Editorial submission guidelines

Share your expertise with a wide audience

Smart Buildings Technology reaches the entire value chain of building system concept, design, integration, deployment, and management. Our content is based on the central theme of a smart building: making disparate systems work together effectively. This focus on integration applies across technologies, systems, an owner’s internal organization, and professional trades serving the smart building.

Our articles are primarily written for professionals, stakeholders, researchers, and educators in the vast ecosystem of the smart building industry—though we welcome anyone interested in learning about the disciplines and subjects we cover. This list includes architecture, engineering, construction, building ownership and operation, IT management, operational technology, software development, product manufacturing, technology, sustainability, and energy.

Our audience benefits from original, well-written, and informational articles that have a clear purpose. The articles may be exemplars of service journalism, offering a how-to crash course on a big-picture project or a specific component; objectively running through the pros and cons of x, y, z products, solutions, or standards; or detailing case studies of successes, failures, and lessons learned.

We also welcome expository articles that provide foundational or newly discovered and newsworthy information and subjects relevant to smart buildings; thought leadership, opinion, or perspective essays on the state of the industry, market, or professional practice; and, of course, the stories in the smart building industry that are too good to not share.

Contributions to SBT should be technology-, solution-, project-, standards-, industry-, or business-based, without focusing or promoting any particular product, brand, or company, or positioning any specific vendor or its products as the only or best option.

Get familiar with SBT and its content

The best way to see what types of articles and story ideas are best suited for Smart Buildings Technology is to read the magazine! Back issues are available for free in SBT’s magazine archive; web versions of all issue articles plus much more exclusive web content can be found on SBT’s website, smartbuildingstech.com. Also check out our media kit for planned coverage (topics subject to change).

Current article formats include project case studies, conversations with subject matter experts and industry leaders, product roundups, standards and code coverage, market projections, and various short-form and long-form writing covering disciplines across the smart building ecosystem.

SBT is a dynamic publication that welcomes new article types and department ideas, as well as innovative, technical, and creative topics for coverage. If you don’t see a clear precedent of your idea or article format, but believe it will be beneficial to our audience, feel free to pitch it.

If your story, project, or product idea has been recently covered in SBT, your pitch might not be accepted for immediate publication, but if you have a new angle, perspective, or information to add, submit your idea.

Generally, short-form stories, news stories, product write-ups, Q&As, and how-tos range from 500 to 1,500 words. Longer-form stories, case study compilations, and expository pieces range from 1,200 to 2,400 words.

Everything starts with a pitch. Provide a two- to three-paragraph summary of the article you wish to write, including its objective, subject matter experts or research findings to cite, and a description of the artwork (photos, illustrations, infographics) available for publishing alongside the article. The quality and voice of your pitch should reflect the quality and voice of your writing style.

Pitches and articles must be exclusive to Smart Buildings Technology.

Generally, article drafts and artwork are pitched two to six months in advance of publication, with a first draft due to the editor two months before the issue date. For example, articles planned for SBT’s June issue must have drafts submitted by April 1.

Due to the volume of pitches SBT receives and the nature of the publishing cycle, not all pitches will receive a direct response from an editor. If you want to follow up, please wait a week after you originally submitted your pitch to send an email.

Email pitches to SBT editorial director Wanda Lau.

Our editorial staff reviews project, product, news, and company announcements for potential publication on our website and the magazine. Press releases are evaluated based on their applicability to the commercial building industry at large and should have national or global interest. Do not fill the release with competitive claims or superlatives. Informative releases focusing on objective, evidence-based findings or details will be prioritized.

Releases should be dated and include a contact person’s name and email address, as well as high-res, color image files that are approved for publication in SBT. For product images, simple, clear images against a neutral background are ideal.

Copyright, publishing, and republishing information

Endeavor Business Media assumes copyright of all final published materials in Smart Buildings Technology and on smartbuildingstech.com. When an article is accepted and scheduled for publication, we will send the author(s) or author representative an online contributor agreement that must be completed as a condition of publication. SBT does not accept articles that have been published in full elsewhere without confirmation that article licensing is not restricted.

Any multimedia or artwork must include appropriate permissions and credits.

Pitch accepted: Final materials

Your pitch has been accepted—now what?

All material is due two months ahead of the scheduled publication date. Submit all drafts electronically in a format that can be edited in word-processing software, like Microsoft Word.

Necessary clearances or approvals for publication should be obtained in advance of the due date. Anticipated delays should be discussed with the editorial team as soon as possible. Smart Buildings Technology reserves the right to reschedule accepted submissions based on timing of topics, events, and publication size constraints.

Editorial materials should include:

• Full text, edited to the extent possible, and written in active voice.
• Suggested headline using an active verb.
• Art and captions, with callouts in the body of the article.
• Author biographical information (50-100 words); include full title, work city, and email address of the author(s).
• Author headshot.

Art guidelines:

• E-mails cannot contain attachments larger than 15 MB. Please use a file-sharing service as needed and notify us via e-mail to expect file notifications.
• Photos or screen captures should be high resolution (300 dpi or better) PNG, JPEG, TIFF, or PSD (Photoshop) files. If the resolution is unknown, check that the image meets the minimum width of 1500 pixels.
• Illustrations/schematics/infographics should be vector file formats such as AI (Adobe Illustrator), PDF, EPS, or SVG – minimum dimension of 1500 pixels.
• Cover image submissions must be have a minimum dimension of 3000 pixels; JPEG, TIFF, or PSD files preferred.

Editorial discretion

We cannot guarantee that any article will be published in the issue, even if it was initially planned as such. We may encounter reduced page budgets, schedule delays, or unavailable space. In these instances, we reserve the right to publish articles exclusively online.

We also cannot guarantee that any article will be published online and reserve the right to hold or pull an article based on editorial discretion. Articles that do not meet our editorial guidelines may be delayed for publication. We reserve the right to reject any article that we feel compromises the editorial integrity of the brand.