Submissions to the 2026 Humanitarian Leader are open. Please click here to upload your contribution.
Key information for potential contributors.
Types of submissions
Submissions are encouraged to challenge our collective assumptions about the humanitarian system. We welcome academic papers, commentary, analysis pieces, opinion essays, stories and reflections, and book reviews.
Please note that HL does not provide funding for research projects. We do not charge Article Processing Fees (APF).
Our formats
Academic papers (5,000 words) deal with concepts of leadership in the humanitarian system, as well as ideas useful to humanitarian decision-makers, or that challenge the core concepts of the humanitarian system. We accept conceptual and theoretical pieces, as well as articles that involve evidence synthesis and secondary data analysis. Articles must include APA7 referencing.
Commentary (600 words) discussions, contributions, reviews, and debate on previous Humanitarian Leader papers or Centre for Humanitarian Leadership reports, articles or policy briefs.
Analysis (1,000 words) contextualises a news event or ongoing crisis through the lens of systems and leadership. Analysis interrogates why it matters, who holds power, who bears the consequences, and what structural forces are at work. Fact-based and balanced, with all opinions clearly attributed.
Opinion (800 words) makes an original argument or call to action grounded in lived or subject matter experience. These pieces connect a specific moment or issue to bigger questions about how the humanitarian system operates, who it serves, and how it needs to change. Conversational in tone and timely in focus.
Stories and reflections (800-1000 words) offer a direct, personal account of leadership or systems change as it is experienced on the ground from someone working in or recently emerged from a humanitarian setting.
Book reviews (500 words) critically engage with a recently published or relevant book on humanitarian leadership or systems change. A strong review goes beyond summary to situate the work within current debates and assess its contribution to the field.
All formats follow the same author requirements, ethical guidelines and submission process as our academic papers. See below for full details.
Themes/topics
We publish multi-disciplinary articles, but submissions must broadly align with one or both of the following themes to be considered:
- Systems transformation
- Humanitarian leadership
Click here to view the CHL Research Pillars to understand how we approach and discuss systems transformation and humanitarian leadership.
We have a strong history of publishing articles that are fundamental to the day-to-day work of those working in emergencies, disasters, conflicts and humanitarian crises, as well as papers exploring leadership and transformation in the sector. We particularly encourage submissions from those in crisis-affected settings and the Global South.
For the full list of previous papers, please browse our Open Journals archive.
Languages
Articles can be submitted in English. Given sufficient justification, the journal occasionally translates papers into languages other than English. To see an example, click here.
If you would like your paper translated into another language, please indicate this on the submission form. Consideration will be given to costs and available resources. Additional editorial support is available for authors whose first language is not English.
Academic article requirements
Before submitting your paper, it’s important to ensure it meets the following requirements. Papers which don’t satisfy these requirements will not be considered for publication.
- A word count of approximately 5,000 words. Papers significantly under or over the word count will not be forwarded to the editors for review. Word count does not include the abstract, author information, leadership relevance response, or bibliography
- Whilst the HL is not a peer-reviewed academic journal, we do expect authors to reference appropriately, providing evidence for claims and acknowledging any relevant major works. Referencing must be in APA7 format
- A 150-word abstract must be included, as well as a 50-100 word leadership relevance response answering the question: How does this paper inform humanitarian leadership practice OR systems transformation? (Both the abstract and response are excluded from the overall word count)
- Papers can be written in first or third person
- Spelling and punctuation should be as polished as possible in submission. Accepted papers will receive professional copyediting
- The paper should be in MS Word
- Relevant images should be submitted in JPEG or PNG format as separate files, and have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.
New formats
- Commentary, analysis, opinion, stories and reflection, book review
- Word counts as specified per format above.
- Clear attribution of all claims, opinions and quoted material.
- Submit in MS Word.
- Images as above where relevant.
Ethical guidelines for paper submissions
Please note that all submissions that present primary data must adhere to ethical standards. This can be demonstrated through university or other ethics review body approvals. If you have any questions regarding the ethical requirement for publication, please contact the Editor-in-chief.
Author requirements
All authors must provide the following information when submitting their paper:
- Funding acknowledgement (to indicate funding sources for research projects, where funding has been received from any source to enable the author to produce the submitted paper)
- Ethics approval or statement (if required)
- Conflict of interest statement
- Authors’ contributions (optional, can be useful when multiple authors have written a paper)
- Authors’ information (100-word summary bio of the author/s)
- Acknowledgements (100-word summary of any general support received, or acknowledgement of the support of particular people/organisations)
- Statement on use of AI (if used, where and how was AI used in the design, analysis, write up or editing of the paper)
If any of the sections are not relevant to your paper you can indicate ‘Not relevant’ on the submission form.
Plagiarism checks and AI authorship
All articles received will undergo an academic integrity check upon submission. If the check uncovers evidence of plagiarism, it will be rejected and not sent to the editors for consideration.
The Humanitarian Leader will not accept editorial work and autonomous content creation by generative AI tools. AI assisted copy editing — for example, using a tool to improve readability, style, spelling or grammar in human-written text — is permitted, provided there is full human accountability for the final text and the authors confirm that any edits reflect their original work.
Publication process
Each submission, if it passes the academic integrity check, will be screened for relevance and reviewed by the Editor-in-chief. If the paper is then accepted, the CHL Communications Team will work with you through the following process:
- Any required revisions
- Copyediting by a professional editor
- Any significant changes or queries are returned to the author for review and comment
- A graphic designer completes the layout of the paper
- The paper is finalised and proofread
- The paper is published on OpenJournals@Deakin and highlighted on the CHL website
- The paper is promoted via the CHL communications channels, including social media and EDMs
Note: Editorial support is available for people for whom English is not their first language
Publication timelines
The Humanitarian Leader runs submission call-outs twice per year, which are communicated via social media and the CHL e-newsletter. The time between acceptance of a submission and publication varies, and depends on the volume of submissions received, and the number of existing publications in the pipeline. The journal editors can fast-track submissions should the subject be time sensitive.
Copyright details
The author/s retain ownership of the intellectual property in their working paper and grant to the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership the right to publish the Working Paper on our website. The author/s warrant to the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership that their Working Paper does not infringe any third party’s intellectual property rights, nor does it contain any defamatory material.
Publishing in the Humanitarian Leader will not prevent later publication in a journal and all rights remain with the author/s.
The views expressed in the Humanitarian Leader belong to the author(s) and do not represent the views of their organisation(s), nor the views of the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership. These papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They are not peer reviewed. All rights remain with the author(s).
Submit a paper
Submissions are currently open. Please email research@cfhl.org.au if you have any questions.
