Any questions regarding the submission guidelines should be directed to sfe@jyi.org.
Research articles submitted to JYI must be written by the undergraduate or team of undergraduates who conducted the research. Articles written by graduate students may be submitted so long as the author was an undergraduate at the time the research was performed. The research must have been conducted under the supervision of a research mentor, who may be a professor, graduate student, medical doctor, or professional scientist, and this mentor must submit an Advisor Approval Form before the student's article may be reviewed.
Research submissions should follow this general format: Abstract, Introduction, Methods and Materials, Results, Discussion and Conclusion, References. They should include tables and figures that illustrate the author's research and conclusions, and should be directed toward an audience of undergraduate science majors.
Review articles submitted to JYI must be written by an undergraduate or team of undergraduates. Unlike an original research article, review articles require neither a research mentor, nor an Advisor Approval Form.
Review articles should address current research on a specific topic in an in-depth manner, and should be written for an audience of undergraduate science majors. Figures, tables, and extensive references are expected.
Two forms are required for each submission. The author (or lead author) of a paper must fill out and submit a Submission Form. The author's mentor (or lead mentor) must fill out an Advisor Approval Form (except when noted in the Submission Types section, below). The author must then submit his or her paper and its associated tables, figures, and appendices as attachments to submissions@jyi.org.
After an author's Submission Form, Advisor Approval Form, and paper have been received, the Senior Research Editor will contact the author. If the submission meets the submission requirements listed below, it will be sent out for review. If not, the author will be asked to make the necessary changes.
Research and Review article submissions must meet the following criteria before they can be sent out for review. Please read the information carefully, and format your submission accordingly.
Every article submitted to JYI must have an Abstract that consists of a single paragraph of about 500 words or less. In the Abstract, the author must summarize why the research was conducted, how it was conducted, and what the major results and conclusions were. References are typically not cited in the Abstract, since the reader expects a more full discussion in the body of the article.
Every article submitted to JYI must have an Introduction. The length of the Introduction will vary from paper to paper; however, the structure and content should be similar. In the Introduction, the author must present the problem his or her research will address, why this problem is significant, and how it applies to the larger field of research. The author must clearly state his or her hypothesis, and quickly summarize the methods used to investigate that hypothesis. The author should address relevant studies by other researchers; however, a full history of the topic is not needed.
The Introduction should contain all the background information a reader needs to understand the rest of the author's paper. This means that all important concepts should be explained and all important terms defined. Remember: JYI caters to an audience of professionals and undergraduates. Background information should therefore be extensive enough for an undergraduate science major to understand, but not so detailed as to bog down a professional reader. For example, an author need not define an "electron"; however, a "Cooper paired electron" does require a definition.
After the Introduction, articles may vary in their structure. Some authors will find it best to progress directly into a "Methods and Materials" section; however, others may find a different breakdown more appropriate. The structure of the body of the article is left to the author's discretion.
However, several key points do need to be addressed in the body of the article. The author should thoroughly describe the methods he or she used to investigate the problem, and should briefly describe why these methods were used. Any materials used should be documented, and any computer programs used should be discussed.
The body of the article should address the experiments, models, or theories devised by the author. It should contain little to no background information, since this information should be placed in the Introduction. Also, the body of the article should contain no results, conclusions, or interpretations.
Every article submitted to JYI must have a Results section. In this section, the author should thoroughly detail the results of the experiments, models, or theories developed in the body of the article. The results should be supplemented by figures and tables, which should be briefly explained. No interpretations or conclusions should be drawn. All interpretation and discussion of the results should be saved for the Discussion and Conclusions section.
Every article submitted to JYI must have a Discussion and Conclusions section. In some cases, when the author has many points to discuss, he or she may split this into two sections; however, one section is usually sufficient.
In this section, the author should restate the problem he or she was attempting to address, and summarize how the results have addressed it. The author should discuss the significance of all the results, and interpret their meaning. Potential sources of error should be discussed, and anomalies analyzed. Finally, the author should tie his or her conclusions into the "big picture" by suggesting the impact and applications this research might have. This can be accomplished by discussing how the results of this paper will affect the author's field, what future experiments could be carried out based on this research, or what affect the conclusions could have on industry.
An Acknowledgements section is not required; however, most papers include a paragraph of acknowledgements and thanks for help received on the research or the paper.
Every article submitted to JYI must have substantial references. References may include: research articles published in scientific journals, abstracts presented at scientific conferences, research articles included in published books, personal communications with scientists working in the field, or unpublished data (only data, no conclusions). Web sources are not permitted, except for web publications of scientific journals or official reports (e.g., NASA's Report on the Effects of Long-Duration Space Flight on the Human Respiratory System).
The majority of an author's references should come from research articles published in scientific journals. Abstracts and other types of references should be kept at a minimum
Every article submitted to JYI should have figures and/or tables. These should be of high image quality, with minimal pixelization. All figures and tables should be referenced within the text of the article, usually in the Results section. The figures and tables should be thoroughly described within the text, and their meaning discussed within the Discussion section
Research and Review article submissions must meet the following criteria before they can be sent out for review. Please read the information carefully, and format your submission accordingly.
All submissions should be formatted in the following way: type-written, double-spaced, no page numbers, no page breaks, and with no tables or figures included within the text. Equations must be written using a word processor's equation-editor function.
All figures and tables must submitted as individual JPEG or GIF files. Do not include figures or tables in the body of the submitted article. Do not send figures or tables as Word documents—they must be converted into images. Do not write captions or figure/table numbers in the image. All captions should be submitted as a separate text document
Figures and Tables should be ordered sequentially (1,2,3…). Do not use Roman numerals. They should be referenced within the text in this format: "The results show this (Figure 2)."
Figures and tables should not exceed a width of 630 pixels
Equations must be written using a word processor's equation-editor function and then saved as GIF files. They should be labelled as outlined above for figures
All submissions must be saved as a .doc or .txt file. We are unable to accept LaTeX, PDF, or HTML submissions.
Files submitted to JYI may not exceed 1.5 MB. For exceptionally large submissions, please email the first 1.5 MB to submissions@jyi.org, and, in the body of the email, state how many more megabytes you intend to send. The Senior Research Editor will contact you about sending the remaining files.
All Research and Review article submissions must contain in-text citations in this format
- This is supported by previous findings (Smith 2003).
- This is supported by previous findings (Smith and Austin 2003).
- This is supported by previous findings (Smith et al. 2003).
- This is supported by previous findings (Smith 2003; Alan 2000; Doe et al. 1999).
- Smith (2003) conducted an experiment.
- Smith and Austin (2003) conducted an experiment.
- Smith et al. (2003) conducted an experiment.
All Research and Review article submissions must contain references in this format at the end of the article
- Smith, J. et al. (2003) Fruit fly behavior. Journal of Fruit Flies 215, 768-799.
- Smith, J. and P. Austin (2003) Fruit fly behavior. Journal of Fruit Flies 225, 768-799.
Footnotes are not permitted. Authors are encouraged to include footnote material in Appendices, if the material is substantial.
JYI publishes other types of articles, aside from original Research papers and Review articles. JYI also accepts submissions of Features articles, Letters to the Editor, and other science-related content.
Although most JYI Features articles are written by JYI's Science Journalists, Features article submissions are accepted from any undergraduate. Features do not require a research mentor.
Letters to the Editor are accepted from anyone, and are published at the Editor's discretion. They are expected to address a current topic or issue regarding science, science journalism, science publishing, or aspects of an undergraduate science education. Letters to the Editor should be submitted to sfe@jyi.org