Article Moderation: Your Questions, Answered

You've written your article, proofread and polished it, then clicked "Send to Moderation." What happens now? Below, we answer your most commonly-asked questions about the moderation process.

Moderation FAQs

What Happens During Moderation?

After you click the "Send to Moderation" button, your article will be entered into our content moderation queue. Our team of editors goes through the queue and reads each article. Those that don't fit our site or have too many errors are rejected. Some might be close to publication-quality with a few changes, and in those cases an editor will reach out to you and work with you to improve your article. If an editor likes your article and thinks it would do well on DZone, he or she will edit your post for spelling, grammar, and formatting. Then the article will be scheduled for publication. 

How Long Does Moderation Take?

On average, moderation takes three to five business days. The moderation process is a bit longer for Zones that receive a lot of submissions, like the Java Zone. If your article has not gone live after six business days and you haven't received feedback from us, please contact the DZone editorial team at editors@dzone.com. 

What If My Article Gets Rejected?

If our editors reject your article, you'll receive an email notification. Our team may or may not provide an explanation for the rejection and offer suggestions for improvement. Common reasons for rejection include:

• Irrelevance to the software developer community
• Lack of proper English grammar and spelling
• Excessive focus on marketing or self-promotion
• Lack of sufficent detail or specificity
• Duplicate or previously submitted content

What If My Article Gets Accepted?

If our editors decide your article is a good fit for DZone, they will edit it and schedule it for publication. When that happens, you'll receive an email notification that includes the target publication date. Scheduling is not a guarantee of publication, as all articles must undergo a final review before being posted. However, it is a promising sign! If and when your article is published, you'll receive a second notification email with a link to your post on DZone. 

Can I Make Moderation Go Faster?

While you can't control how much content is in our moderation queue or our editors' schedules, you CAN affect your article's quality. Make sure you submit only your best content to DZone. The fewer spelling and grammar errors your post contains, the less time it will take to edit. In addition, you can reduce editing time by following our formatting rules and article submission guidelines. 

Do All DZone Articles Go Through Moderation? 

Not all articles enter the moderation queue, but all go through the moderation process. For example, articles written by our MVBs on their blogs appear in our RSS content feed rather than the moderation queue. Only articles submitted through the DZone article editor go into the moderation queue. However, each article in the queue and in the MVB content feed goes through editing and final review before being published to DZone.

Still have questions about moderation? You can always email us at editors@dzone.com. We look forward to reading your submissions.