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Young Scientist Journal

Young Scientist Journal

Article Submission: Step 2 – Prepare Text

Create a Submission Folder

Set up a folder on your computer specifically for your Young Scientist submission. As you complete each step, place all files in that folder. This will make submitting your article and all required files VERY SIMPLE!

Keep using this this folder throughout the review and revision process!

Download the Template

Please download our Young-Scientist-Template and complete it accordingly.

Save the file as lastname_article.doc in the folder you created for your Young Scientist submission. There are two ways to use the template:

  • If you are writing the article from scratch, you can type directly in the template to replace the existing instructional text.
  • If you have already written a version of your article in a similar format, you can paste text into the appropriate sections. However, be sure to maintain the template formatting. (Usually, right-click and select “paste text only” works best. You may have to fix any special characters or superscript/subscript that does not carry over).

Articles MUST BE submitted in Word format. PDFs will not be accepted.

Writing the Article

If you have questions about any of the sections, please see the template text itself.

  • Articles are STRICTLY limited to 4 pages in the Template format. This includes all sections within the main article – Title/Header, Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgements, Supporting Information list (not the separate SI document), References, and Biography. This is roughly equivalent to:
    • 3500 words
    • 3-4 figures/tables
  • Additional information that does not fit within the main article – including more detailed methods, code, and extra figures/tables –  can be included in a SEPARATE Supporting Information document (lastname_article.doc). This document will be posted to the website for viewers to access.
    • BRIEFLY list all available supporting information in a Supporting Information section within the main article (but do not include the actual figures/tables/etc!).
    • SI document does not need to be formatted according to the template (can even be single column).
  • There is a 30 citation maximum for each article (and citations are included in the word count).
    • The MAJORITY of your references should be for peer-reviewed scientific articles published in accredited journals. Limited use of articles from reliable online sources (e.g. government resources such as the CDC or NIH) is acceptable. You should avoid popular news sources, blog posts, Wikipedia, etc.
    • Young Scientist uses the Science reference style. Examples can be found in the Template or previous Young Scientist articles, but comprehensive guidelines for a wider variety of sources (eg. conference proceedings, theses, preprints, software,…) can be found here.

Got Figures or Tables?

Once your template is complete, move on to STEP 3 to prepare your figures and tables for submission.