Submissions

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Author Guidelines

Submissions to the journal are welcome from various pathways, including but not limited to: academic/summer projects, internships, Master’s theses. Please find full submission criteria & eligibility details at the bottom of this page, and other guidelines for submitting to the journal here.
The Edinburgh Student Journal of Science is now accepting submissions from students outside the University of Edinburgh at other select universities. A list of universities we currently accept submissions from is given in ‘Author Submission Criteria’ at the bottom of this page. This list is continuously growing; if you are staff from a university and are interested in adding your institution to this list, please email us!

Supervisor Acknowledgement & Submission Form
Before writing an article for the journal, you MUST consult your supervisor to ensure that they agree with your intention to submit that work for publication, and get them to READ and COMPLETE your filled-in submission form. Submissions cannot be accepted without supervisor consent. You must also check you meet the submission criteria listed at the bottom of this page.

The submission form contains three sections for: details about the authors, details about supervisors and collaborators, and a section to be signed off by your supervisor. Ensure that you read this form and ensure that it is fully completed. If you or your supervisors have any issues or questions while completing the form, please email ESJS@ed.ac.uk.

Submission Form

Submission Process
Create a submission by clicking on ‘Make a new submission’ in the grey box at the top of this page. An outline of the review process is given below:

    Submission received
    Initial decision – validate author eligibility & article scope
    Article sent to peer-review (double-blind method, approx. 14-day turnaround)
    Revisions made by author
    Final decision
    Manuscript sent to authors for proofing
    Scheduled for publication

The total process can be estimated to take approximately 45 days, with articles published immediately upon acceptance, before being included in the full volume publication at the end of each calendar year. Our 45-day approximation is a guideline only, based on previous issues, and it does not account for additional time which may be required should your article be subject to multiple rounds of review.

Format and Styling
The word limit is 1500 words, not including figure/table captions, titles, abstract, and reference list at the end. Your article should begin with an abstract that is strictly no more than 100 words. Your article can contain a maximum of one figure or table. Figures may be taken from online sources, but must be of CC-BY copyright, and you must reference these as you would a paper or book.
When submitting your work, you must anonymise your manuscript. This means removing any instances of the names of any authors, links to any websites (e.g. GitHub, ORCID), and mention of your supervisors (e.g., in the acknowledgements). If you do wish to include such details, please mention this when submitting in the ‘comments to the editor’ box available. You will be able to add these details to your article following the peer review process.
Your article will be reformatted by the editors before publication. As such, you should not take the time to format your work and the position of figures, tables, text etc. Your article should be written in either LaTeX or Microsoft Word; LaTeX and Word templates are provided below for your convenience, though are not required to be used. You should add line numbers to your work to allow for easier reviewer feedback, as is done in the templates provided.

LaTeX Template (.zip) and Word Template (.docx)

The best way to provide your references is in a .bib file. Submissions written in Word with a list of references are also acceptable, though a .bib file is preferred. Your references will be reformatted by the editors prior to publication to ensure they match the referencing style of the journal.

When uploading files, ensure that the following are accounted for.
LaTeX: Upload all individual files from (or a .zip file of) your LaTeX project (e.g. main.tex, references.bib, image.jpg) as ‘Source Files’. This should include any figures or images in the highest possible quality. Also upload the compiled PDF of your article as a separate file.
Word: Upload the .docx file you have written your work in, including references, or with a .bib file. Please also separately upload any figures or images used in your work as their own individual files, in the highest possible quality.

Plagiarism and Generative AI
All submissions may be subject to plagiarism and generative AI detection methods. The Edinburgh Student Journal of Science takes plagiarism very seriously and follows the policies provided by the University of Edinburgh, which you can read more about here: https://www.ed.ac.uk/academic-services/students/conduct/academic-misconduct/plagiarism. AI can be a great tool for research, but should not be used to assist in writing articles or to generate graphical and/or written content for this journal.

Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions must meet the following requirements:

Work & Scope

  • The work must be novel scientific research – as determined by the editor-in-chief upon their initial decision, and of the reviewers during peer-review.
  • The work must be approved by the supervisor(s) – to ensure no confidentiality, data protection, etc. are breached.
  • The research has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in the ‘comments to the editor’ box when submitting).

Author Eligibility

  • Student authors must be enrolled in a science degree within any of the following universities: University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University, Heriot-Watt University, Queen Margaret University.
  • All student authors must currently be in the last two (Honours) years of their degree, or be completing a single-year Master’s degree. See * for exceptions and recent graduate details; submissions from PhD students are not accepted.
  • A student can only have a total of 2 first-author publications
  • You have completed the Submission Form, which has also been completed by your supervisor, and will submit this form alongside your article. Anyone who contributed to the work must be attributed.

* Pre-honours students with exceptional work should email ESJS@ed.ac.uk to inquire about eligibility.
* Students who have graduated within the last year and satisfy the above criteria can publish one article as a recent graduate.

Privacy Statement

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