Facilities Manager Submission Guidelines

Facilities Manager Magazine Update

Facilities Manager is APPA’s flagship publication, dedicated to advancing the conversation on educational facilities management by showcasing the people, institutions, and partnerships that shape our community. Our goal is to inspire, inform, and connect our members through compelling stories rooted in real experiences at member institutions.

A New Format

Previously published as a webzine, Facilities Manager will now be released as a digitally distributed magazine in print format. This new design format offers a richer, more immersive reading experience, showcasing each story with intentional layout, visuals, and structure that mirror traditional print publications.

Quarterly Publishing Cycle

Beginning this year, Facilities Manager will publish four times annually. This shift from a bi-monthly cadence allows us to deliver more curated issues, each designed to explore complex challenges, innovations, and leadership journeys in greater depth.

General Editorial Focus

• Articles must focus primarily on APPA member institutions and industry partners — their challenges, successes, innovative practices, and the people who lead and support their facilities operations.
• Content should evoke genuine emotion, insight, and connection — readers should feel inspired or informed by authentic stories rather than technical sales pitches.
• Articles should provide context and narrative — not just facts and figures. Include human interest angles, anecdotes, and tangible impacts on students, faculty, and the wider community.

Guidelines for Business Partners

• Articles contributed by business partners must highlight a direct partnership with one or more APPA member institutions or industry partners.
• Submissions must not read as advertisements or promotional copy for products or services. The focus should remain on the collaborative solution and its impact at the institution.
• Wherever possible, use real examples and results from the subject institution’s perspective. Quotes and testimonials from facilities leaders or staff are encouraged.
• Overt sales language, calls to action, or company-centric marketing material will not be accepted.

Length and Format

• Facilities Manager does not impose strict word counts. Articles may vary in length according to the depth and scope of the topic.
• Submissions should include clear headings, subheadings, and author bylines.
• Include high-quality images, figures, or charts if relevant, with captions and proper permissions.

Editorial Process

• All submissions are subject to editorial review and revision for clarity, tone, and alignment with APPA’s mission.
• Authors may be asked to provide additional context or revise content that appears promotional or off-topic.
• The editorial team reserves the right to decline any submission that does not meet these guidelines.

Contact & Submissions

For questions about content suitability or to submit an article proposal, please contact the Facilities Manager editorial team at [email protected].

We welcome your submissions and look forward to celebrating the vital work happening across APPA member institutions.

Enhanced Editorial Review Process

In conjunction with this schedule change, we have introduced a formal Editorial Board to ensure the highest quality of content. A panel of distinguished professionals in the field will now review every article submission. This board is responsible for evaluating each article’s educational merit, relevance, and originality.

These changes reinforce our mission to foster knowledge sharing and thought leadership within the APPA community.

We invite all professionals—practitioners, educators, and partners—to consider submitting work that aligns with these revised guidelines. Together, we can continue to inform, inspire, and elevate the profession.

Types of Articles

• Features are in-depth articles written by facilities professionals for facilities professionals, giving readers practical and big-picture perspectives on the most pressing issues and challenges advancing and impacting their work.
• Recurring columns provide personal experiences, advice, and research from the people behind facilities operations.
• Industry news covers current research findings and indicators, cutting-edge solutions, creative strategies, and products and services to inform and transform educational facilities management.

Notes

We do not accept articles that are solely promotional in nature to any specific product, company, or proprietary service.

The editorial staff ultimately decides the content of the publication and reserves the right to edit your submission for length; extraneous content; and/or product, service, or company pitches. Unless requested by the author, editorial changes are not sent back for approval.

Email all article submissions as a Word document attachment to [email protected]. Please include “Facilities Manager” in the subject line of your email.

 Recurring Topics

• The Bookshelf book reviews current publications relevant to the profession, trends, and working environment of facilities, educational managers, and professionals.
  
• Code Talkers highlights the various codes, laws, and standards specific to educational facilities and explains the compliance issues and implications of enforcing these measures.
  
• Spotlight shares an event, member institution or news item; send detailed information for consideration.
  
• Facility Asset Management covers the issues and challenges surrounding the management of a facilities department, including solutions for benchmarking performance measures, database and reporting systems, and professional and educational trends in facilities management.
  
• Membership Matters explores the community benefits of leadership in educational facilities for professionals seeking to build their careers, transform their institutions, and elevate the value and recognition of educational facilities.
  
• Perspective provides opinion and commentary on aspects of education administration, funding, and campus facilities management.
  
• Power Tools seeks to engage multiple voices from among FM ranks to bring fresh insight and real knowledge from the trenches on what’s working in planning and implementation for energy-related projects, products, and innovations in all aspects of educational facilities.
  
• The Sustainable Campus promotes solutions and practices in sustainability on campus.
  
• Technology & Trends identifies technology and trends that are evolving and emerging in educational facilities.
  

Additional Information

Style: Submitted articles should be double-spaced, aligned left, using Times New Roman 12-point font. We encourage you to include subheads, bullets, and sidebar text suggestions in your text submissions. Please do not use headers or footers. We prefer that you cite references in the body of the text; however, those with a long list of citations should provide a bibliography at the end of the article.

Biography/Byline: In your article, include the author name(s) as you want it to appear in print and include any professional titles (e.g., P.E., AIA, CEFP, Ph.D.). Also include the author(s) title, institution/organization, city, state, and e-mail address.

Graphics & Images: Facilities Manager encourages the use of graphics and photographs to illustrate submissions. With photographs, we require that the contributor owns the right to have the photograph reproduced. Photos, graphics, and other images should be sent as files separately attached and not embedded into Word files. Please provide raw data for tables and charts, alongside any graphics used.

Photos and images should be sent as EPS, TIFF, JPEG, or PSD files. Please include short caption suggestions or explanations in the article file to accompany all photographs and images.

Copyrights: Facilities Manager requires that submissions be original works and owned by the author. We do not accept articles that have been previously published or accepted for publication elsewhere, unless disclosed to, and approved by, the editorial staff. Authors will be sent a non-exclusive rights agreement for the submitted material before publication. The agreement allows APPA to use the material freely in all media, while maintaining ownership with the author(s) so that they can use the material elsewhere.

Themes and Deadlines

3rd Quarter 2025
Submission deadline June 1, 2025

4th Quarter 2025
Submission deadline September 1, 2025.

Reach out to [email protected] for consideration.