Submissions

We aim to create a community of high school students passionate about research. What better way is there to do so than to give high school student researchers a place to publish their own hard work? Though we recognise lots of high school students are capable of writing undergraduate-level papers, we want to keep our journal open and accessible to the average high school student, so we urge the submitter to limit the use of field-specific jargon to high-school level courses like the IB program or fully explain any more advanced terms and concepts used. While we have no set guidelines, we urge writers to consider the following in any potential submissions: 

​

1. Will readers learn something new from your paper? 

2. Will readers enjoy reading your paper?

​

THSJ accepts submissions on a rolling basis, with the deadlines for our summer issues being April 1st and October 1st for our winter issue. Immediately after the submission deadline, editors will begin a desk review. If your paper has critical issues, such as major factual inaccuracies or plagiarism, it will be rejected and you will be informed; however, you may appeal this.  Around one month after the submission deadline, your manuscript will be accepted, rejected, or returned for revisions and resubmission. Authors asked to make revisions will receive comments on their manuscripts and will have one week to resubmit. If authors believe their paper was rejected unfairly during the desk review or would like to request extra time to resubmit their revised manuscript, they may contact the main THSJ email address. Furthermore, authors who have their revised manuscripts rejected may resubmit their papers in the following issue. Any rejected or published papers cannot be resubmitted without making substantial changes. Accepted authors may still be requested to make minor changes to their manuscripts or may request to make changes. Papers can have unlimited contributors, as long as all are high school students. Authors are allowed to seek help from experts no longer in high school but must ensure high school students solely write their paper. Middle school students are discouraged from submitting, but their submissions will still be reviewed regardless. We allow authors to acknowledge others who have supported them, family members, or other relevant people, but must be included in a separate file from the manuscript to maintain anonymity during the review process. 

​

We have no set word limit on our submissions, but we recommend most submissions be from 2,000 - 10,000 words not including the bibliography and abstract. Abstracts should be <300 words. Longer submissions will not be penalised directly but may risk rejection due to going too far beyond high-school-level understanding. Similarly, shorter submissions will not be directly penalized but may not go into enough detail to fully convey the author's ideas. Manuscripts must not contain any information about authors, so as to remain anonymous during the review process; however, authors are allowed to cite their previous works or calculations, provided the author's name is not specified or is replaced by "author" (e.g., "Translated by the author"). Final published papers will use MLA citation format, which, though less common in journals, is used by most high schools.  However, manuscripts that use other citation formats (APA, Chicago, Bluebook, etc.) may be submitted as long as the citation format is changed before publication during the one-week revision period. Papers do not need to be written specifically for the journal; excellent essays written for classes or competitions are allowed and encouraged. However, papers cannot have been previously published in a formal academic journal. Ensure papers written for other academic institutions being submitted to THSJ follow the policy of both THSJ and said academic institution. If authors would still like to submit a manuscript published in a formal academic journal, they must withdraw the manuscript from said journal. Manuscripts must use American spelling (color not colour, gray not grey, etc.). Submissions MUST be in PDF format and titled [Full Name of Author], [Manuscript Title], [First letter of issue season][Last two numbers of year submitted] (e.g. Khiem T. Bui, Potential of Thorium Energy in Providing Clean and Safe Energy, S24).

​

THSJ takes academic integrity HIGHLY SERIOUSLY. ANY manuscripts found to be not the original work of the listed authors or are written by authors no longer in high school will be rejected, and authors WILL have their school notified and be banned from further submissions. While AI assistance is permitted, papers primarily generated by AI are unlikely to be published. ANY discovered attempts to bribe/influence editors will receive identical treatment to both the editor in question if they accept and the author. We wish to remain as objective as possible about submissions. The editorial team reserves the right to accept or reject papers at its discretion.