Submitting a draft or pitch
Use the contributor form for a complete draft, or send a pitch to editor@railsrecord.com. Contributors must be adults and provide accurate authorship details. No account is required to submit an article. Receipt is acknowledged on the form; editors verify evidence and assess newsworthiness before publication. Unsuitable stories are declined. Submission does not guarantee acceptance, a response, employment, an assignment or payment. A paid commission requires a separate written agreement stating the fee, deliverables, deadlines and rights before work is commissioned.
Originality, evidence and disclosure
Submit work you created and have the right to publish. Identify primary evidence, separate fact from inference, and disclose relevant interests, holdings, employment, payments, project affiliations and AI assistance. Do not submit plagiarized articles, fabricated reporting, hidden advertisements, impersonation, unlawful private information or misleading visuals.
You are responsible for permissions, releases and source accuracy. Do not submit a third party’s image merely because it is online or credited. Your image must be relevant and unique to this headline; a draft without a suitable visual may be held for one before publication. Material generated with AI must be identified and verified, not passed off as a witnessed event.
Ownership and permission to publish
You retain copyright in your original contribution. By submitting it, you grant RailsRecord a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to review and edit it for publication. If accepted, that license includes publishing, displaying, distributing and archiving the approved contribution through RailsRecord and using credited excerpts or thumbnails to promote that contribution.
This is not a transfer of your copyright or a blanket right to sell your work for unrelated uses. Exclusive rights, syndication, paid licensing or materially different commercial uses require a separate agreement. Third-party material remains subject to its own permissions.
Review, edits and withdrawal
Nothing submitted through the form is automatically published. The editorial desk may request changes, fact-check, edit for accuracy, clarity, length and house style, or decline a draft. We seek author agreement on changes that materially alter the intended meaning. We may add labels, disclosures and correction notes as appropriate.
You may request withdrawal of an unpublished draft by emailing editor@railsrecord.com with its reference. Published work may remain in the archive with its attribution and correction history. Requests to remove a published piece are assessed for accuracy, rights, privacy and public-interest considerations rather than automatically granted.
Commercial relationships and concerns
Do not offer a project or token favorable coverage in return for compensation. Advertising belongs in the separately labeled advertising process. A contributor relationship does not authorize you to speak for Joaico, bind the publication to an agreement or collect money on its behalf.
The Editorial Standards, Terms of Use and Privacy Policy also apply. Questions about rights, fees or a draft should be settled with editor@railsrecord.com before submitting sensitive or commissioned material.