Information for contributors
The Financial Times (FT) publishes significant amounts of material created by external contributors, both paid and unpaid.
For details of the basis on which user-generated content (such as user comments) is submitted by users, please see section 7 of our terms and conditions.
For content that is commissioned by FT for publication, we will enter into an agreement with the contributor. The terms of the agreement depend on the nature of the contribution, and are notified to the contributor at the time of the commission.
The agreement will typically cover the following:
- Any fee that the contributor will be paid for their material. Please see below for more details on payments for contributions.
- Whether the contributor is assigning the copyright in the material or granting a licence to FT. If the contributor is granting a licence, this will be an irrevocable and perpetual licence across all FT publications and platforms.
- Confirmation that FT is authorised to make editorial changes to the material at its discretion (and FT will take full responsibility for these changes).
- We expect contributors to confirm that all material is their own original work and that they are the owner of the copyright, or they have all requisite permission from any third party copyright owner. We also expect contributors to confirm that their material will not be libellous, infringe any third party rights, or be otherwise unlawful.
- Material must generally not have been published (or submitted for publication) elsewhere.
- Contributors must agree to abide by the FT Editorial Code and other specified policies.
For paid contributions, the agreement will specify the contribution fee that is payable by FT. Paid contributors may in certain circumstances also be entitled to additional payments as follows:
- A share of certain types of media syndication revenues. This may be payable where FT licenses a contributor’s content to a third party on a standalone basis.
- Payments due to contributors under NLA Media Access’s Special Contributors’ Scheme.
For details of the Special Contributors’ Scheme, see the NLA Media Access website. We calculate the amount payable to contributors in accordance with the Scheme. If the total amount for any contributor is less than £100, we pay this to the Journalists’ Charity, in accordance with the Scheme’s rules.
Please note that the above is provided for information purposes only and does not replace or override the specific terms of the agreement we enter into with you.
This page was last updated on 6 February 2015.