Contributions
ideas move the human race forward.
We appreciate your interest in contributing to the work we do at borg. Our mission is to advance innovative, compelling, and practical legal and policy solutions to contemporary social, economic, and political challenges, both across Africa and within the broader transnational landscape.
If you'd like to contribute, here are ways you can:
The Ideas Memo welcomes diverse perspectives on social, economic, legal, and public policy issues. We encourage thoughtful contributions that offer practical insights, critical reflections, or innovative solutions aimed at improving society. If you believe your idea can contribute meaningfully to the public good, we want to hear from you.
Submission Guidelines:
- Length: 800–1200 words
- Style: Op-ed format (clear argument, accessible language, evidence-informed)
- Referencing: Use hyperlinks to credible sources or references in parentheses instead of footnotes. Hyperlinks should be embedded within a relevant part of the sentence—not attached to generic phrases such as “click here” or “here.”
- Language: All foreign words and maxims should be italicised, with their English translations provided in parentheses.
- Tone: Avoid jargon, slurs, or any form of offensive language. Write with clarity, precision, and respect for diverse viewpoints.
Submissions to the Policy Thinking Series may be published in any of the following formats:
- Articles – In-depth commentaries and analytical pieces examining current legal or public policy issues. Ideal length: 1500–2,500 words.
- Policy Letters – Concise essays or commentaries addressing timely policy developments. Ideal length: 800–1,200 words.
- Policy Briefs – Succinct evaluations of policy challenges, outlining options and implications for decision-makers. Ideal length: 1,200–1,800 words.
- Position Papers – Clear, evidence-based arguments presenting your stance on a legal or policy-oriented issue. Ideal length:1,200–1,500 words.
Submission Guidelines:
- All submissions must include clear and actionable recommendations.
- Contributions should be professional in tone and written for a policy audience, not purely academic. While we welcome strong hypotheses and analytical depth, priority is given to your informed assessment of what should be done.
- We uphold the principle that it is better to be informed than opinionated. Submissions must therefore reflect evidence-based reasoning rather than personal views alone. All factual claims and data should be properly sourced using footnotes.
Visual Materials
- If your work includes images, tables, charts, or graphs embedded within the document layout, these materials must also be submitted separately in their original file formats (e.g., .jpg, .png, .bmp, .gif, .psd, etc.) to ensure quality reproduction.
- We encourage rigorous, solution-oriented contributions that advance thoughtful and practical policy discourse.
If you have conducted independent research and would like to contribute to ongoing public debates with a research-based perspective, we welcome your submission.
Length:
There is no strict word limit; however, approximately 12,000 words is considered appropriate for full research papers.
Submission Requirements:
- The work must be rigorous and evidence-based.
- An abstract and methodology section must be submitted in a separate Word document.
- All sources should be cited using footnotes, and a complete bibliography must be included at the end of the manuscript.
We encourage submissions that combine methodological clarity, analytical depth, and practical relevance to contemporary policy discussion
Intellectual Property
Rights
Authors retain all rights in their work published on borg. Should you subsequently choose to re-post your work in any medium, publication or venue, please reference the initial publication with a link back to the original on this site.
Third Party Rights
borg. maintains a zero-tolerance policy on plagiarism and intellectual property rights infringements. Authors should ensure that they have the right to use all literary, work used in their submissions or have received documented permission from the copyright owner.
borg. reserves the right to take down any submission found to be in violation of the Intellectual Property rights of others at any time after the publication of the infringing material.
Author’s Information
All submissions must include biological information of the author to form the basis of the byline of the article. The information included may be the name of the author, their occupation, and links to social media handles.
Submit
Email your contribution to ideas@borg.re with “I Think: "insert Title” in the Subject line.
All contributions must be in the form of Word Doc. attached to the email.
Please note that while we will endeavour to respond to all submissions, we may not be able to respond due to the volume of submissions we receive. Please allow a period of up to two weeks for an initial response from us. If we have not responded to you after this period, please assume that your piece has not been accepted for publication at this time.