Reviewers
Our review team is a global network of professionals with significant experience in the creative sector. But besides being artists themselves, our reviewers are also thoroughly trained on Shutterstock technical and metadata standards as well as compliance policies.
Review Guidelines
Our reviewer team’s philosophy is based on a number of variables with customer satisfaction as a principal theme. All content is reviewed with consideration of the following:
Technical execution -- this includes factors like lighting, focus, and noise for photo and video. For illustrations factors such as gradient and blend rendering, as well as path construction are evaluated.
Metadata -- titles and keywords are reviewed for accuracy and relevance, as well as compliance restrictions.
Intellectual property -- content is evaluated for potential trademark or intellectual property violations, as well as possible copyright infringements.
Releases - all content is evaluated for any necessary property or model release requirements and each release is reviewed for adherence to our release requirements.
Policy - submissions are monitored for adherence to Shutterstock content policies, like similar content and spamming.
Review timelines
The content you submit will be reviewed by our expert team of reviewers, who ensure it meets all legal and compliance requirements, as well as Shutterstock’s technical and metadata standards. Our team works promptly to assess your submissions, as it is in our mutual interests to bring your content to our marketplace as quickly as possible.
All content is funneled into separate queues by media type and marketplace designation, so review times vary by asset. You can view content that is pending review in the Pending tab of the Portfolio page. Content pending review cannot be edited. Deleting and resubmitting pending content may result in it being permanently blocked from the site.
Review accuracy
Since all content is reviewed by individual reviewers, it is possible that different reviewers may have slightly different views about what is acceptable content. If you don’t understand the reason for a rejection, you can read a more detailed explanation in our support center. You can also contact our Contributor Care team if you need additional information.