About
Contribute
Live Well News is written by its editorial team from primary research, so there is no submission queue and no contributor programme. That makes this page shorter than most, and more specific: here is what is actually useful to send, and what we will not publish however it arrives.
Tell us about research
If you are a researcher, a press officer, or simply someone who read something interesting, send the paper. A DOI or a link is enough - we would rather read the study than a summary of it, and we will read the study before deciding either way.
Worth knowing before you send: a paper has to clear a written bar before anyone drafts a word, and most of what we are sent does not, usually on study design or size rather than subject. Animal-only work, editorials and commentaries, and studies too small to support their own conclusion are all declined by rule. The bar is set out on the About page, and it is nothing personal - we apply it to papers we would love to cover.
Tell us we got something wrong
This is the most valuable thing anyone sends us. If a number is wrong, a study is misrepresented, or a conclusion outruns its evidence, we want to know while it is still embarrassing rather than after it has been quoted.
Substantive corrections are marked on the article and logged in public on our Corrections page. Include the article and what you think is wrong; you do not need to be polite about it.
Add expert context
If you work in a field we cover, your read on a finding is worth more than another paragraph from us. We are always looking for clinicians and researchers willing to say plainly what a result does and does not mean - including when the answer is that a study everyone is excited about does not show what people think it shows.
Tell us your field and how to reach you. We quote people by name, with their affiliation, and we will not put words in your mouth or use a comment out of the context you gave it in.
Ask us something
Reader questions are better commissioning ideas than anything a trend tool produces. If you have wondered whether something is worth doing and cannot find a straight answer, that is exactly the gap this site exists to fill - and the answer is sometimes that the evidence is thinner than the marketing.
What we do not accept
- Guest posts and contributed articles. No exceptions, and no rates to ask about.
- Sponsored content and paid placements, labelled or otherwise.
- Link insertions and link exchanges. We do not sell links and we do not trade them.
- Product pitches. We write about supplements; we do not review samples, accept product, or take commission.
- Press releases as a substitute for the paper. Send the paper. If there is no paper yet, there is nothing for us to report.
- Embargoed material we have not agreed to. Ask first; an unsolicited embargo does not bind us.
Why the list is this blunt: what we publish is the whole of what this site is worth, and every one of the above is a way of renting it out. Our transparency page sets out the rest of the money, and our editorial mission the reasoning.
Where to send it
Research, corrections, expert comment and story ideas: [email protected]. Anything else: [email protected], or see the Contact page. We read everything, and reply to what we can.
Common questions
Can I submit an article for you to publish?
No. We do not accept guest posts, contributed articles, or sponsored content of any kind. Everything on the site is written by the editorial team from the underlying research. If you want to write about health, we would rather you started your own publication than borrowed ours.
I am a researcher. How do I tell you about my paper?
Email [email protected] with the DOI or a link to the paper. That is genuinely all we need - we would rather read the paper than a summary of it. We cannot promise coverage, and most papers we are sent do not get written up, usually because of study design or size rather than subject.
Will you link to my site if I write something for you?
No. We do not sell, exchange, or accept payment for links, and we decline link-insertion requests. Emails offering to write a guest post for a backlink are deleted unread.
I am a clinician or researcher. Can I comment on your coverage?
Yes, and this is the contribution we most want. If we have described your field carelessly, or a finding is being over-read, tell us. We will correct what needs correcting and are glad to quote an expert who adds context a paper does not.
Can I suggest a topic?
Please do. Questions readers actually have are better commissioning ideas than anything a trend tool produces, particularly the ones where the honest answer turns out to be "the evidence is thinner than you would think".