’s editorial, promoted as higher ranked on the journal’s website, and even more effectively nominated for boost.
6. Submit Your Draft:

• Open your draft in the Medium editor.
• Click the “…” icon located in the top-right corner.
• Select “Add to publication” from the dropdown menu.
• Find “Quantastic Journal” in the list of available publications.
• Select “Quantastic Journal” and then click “Select and continue.”
• After that, hit the “Publish” button.

By following these steps, your draft will be submitted for review. We look forward to reading and publishing your unique stories!

Getting Nominated by Quantastic for a Boost on Medium

The Quantastic Journal participates actively in the Medium Boost Program Beta, complying with the Program’s Guidelines and Updated Guidelines. High-quality stories, that meet the Boost Guidelines, get a higher priority in being matched to readers. Adhering to Medium in deciding which stories to Boost, we look for those that help readers deepen their understanding of themselves, others, their endeavors, or the world. We are particularly looking for stories that we are especially proud to put in front of Medium readers.

The stories we nominate should clearly meet Medium’s quality standards. They should feel like feature stories: constructive, well-crafted, memorable, original, and written by a credible author with relevant experience. This last bit is significant. If the story reads or feels like generic content or like it could be written by anyone with access to commonly accessible information on the internet, Wikipedia or AIs, it is not a fit for Boost all.

You can view a selection of our Boosted stories here.

—The official Boost Nominator of our journal is our chief editor, Sam Vaseghi.

Final Checklist

Most importantly, check to ensure:

• No meta stories. Stories about Medium or Medium strategy (like this one) won’t be curated on Medium or read by curators.
• No press releases. Press releases are not content.
• No non-English stories.
• No encyclopedic writings.
• No short form posts. Stories of less than 150 words are not eligible for curation.
• Standard headline and styling. Medium articles need a clear and descriptive title, preferable a subtitle, proper headline and sentence case, and no grammatical errors.

Furthermore, ask yourself (source Medium):

• Does the story meet a high editorial standard? — Does it fit to our journal’s focus? Is it well-written, easy to follow, free of errors, appropriately sourced, narratively strong, and compelling?
• Does it add value for the reader? — Does it share new insights or perspectives? Offer an original take on a familiar issue? Does it stir emotions and/or thinking? Provide meaningful advice? Enrich a reader’s understanding of the topic? Does it feel like time well spent?
• Is it written for the reader? — Is the story written with the reader in mind? Does the story make a connection with the reader or to a larger issue?
• Is it complete? — Is it a finished, polished piece of work? Considered? Concise? Will a reader walk away satisfied?
• Is it rigorous? — Are claims supported? Sources cited alongside stated facts? Does the story hold up to scrutiny?
• Is it honest? — Is the story written in good faith? Is it truthful?
• Does it offer a good reading experience? — Is it properly formatted for the web/mobile? Does it have a clear and relevant headline that lets the reader know what the story is about? An easily readable story body — paragraphs/spacing/styling/section breaks/quotes?
• Is it free of typos and errors?
• Is the imagery appropriate? Is the imagery relevant and appropriate to the story?

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