Definition of a Publishing Policy

Dictionary Entry

publishing policynoun

A publishing policy is a public statement of the standards someone holds themselves to when they publish.

Reach

Whatever the document is called, it governs whoever publishes under it, not only whoever wrote it.

Unsure if your platform or project qualifies? See what counts as publishing.

Principle

There is no universal rulebook: anyone who publishes is held to the standards they publish, and to those of any community they've chosen to publish in.

Scope

What goes in one is theirs to decide: sourcing, corrections, whether AI wrote it, what happens when they get something wrong. All of it, some of it, or commitments nobody else has thought to make.

Not to be confused with

What makes it different from an internal style guide or a terms-of-service page: a publishing policy is self-defined (not imposed by a regulator), publicly stated (not kept internal), and independently citable (licensed CC-BY once published, so anyone can reference it).

Self-defined, not imposed

You write the rules. Whether you run a tabloid or an academic journal, what matters is stating your commitments clearly.

Publicly stated, not internal

Move beyond hidden style guides. Your policy lives at your domain’s own public address, built specifically for the audiences who rely on your work.

Independently citable

Every policy is timestamped and CC-BY licensed. Anyone can reference your commitments, in your current version and past versions.

Why does this matter?

In an era of infinite, frictionless AI content, trust is the only differentiator. Learn why modern workspaces need a public standard.

Read the strategy essay →