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Editorial Guidelines and Publishing Standards

Joe Biden in the Oval Office (1)

President Joe Biden signs the “Recruit and Retain Act” aimed to improve grants for police hiring purposes, Friday, May 24, 2024, in the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

National Security Journal (NSJ) does everything it can to provide our readers with the most accurate, fact-checked, and transparently created content.

We know we aren’t perfect, but we do try our very best.

Our goal is to ensure that you can trust what you read on this site, refer it to family and friends, and win your readership through publishing values that should be embraced by all outlets.

That said, the NSJ team has implemented the following editorial guidelines to ensure the high quality of our work.

These include but are not limited to, core principles based on the life experiences of our editorial team and what we feel should be universal standards set by all publishing houses worldwide.

National Security Journal Publishing Guidelines

Inspired by standards set by countless publishers, Google, Newsguard, and many other companies who have laid out comprehensive guidelines for content, we strive every day to ensure:

We will always publish only truthful and accurate information and fact-check as much as humanely possible. Again, we will never be perfect, but we don’t pretend to be.

We publish all perspectives and do not have an ideological lens. That means conservatives and progressives are welcome.

We present sources clearly and accurately, and if we are going to use confidential sources, we are clear about it. We will also never publish a story from confidential sources unless we have at least two different sources. We do not publish single-sourced stories.

We fix our mistakes and will tell you about it–no stealth edits, ever.

We are an ‘opinion and analysis’ site first, the sort of content you can expect from us almost exclusively. If we publish news, we will be clear about that in the article.

We don’t do shady or deceptive headlines. We want to earn your click, not trick you into the click.

The Ford-class aircraft carriers, despite facing years of delays, cost overruns, and criticisms, have revolutionized maritime power projection with groundbreaking technologies.

The Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) and the Italian aircraft carrier ITS Cavour (CVH 550) transit the Atlantic Ocean March 20, 2021, marking the first time a Ford-class and Italian carrier have operated together underway. As part of the Italian Navy’s Ready for Operations (RFO) campaign for its flagship, Cavour is conducting sea trials in coordination with the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office’s Patuxent River Integrated Test Force to obtain official certification to safely operate the F-35B. Gerald R. Ford is conducting integrated carrier strike group operations during independent steaming event 17 as part of her post-delivery test and trials phase of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Riley McDowell)

How National Security Journal Is Funded: Ads Only 

This publication, owned by National Security Journal INC., based in Delaware, is currently entirely funded by ad revenue.

In the future, we hope also to have syndication deals to diversify our revenue streams.

We accept no other sources of revenue, which means our coverage is honest and free of conflicts of interest.

We do not do any “sponsored content.”

We do not accept any funding from governments of any kind.

We do not add links to Amazon or anything else for commissions on products.

Our content is not influenced by money. Period.

No Direct Money from Defense Contractors, Ever

Unlike most military and defense publications, we do not accept money directly from defense contractors.

While you may see ads from defense contractors on our website, note that these are coming from ad partners they have paid that we have partnered with.

F-15 Elephant Walk in 2022.

F-15 Elephant Walk in 2022.

For example, a defense contractor can buy ad space on National Security Journal through an ad supplier we have a contract with; however, we are not soliciting such transactions in any way.

This ensures, again, that we have full independence and can honestly create content without any bias. Again, we have no formal direct advertising relationship with defense contractors.

We do not take grants from defense contractors.

Simply put, we survive on ads, and what you see is what you get. There is no other agenda here.

Publishing Standards

No matter how reputable the source, all content is fact-checked as rigorously as possible.

If we make a factual mistake, we pledge to disclose it, explain how it occurred, and correct it.

Regardless of source, all content is checked for plagiarism using multiple methods paid for by this publication. This also means our editors check for self-plagiarism.

No matter how reputable the source, all content is checked for conflicts of interest. We also expect authors to disclose them.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Christopher Graham, 3rd Wing crew chief, marshalls an F-22 Raptor on the flight line at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, during an elephant walk, May 5, 2020. The large show-of-force demonstrated the wings’ rapid mobility capabilities and response readiness during COVID-19 and also highlighted the ability to generate combat airpower at a moment’s notice to ensure regional stability throughout the North American Aerospace Defense Command Region and Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Westin Warburton)

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Christopher Graham, 3rd Wing crew chief, marshalls an F-22 Raptor on the flight line at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, during an elephant walk, May 5, 2020. The large show-of-force demonstrated the wings’ rapid mobility capabilities and response readiness during COVID-19 and also highlighted the ability to generate combat airpower at a moment’s notice to ensure regional stability throughout the North American Aerospace Defense Command Region and Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Westin Warburton)

NSJ does all it can to ensure that the authors who submit content are who they say they are.

As we strive to be open to all ideas and are a bipartisan site, we will never reject any submission regardless of its slant, left or right.

However, we will not tolerate or accept pieces that use ad hominem attacks.

None of our content is written by AI.

All of our content should be considered opinion and analysis unless stated otherwise.

Comments Standards

National Security Journal does allow thoughtful and respectful comments at the bottom of all articles. All comments must be written in English.

No comment will be posted that invokes racism, personal attacks, or uses foul language.

We never allow hyperlinks in comments.

This page was updated on 9/9/2024.