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Write for Zoning Practice

The editors of Zoning Practice (ZP) welcome proposals from outside contributors, including those who may be writing for the publication for the first time. Each edition of ZP includes one long-form feature article (4,000–4,500 words) on a single topic. ZP tries to maintain a clear, professional writing style that emphasizes trend analysis and practical recommendations. Standard payment for a lead article is $750.

Submit a Proposal

ZP contributors need not be professional planners, but they should have superior knowledge of a subject of substantial potential interest to planners and land-use attorneys engaged in drafting or administering local land-use and development regulations.

FAQs

What is the average time between manuscript submission and publication?

APA publishes most Zoning Practice manuscripts within three to six months of receipt of an initial complete draft. This timeframe allows ZP contributors to make at least one round of revisions before copyediting, layout, and production.

How many illustrations typically accompany a published Zoning Practice article?

Most published ZP articles contain between 4,000 and 4,500 words of text, with five to seven accompanying figures or tables. However, the ratio of text to illustrations can change based on the article topic. The ZP editors encourage contributors to provide illustrations for their articles. These may be figures or tables produced by the contributor or illustrations produced by others, provided APA has explicit permission to reproduce them in Zoning Practice.

Manuscript Formatting Guidelines

  • Left-align all text.
  • Format body text in 12-pt. Arial typeface, with 12-pt. spacing after each paragraph.
  • Use headline-style capitalization for all headings.
  • Apply the "Heading 1" style to the manuscript title, and apply the "Heading 2" and "Heading 3" styles to section and subsection headings, respectively.
  • Cite all external sources in-text with parentheses containing the citation author's last name and the year of publication (e.g., Smith 2010). When referencing municipal code provisions, cite provisions in-text with parentheses containing the relevant code section(s) (e.g., §1200.01).
  • Provide one reference list, formatted according to The Chicago Manual of Style, corresponding to all in-text citations (excluding municipal code citations).
  • Enclose all notes about artwork — including placement, credits, and captions — in angle brackets (i.e., <>) and separate these notes from body text with a paragraph break.