Detailed Submission Guidelines

The Solutions Story Tracker® is a searchable database that features solutions journalism stories from around the world. To achieve a diversity of perspectives and to advance solutions reporting, the Solutions Story Tracker® includes stories from media outlets that range in size, scope, location and format.

Stories must be solutions journalism.

What is solutions journalism? View our criteria.

Stories must be published online with a URL.

The Solutions Story Tracker® is not a publishing platform. Anyone can submit a story link to the Solutions Story Tracker® through the “Submit a Story” form after a media outlet publishes or airs it.

Stories must include bylines of a journalist or journalists, unless reporting through an international press agency.

The Solutions Story Tracker® catalogs stories that identify an author or authors so it’s clear who created them. We accept stories from news outlets that publish through international press agencies, which may or may not credit a journalist. We do not accept submissions from journalists who report on their own initiatives, research studies or approaches.

Stories must have a date, and be published or broadcast with a news organization with an editorial infrastructure.

Every story must contain a publication or broadcast date. We also require that it be published or broadcast in a news outlet with an editorial structure, with mechanisms to ensure accuracy and accountability. The name of the outlet must be included somewhere in the story.

We welcome stories produced by students or professors. The stories must be published by a news outlet or student-led news outlet. We also accept stories published on student-created websites that articulate the site’s editorial infrastructure: how stories were overseen for accuracy and accountability. Students and professors may not report on initiatives, approaches or research studies that they have implemented or participated in themselves.

We welcome stories that have appeared on Twitter, Facebook, Medium and YouTube, as long as they are connected to a news outlet.

To be solutions journalism, the news outlet and journalist should have no vested interest in the initiative mentioned in the narrative. The primary emphasis of the news outlet should be to offer strong, critical and independent reporting. The news outlet can specialize in an issue area, but its stories should not represent or reflect the views of special interests or provide publicity for a specific product, approach or an affiliated organization. The story should not be written to market or advocate for a specific initiative, but rather to inform the public about how the initiative worked and its impact (or lack thereof). We do not accept stories from corporate blogs or advocacy publications that promote purchase of a product or support of a specific approach or cause.

Publications should have an editorial infrastructure separate from a government organization or government branch that could influence a story’s content.

We accept stories from the publications of nonprofit organizations and associations, provided that the publications are organizationally separate from the nonprofit or association and have the editorial infrastructure to support rigorous and independent journalism.

We do not include stories from a philanthropic foundation’s website or affiliated publication that describe how its own projects have been effective. However, if the foundation houses a news outlet that produces independent reporting, then we can catalog those stories featured on its website or affiliated publication.

We accept these stories, as long as the excerpts satisfy our criteria.

We do not accept stories that have been sponsored by an individual or entity with a vested interest in showcasing the story’s subject.

Solutions Journalism Network features these stories in the searchable database making them publicly accessible to anyone who wants to search for rigorous reporting on solutions to social problems. Any story that is added has the potential to make more impact than its original purpose. Added stories are used in journalism trainings, school curricula, research projects, and independent analysis on issue area trends. This now includes artificial intelligence tools, which are applied for educational value to find stories and support story vetting, as well as to extract insights from the stories. SJN has digital products and newsletters that give new life and exposure to the stories meeting people where they are at. Story data also is used to develop innovative tools to reach the general public with solutions journalism as well as some specific research projects requested by researchers. If you have any questions or concerns about our use of story data or added stories, please contact Lita Tirak.