DZone's Article Submission Guidelines

Do you work in software development and have something interesting to share with your industry peers? If so, we invite you to submit your content for consideration to be published to DZone's global audience of software development professionals. 

But before you hit "Submit to Moderation," please review the submission guidelines below. Otherwise, we may not review or publish your content. 

Submission Requirements and Standards 

Profiles 

• Your profile may not be a company account or include your company logo. 
• Your profile must include your real name, a valid email, your job title, etc. 
• You may not use a company logo as your profile image.
• If you wish to submit a post on behalf of another person, that person must also have a DZone account.

Topics 

• Submissions must be related to software development and written for an audience of professionals working in software development. 
• Do not submit content written for the following audiences: marketing, sales, finance, healthcare, etc. 
• Do not submit content with the goal of advertising your product. 

Language 

• Articles must be written in English, free of grammatical errors, and properly formatted. 

Originality 

• Your content must present unique ideas and insights. Do not submit content that merely summarizes well-known concepts or tutorials without providing unique perspectives or practical applications.
• Plagiarism will result in suspension. Any references to external materials must be properly cited.
• Articles partially or fully created using AI tools, such as ChatGPT, are not allowed. AI-generated content often lacks the depth, context, and personal touches that resonate with our audience.

Length 

• Article submissions must have a minimum of 800 words.
  • While this is the baseline requirement, DZone reserves the right to reject articles that meet this word count but fail to cover the topic adequately or provide sufficient depth and value to our readers.
• Submissions for podcasts, YouTube videos, and presentations must include an accompanying text submission of at least 800 words.  

Images 

• All images included should be owned by you or used with permission from the copyright owner. 
• Images should be compressed to 100-200 KB (JPEG/JPG recommended). 
• Individual DZone articles have a 5MB cumulative image file size limit.

What Will Be Rejected 

Plagiarism  

Plagiarism is copying someone else's words or ideas and claiming them as your own.  

• If you need further clarification, see our article on Plagiarism from our Writers Zone. 
• There are several free tools to check your work that can be found online, such as SmallSEOTools.
• If our editorial team finds plagiarism in your article, it will be rejected, you will receive one warning, and your account will be flagged. Any further violations will result in account suspension.

AI-Generated Content

All content must be original and created by a real human. We do not allow articles written by AI tools such as ChatGPT. If we find that articles have been written by AI, either partially or fully, we will reject the submission, and your account could be subject to suspension.

DZone's editorial team edits and polishes your content for grammar, formatting, and clarity. We help you meet our standards without sacrificing your unique voice. 

We understand that AI can be a helpful tool, but when used improperly or excessively, it can dilute originality, introduce inaccuracies, and produce content that often feels generic and repetitive. AI-generated articles tend to follow similar patterns and lack the unique voice or personal insights that resonate with readers — and yes, we can always tell! 

Our editors are trained to maintain your perspective and make sure your article is in the best shape for publication. Trust our team and work with us to enhance your work while preserving your voice — no AI needed!

Off-Topic Submissions 

Submissions must be related to software development. Some topics we do not accept submissions for include: 

• SEO and search marketing
• UI/UX design principles
• General business strategies or topics
• Web design concepts or aesthetics
• E-commerce strategies or tools
• Cryptocurrency or NFTs-related content
• Unoriginal or duplicate articles (check DZone to ensure your topic hasn’t already been covered)

Advertorial/Promotional Content 

We do not accept articles with advertising or promotional intent. Submissions must be unbiased and free of:

• Marketing language or press releases
• Excessive backlinks or UTM tracking links
• Links to paid tools, products, or services
• Product feature lists or summaries
• Gated content or links to gated content
• Content created solely to promote a product, service, or company
• Blurbs or incomplete articles that link off-site for the full content

If you are interested in advertising your product on DZone, you can learn about our advertising programs here. 

What Will Lead to Delays in the Review Process

The editorial staff at DZone aims to review and publish articles as quickly as possible. The following is a list of things that can delay an article from being published. 

• Syndicated articles 
  • Original articles (articles not published anywhere else) are prioritized 
• Missing images or alt text 
• Several grammar and spelling mistakes throughout 
  • If largely illegible, your article may be rejected 
• Missing code or incorrect formatting — code not in code blocks or snippets

Cause for Account Suspension 

When your account is suspended, you can still view and read articles on DZone, but you will no longer be able to submit articles or download premium publications. The following are some behaviors that will cause account suspension: 

• Plagiarism
• AI-generated content
• Spam submissions 
• Fake profiles, duplicate profiles, or company profiles 
• Bullying or harassment
• Posting hate in articles or comments
• Posting spam comments  
  • This includes links to products or services in comments
  • All comments go through moderation. 

Please note that all articles submitted to DZone must go through our moderation process and will be edited by our team. The time it takes for articles to be reviewed varies based on article quality, article length, and the volume of submissions received, but generally, you can expect your article to be looked at within 7 to 12 business days. Once your article has been published or rejected, you will receive an automated email from us. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

I submitted my article a while ago, and it still hasn't been published. What's taking so long?

Sometimes, we have as many as 400+ articles in our moderation queue at one time. While this is a really great "problem" for us to have, it also means we can't always review articles within the 12-business-day timeframe. We review articles in a specific order. If you're in our Core Program, your original articles are given prioritization. Outside of Core, we prioritize the oldest original content in our queue and work our way up.

Why was my article rejected, and what do I do now?

If your article was rejected, please check your email for an automated email from us. It gives a list of reasons why your article may have been rejected, and you might even have a note from the editor who deleted it giving further explanation. However, the guidelines in this article give a very detailed explanation of what we can and cannot accept on DZone. It might be worth it to review them again! We encourage you to either revise your article and try submitting it again or create a new article that meets our requirements. Don't hesitate to reach out to us for help!

What if I want to collaborate with another person on an article?

We love collaborative articles! All you need to do is make sure every person who worked on the article has a DZone account and is listed as an author. 

Why is my account not popping up when I type my name into the author field?

We recommend slowly typing in your username rather than your name. If your account still doesn't pop up, please reach out to us so we can help!

What if my article exceeds the 5MB cumulative image size limit?

If your article exceeds the limit, it will cause issues with the article, and you might not be able to save your work. You should compress your images or remove non-essential visuals to meet the file size requirement.

I created my article using Markdown, but I'm encountering issues with the DZone version. How can I fix this?

DZone doesn't support Markdown, so we recommend using the DZone editor to create your articles. If you still wish to use Markdown, you can convert your article to HTML, click the "Code View" button in the DZone editor, and paste the HTML. Click the "Code View" button again, and your article should be there! If you create your article in a Word document and copy/paste from there, click "Clean formatting" when asked. Reach out to us if you need assistance!

Can I post my DZone article to another platform?

Yes, but we ask that you wait at least one week before doing so and include a canonical tag pointing to the DZone article as the original source. Including a canonical tag ensures you get proper credit and boosts your visibility. It helps direct traffic to the original article, builds your reputation, and avoids issues with duplicate content on search engines. In other words, you’re not competing with your own content!

With that, thank you for contributing to DZone! If you have any other questions about articles, content, or submission rules, please email us at editors@dzone.com.

Additional Resources

How to Submit a Post to DZone

What Is Plagiarism? How to Avoid It and Cite Sources

DZone's Article Types

How to Format Articles for DZone