3 slots open
Starlink - Bane or Boon?
500–1000 words
2 of 5 taken
Write for Decode Civils
Get published. Build a byline worth showing.
Write on topics we commission, get edited by people who have cleared the exam, and publish under your own name on a page you can put on your CV.
- Student contributors
- 0
- Articles published
- 0
- Topics open now
- 5
What you walk away with
- A published article with your name on it, on a site aspirants already read.
- Your own author page at decodecivils.com/authors/your-name, ready to paste into a CV, a LinkedIn profile or a DAF.
- Your writing marked by people who cleared the exam, which is practice for the thing the exam actually tests.
- A byline, your own author page, and a contributor certificate once you publish.
Why bother
What this is worth to you
A byline that actually exists
A permanent, indexed article with your name on it, on a site aspirants already read every day.
Your own author page
decodecivils.com/authors/your-name, carrying your photo, your biography and everything you have written. One link, yours to share.
Edited by people who cleared it
Your writing is read and marked by those who have been through the exam, not by an algorithm.
Something concrete for the interview
A verifiable contribution record you can point a board at, with dates and an editor's name against every piece.
Practice that counts
Writing to a brief, to a word count and to a deadline. That is Mains, with feedback attached.
A contributor certificate
Issued once your first article is published, and again at milestones after that.
The process
How it works
It is a selection, not a signup. We read what you send before we let you near a topic.
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Register
Your name, email and mobile number. We verify the number on the spot, and that is your login from then on.
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Send us your writing
Up to three pieces you have already written, plus one fresh sample against the prompt we set. This is the part that matters.
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We select
Editors read what you sent and either approve you, ask for another sample, or decline. Not everyone gets in, and that is the point.
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Pick a topic
Choose one commission at a time from the live pool. The clock starts the moment you claim it, so pick something you can actually finish.
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Write and submit
A Word file, original, free of plagiarism, with your sources listed and any photographs credited.
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Get published
We rate it out of ten, edit it, and publish it under your name with a link to your author page.
The bit people skip
How we select
Applications are read by editors, not scored by a form. Most of the decision comes down to the fresh sample you write for us.
Outcome 1
You are in
Your account opens and the topic pool unlocks. You can claim your first commission the same day, and your author page goes live with your first published piece.
Outcome 2
Send us one more
Something worked but not enough yet. We tell you exactly what to fix and you send another piece. There is no limit on how many times you can try.
Outcome 3
Not this time
We write back explaining why, in specifics rather than a form letter. You are welcome to apply again in three months with new work.
What editors read for, in this order:
- Can you hold an argument? A piece that takes a position, supports it and deals with the obvious objection beats one that lists facts.
- Do you know what an examiner would ask? We look for whether you can tell the examinable part of a topic from the interesting part.
- Is it readable? Short sentences, plain words, no padding. If we have to read a line twice, so will an aspirant.
- Did you source it? Primary documents and committee reports beat coaching notes every time.
What we are not looking for. A rank, a famous college, or a long list of things you have read. None of that tells us whether you can write.
How long it takes. We aim to reply within seven days of receiving your sample. If we are slower than that, the delay is ours and your application does not expire.
Selection is not the end of it. Once you are in, every article you submit is rated out of ten, and missing a deadline or abandoning a topic you claimed affects how many topics you can hold and how long you get for the next one.
Open commissions
Topics waiting for a writer
Pulled live from the pool. Approved authors pick one at a time and write to a deadline.
3 slots open
Right to Protest - The dos and don’ts
500–1000 words
2 of 5 taken
3 slots open
Electoral Integrity - Concerns & Solutions
500–1000 words
2 of 5 taken
2 slots open
Women Safety - The Deep Rooted Issues & Solutions
500–1000 words
3 of 5 taken
4 slots open
UPI - Is MDR Really Needed?
500–1000 words
1 of 5 taken
Who we are looking for
You do not need to have cleared anything. You need to be able to write clearly about something difficult.
- Serious UPSC aspirants, graduates and working professionals are all welcome.
- You write in English, and you can hold an argument together across 1,500 words.
- You can hit a deadline. A missed deadline costs you standing in the programme.
- You are willing to be edited, and to rewrite when an editor asks.
What we expect
- Original work only. Every submission is run through an AI plagiarism checker and searched against Google. Anything copied is rejected and ends your place in the programme.
- Cite your sources. Government reports, committee documents and primary data, listed with the piece.
- Credit every image. We check copyright before publishing and will replace anything we cannot clear.
- One topic at a time. Finish what you claimed before you take another.
- We may reject. A rejection comes with written feedback and you can pick up another topic.
Every submission is checked for plagiarism
Every article you send us is checked before anyone reads it for quality. We run it through an AI plagiarism checker, and we search the text against Google to see whether any of it already exists somewhere else.
What that means in practice:
- The piece must be written by you, from scratch. Not rewritten from a coaching handout, not spun from another site, not generated and lightly edited.
- Quoting is fine; copying is not. Quote a report or a judgment, mark it as a quote, and cite it. Passing someone else's paragraphs off as your own is not the same thing.
- Anything that fails the check is rejected outright and ends your place in the programme. We do not ask for a rewrite in that case.
- Images are checked too. Credit every photograph and give us its source. Anything we cannot clear for copyright gets replaced before publishing.
We are strict about this because your name goes on the article, and so does ours. A copied piece damages both.
Apply
Ready to write?
Leave your details and we will send you the writing prompt. You send a sample, we read it, and if it is good you start picking topics.
It takes two minutes: your name, your number, and a one-time code. Then you send us a writing sample.
