Why Publish Your Research in High School?
Conducting research at the high school level is one of the best ways to demonstrate your extracurricular academic competence. Publishing your work gives you a huge advantage over your competitors.
High school students can learn how to conduct their research through various programs. However, very few high school students can find a journal to publish their research.
In this guide we have prepared for you, you can access information about a total of 12 journals where you can publish your research. No matter what your research field is, we think you can find a suitable journal here. However, before we get to the recommendations, we will touch on some points to keep in mind when deciding on journals and why publishing your work is an important issue.
Should I Publish My Research in High School?
Publishing your research is not mandatory. In fact, although the majority of students choose not to publish their work, they can still get accepted into the world’s best universities.
However, over the past few months, as we’ve been directing our high school researchers to the best journals, we’ve begun to see that publishing holds great value. We now recommend most of our students aim to publish.
There are three reasons for this:
Contributing to Knowledge: We believe that a researcher/scientist’s job is not just to study a field for individual curiosity, but also to communicate findings to the rest of the world to improve understanding of a particular topic. Expanding the boundaries of human knowledge is one of the goals that researchers should strive for.
Learning Experience: The process of getting research published is an experience in itself. This is the closest you will feel to being a scientist at the high school level. Having your work critically reviewed by doctoral researchers in your field is a great learning experience as it will point out academic gaps in your work. This has the potential to make you a better student. Taking this feedback into account and communicating with the editorial team is another aspect of this valuable experience.
Credibility: Publishing your work gives your work credibility in the outside world. Whether it’s a university application or a summer program, we believe that published research will make a stronger impression than unpublished research.
What to Look for in a High School Research Journal?
If you’re new to academic publishing, deciding which journal is right for you can be a bit confusing. We’ve listed three factors you can consider when deciding which journal is right for you:
Prestige: For many students, prestige is the most important factor when deciding where to send their research. For STEM students, this preference may direct them to the Columbia Junior Science Journal, while for humanities students, The Concorde Review may be the first choice. However, an important point to keep in mind about this choice is that the most prestigious journal choice should be followed by the highest quality research. Just like applying to Harvard without having a good profile can just lead to waste of money and time!
Nature of Research: Second, the nature of the research is another important parameter to consider. One of the first things we ask our students participating in our Research Programs is the nature of the research and whether they are conducting original research or a literature review. Depending on what the answer is, our recommendation may change as some journals do not accept literature reviews.
Publication Timeline: Finally, publication time is another important criterion that students should keep in mind. If you’re applying to college in November and looking for potential journals for your research in August, we don’t recommend journals like the Journal of Emerging Investigators, where publishing your research can take almost 7-8 months.
12 Journals Where You Can Publish Your High School Research
1. Journal of Emerging Investigators (JEI)
This is usually our best recommendation for students conducting original research in STEM fields. In addition to its prestigious connection with Harvard, JEI is particularly known for its comprehensive review process, which can take 7-8 months.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that JEI only accepts original hypothesis-driven research. Another important point is that although the JEI website is dominated by research in STEM fields, they also accept research from other disciplines. For example, if you are conducting original research on financial markets or political preferences based on demographic characteristics, you can still submit.
Cost: Free
Deadline: None
Subject Area: Predominantly STEM, but non-STEM accepted if it’s original research
Research Type: Original hypothesis-based research
Estimated Acceptance Rate: 10-20%
2. National High School Journal of Science (NHSJS)
Managed and peer-reviewed by high school students from around the world with a scientific advisory board of academics. It typically takes 1-2 months for the journal to decide whether to accept an application, and an additional editing process can take up to a month.
NHSJS consistently accepts nearly all science and social science disciplines. We generally recommend NHSJS as a backup journal due to its relatively higher acceptance rate. Based on our experience directing students to NHSJS, we estimate the acceptance rate to be around 60-70%.
Cost: $250 for publication
Deadline: None
Subject Area: All science and social science disciplines
Research Type: Original research, literature review
Estimated Acceptance Rate: 60-70%
3. International Journal of High School Research (IJHSR)
Publishes research work by high school students in behavioral and social sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics, both original research and literature review articles. Six issues are published each year. Applications to IJHSR are ongoing and access to the journal is open to the public. It is run by the non-profit Terra Science and Education.
A unique aspect of IJHSR is that it requires you to contact and obtain three professors or postdoctoral academics who agree to review your paper. This is a very time-consuming process. Therefore, if you are aiming to publish in IJHSR, we recommend that you start this process early in your research!
Cost: $200
Deadline: Periodic
Subject Area: All science and social science topics
Research Type: Original research, literature review
Estimated Acceptance Rate: 20-30%
4. STEM Fellowship Journal (SFJ)
An open-access, peer-reviewed journal for scientific research by high school and college students, run by Canadian Science Publishing. The journal accepts original research, review articles, and “perspectives”, typically about 5 pages in length.
While SFJ is a great option, based on our experience, we’ve noticed that the journal can often be delayed in communicating with students who submit papers here. Also, while the journal previously reviewed papers on a 2-month timeline, this period extended to 4-5 months in 2022-2023. Please keep this in mind, especially if your deadline is tight!
Cost: $400
Deadline: Periodic
Subject Area: All Scientific Disciplines
Research Type: Hypothesis-Driven Research, Review, Abstract, Original Research
Estimated Acceptance Rate: 5-10%
5. Journal of High School Science (JHSS)
A peer-reviewed STEM journal that publishes high school students’ research and ideas. JHSS is also suitable as a backup, given its relatively high publication acceptance rate compared to options like STEM Fellowship Journal and Journal of Emerging Investigators. However, based on our experience, for students looking for a safer backup, we recommend NHSJS as JHSS is slightly more selective compared to NHSJS.
