The RMA Journal Guidelines for Authors

The RMA Journal encourages industry professionals to share their knowledge with readers. We are happy to publish first-time authors, as well as experienced writers. Below are some tips to help you get your article accepted for publication.

Writing Tips

By following these few tips, you’ll increase the chance of your article being recommended for publication.

• Read the Journal. It helps to know the types of articles we publish and the style they are written in.

• Query first. Although we accept articles that drop into our inbox, it’s a good idea to query us first to be sure your topic is acceptable. By sending us an article proposal first, we can often provide you with guidance about what to include or not include in your article.

• Keep the length reasonable. Most articles average about 2,500 words, but they can be longer or shorter if necessary. It’s better to focus on making your points in the most efficient way, rather than try to hit a particular word count. 

• Submit your article as a Word document. We can’t edit PDF’s. Graphics that accompany the article can either be embedded in the Word document or submitted as a separate document in another format.

• Use charts and graphs to illustrate your point. Not all articles benefit from charts and graphs, but many do. Charts and graphs may be created in Word and sent embedded within the article; if imported from another program, however, please send the files from which they originated, whether PowerPoint or Excel.

• Use bulleted and numbered points. No matter how technical the topic, the best writing is simple writing. By using short sentences, lists, and subheads, you make your article easier to read and understand.

• Explain “how to.” Our readers want to learn. Articles offering useful advice, such as what to consider when lending to hotels, are most popular. Readers also like to learn from others’ mistakes in “Spilled Milk” articles. Articles that offer problem-solving tips are also well read.

• Limit the use of footnotes. We discourage the use of more than 10 footnotes and actually prefer less than five. The RMA Journal articles should not read like research papers.

• Email articles to the editor. Kathie Beans can be reached at kbeans@rmahq.org and 215-446-4095.

The Article Review Process

The RMA Journal is a peer-reviewed publication. Proposals and articles are reviewed by members of The RMA Journal Editorial Advisory Board.

These reviews can take up to a few weeks. When an article is not recommended for publication, the author is given a clear explanation of why the article fell short.

Once an article is accepted for publication, you’ll be asked to sign our standard copyright form, which gives us the rights to print the article first and to continue to use it. You can reuse your article however you wish as long as you indicate that it was first published in The RMA Journal.

We’ll also ask you for a photo that we can use on our Contributors’ Page. This is optional.

The RMA Journal does not offer payment for articles; however, the author receives a byline and sentence about his or her background at the end of the article and on the Contributors’ Page at the front of the Journal. An Adobe .pdf file of the article is emailed to the author as well.