Submissions The DO is the news and features publication of the American Osteopathic Association. It gives osteopathic physicians and osteopathic medical students advice on how to navigate health care and a platform for expressing their views. We welcome submissions from DOs, medical students, residents and other health care professionals who embrace the patient-centered philosophy of osteopathic medicine. We recommend submitting a story idea before writing a draft so a content editor can help you shape your article, but we’re also happy to work with finished pieces. Familiarizing yourself with The DO’s content and voice can help you understand the types of topics and stories that work well on our site. What we look for: Short-form content (1,000-word maximum) that is newsworthy, conversation-generating and/or informative. The DO is open to covering new topics. Thoughtful ideas that advance discussion about issues important to our readers are welcome, as are the perspectives of medical students, residents and those in practice. Topics we are especially interested in right now: 1. Physician wellness and mental health 2. Opinions about issues in medicine, health care or public health 3. Advice for medical students and residents 4. The patient-physician relationship 5. Overcoming a career obstacle or setback What we don’t publish: The DO doesn’t accept fiction, poetry, attacks on individuals or organizations, long-form pieces (more than 1,000 words) or articles with footnotes (please link to your sources instead). How to submit your story idea: Email [email protected] and use “Story: [subject]” as the subject line. Briefly tell us about your idea and why it is relevant to our readers. Please let us know if you are submitting an article that has been published previously. Contributors to The DO are not compensated. The DO staff will contact you to let you know the status of your story proposal. Guidance for drafts: If you have submitted a story idea that has been approved and you are now working on the draft, please keep your draft under 1,000 words. Please ensure your draft aligns with The DO’s AI policy (see below). Please include subheads in your draft (example). Submitted articles and essays should be the author’s own work. If you receive assistance with the construction or writing of your article, please be sure to thoroughly review the article before submitting it to The DO, and please consider acknowledging the contributor’s work with a byline or editor’s note. Please provide links to all facts and statistics cited so The DO staff can fact-check them. Please do not include footnotes; please link to your sources instead. Please feel welcome to reach out to The DO staff or email [email protected] if you have any questions or would like to discuss your draft further. The DO’s responsible use of generative AI policy: The DO urges authors to exercise caution when using generative AI (gen AI) resources such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc., for assistance with researching and preparing articles. Authors who use gen AI resources should follow these guidelines: Disclosure: If you have used gen AI resources to help you prepare an article, you must disclose the extent to which gen AI was used and which platform was used to The DO’s editorial staff so we can review the article and include a disclaimer on the published article. Contributors who fail to disclose their use of gen AI resources may be banned from submitting future content to The DO. Author responsible for accuracy: Please be aware that text generated by gen AI resources might be plagiarized and inaccurate; it is the author’s responsibility to ensure that the articles that they submit to The DO are original work and not plagiarized and the text is accurate, including citations. While The DO’s editors will fact-check articles, authors should review AI-generated text for accuracy and ensure that the sources the article is using are reliable. User caution: Please also be aware that anything entered into open AI resources for processing (data, interview transcripts, article notes, etc), may be entered into the AI resource’s knowledge base, with a possible outcome of this being that the content is published elsewhere. Contributor must be the article’s author: While gen AI tools may be used by contributors, an AI tool cannot be an author and carry the responsibilities of an author (e.g., disclosure of conflicts of interest, etc.). The DO’s contributors should review and edit AI-generated text to ensure that its voice comes across as authentic and human. Please be aware that, at this time, AI-generated text in many cases cannot be copyrighted unless the content is significantly edited by a human. Contributors should review and edit AI-generated text enough that it is able to be copyrighted. Thank you for your interest in writing for The DO!