Cost: Free
Deadline: None
Subject Area: All science and social science topics
Research Type: Original research, literature review
Estimated Acceptance Rate: 20%
6. Stanford Intersect
Intersect is an international Science, Technology, and Society research journal run by undergraduate students at Stanford University and supported by the STS Program at Stanford. It publishes research and scholarship on the social factors shaping research and invention.
Although stated otherwise on the website, Stanford Intersect accepts research by high school students at the intersection of science, technology, and society. Based on our experience guiding students to publish here, we rate this journal as highly selective and recommend this option only to our best students. We have also noticed that students who use AI-based methods in their research tend to be particularly successful here.
Cost: Free
Deadline: Periodic
Subject Area: Science, Technology, and Society
Research Types: Research articles, papers/artifacts, thesis chapters, book reviews, editorials, interviews, multimedia
Estimated Acceptance Rate: <5% (for high school students)
7. Young Scientist Journal (YSJ)
Another journal that recognizes the achievements of high school students. Published by the Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach, a group working in scientific and technological literacy by establishing unique partnerships between Vanderbilt University scientists, K-12 educators and students, and the local and global science community.
Cost: Free
Deadline: December
Subject Area: Sciences
Research Type: Original research, literature review
Estimated Acceptance Rate: 10-15%
8. The Concord Review
The Concord Review is a quarterly journal that publishes history papers by high school students. It is the most prestigious journal for high school students in the social sciences. Its prestige comes from its high level of selectivity (currently below 5%), focus on quality, and the long history of winners going to top universities.
The quality of published papers is also very high. The average length of papers published last year is 9,000 words. A qualitative assessment of the quality of the papers also shows that significant time was spent and written at a high level.
Cost: Submission fee: $50 / Publication fee (if accepted): $200
Deadline: Fixed deadlines in February, May, August, and November
Subject Area: All academic disciplines
Research Type: All types of academic papers
Estimated Acceptance Rate: <5%
9. Schola
A quarterly journal of humanities and social sciences papers written by high school students worldwide. It publishes papers in a wide range of humanities and social sciences.
Schola accepts papers written on philosophy, history, art history, English, economics, public policy, and sociology. Essay topics and questions should be academic, answerable, and specific enough to be adequately examined in a 4,000-5,000 word paper. Published papers and their authors are announced in the first week of each issue month: March, June, September, and December. Subscription provides access to all journals in the Archive.
Schola is one of our top recommendations for students interested in social sciences/humanities due to its rigorous review process and selectivity. The quality of published work is also very high.
Cost: $120
Deadline: None
Subject Area: Social Sciences/Humanities
Research Type: Literature (review/criticism, poetry, prose), research papers, art (illustration, photography)
Estimated Acceptance Rate: 20%
10. Open Journal of Business and Management (OJBM)
OJBM is an international journal dedicated to the latest developments in business and management studies. The aim of this journal is to provide a platform for scientists and academics around the world to introduce, share, and discuss various new topics and developments in different areas of business and management.
We recommend OJBM as a good option for students interested in business studies and management. It is one of the few journals that accepts research by high school students in business and management.
An important point to keep in mind is that we make a distinction between business and economics. Therefore, if you are researching financial markets, IJHSR or JEI (mentioned above) may be better options.
Cost: $299
Deadline: Periodic
Subject Area: Economics and Business
Research Type: Most academic paper types, reviews, original research, short reports
Estimated Acceptance Rate: 15-20% (for high school students)
11. Journal of Research High School (JRHS)
JRHS publishes in a wide range from science to social sciences. They publish annually but release new papers every month. Generally for publications in JRHS, there are four publication processes: original formatting and plagiarism check, peer review, revision, and editorial decision. Each process has a different timeline, but in general, the overall turnaround timeline is approximately 3-6 months.
Cost: $100
Deadline: Periodic
Subject Area: Any academic subject including science and humanities
Research Type: Original research and significant literature reviews
Estimated Acceptance Rate: 30%
12. Walt Whitman Journal of Psychology (WWJOP)
WWJOP is an entirely student-run publication featuring research and literature reviews conducted by high school students in the field of psychology. The journal reaches hundreds of schools and psychology students worldwide and is published electronically twice a year.
We think WWJOP is a great option for psychology students as it offers a specialized publication in psychology at the high school level. It is one of the few journals offering this level of subject expertise.
Cost: Free
Deadline: Periodic
Subject Area: Psychology
Research Type: Original research, analytical writing, letters
Estimated Acceptance Rate: 20-30%
Turkish Nobel Community
🌟 If you want to start your own research journey by receiving 1-on-1 mentorship from an advanced undergraduate or graduate student (Oxford, Yale, Boğaziçi, Hacettepe, METU, Bilkent, etc.) and taking courses from successful professors who have proven themselves in the literature (Johns Hopkins, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Sabancı, Bilkent, etc.), a wonderful opportunity awaits you!
🔬 Some of the advantages that TNC will provide you:
- You can gain the right to conduct research in Turkey’s leading laboratories and institutions such as UNAM, TUBA, TUBITAK, IBG
- With the research you will do and the recommendation letters you will receive, you can get accepted from the world’s best universities
- A research scholarship of 10,000₺ will be given to each researcher participating in our 3rd Program
💡 Turkish Nobel Community Research Program is a selective online and face-to-face high school research program for high school students.
🚀 It accompanies you on your academic journey and contributes to your success.
🔗 Our website: https://turkishnobelcommunity.com/
Come on, step into the exciting world of science and join the scientists of the future! 💫
This blog post was originally published in Turkish by Turkish Nobel Community on October 18, 2023, and has been translated and adapted for this website.