TL;DR

• Journal of High School Science publishes peer-reviewed student research across disciplines.

• Submissions require original research, not review essays or opinion pieces.

• The review process follows standard academic peer review, not a student competition.

• Formatting and citation rules must match the journal's published author guidelines exactly.

• Rejection is common; structured feedback helps you revise and resubmit successfully.

Most high school students who complete a research project have no idea where to send it. They finish the paper, submit it for class, and that is where the work ends. But peer-reviewed publication is possible at the high school level, and the Journal of High School Science (JHSS) is one of the few legitimate venues designed specifically for student researchers.

Understanding how this journal works, what it expects, and how to give your submission the best possible chance is not complicated. It does require careful preparation. The difference between a rejected submission and an accepted one is almost always in the details of how the paper was prepared, not in the quality of the underlying science.

This guide walks through everything you need to know about submitting to JHSS, from confirming your paper is the right fit to navigating peer review. If you are still in the earlier stages of the process, the full overview at how to publish a research paper as a high school student is a useful starting point before coming back here.

What is the Journal of High School Science?

The Journal of High School Science is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes original research conducted by high school students. It accepts papers across the natural sciences, social sciences, and related fields. Submissions are evaluated by academic reviewers, not by teachers or competition judges, which means the standard is the same one applied to early undergraduate research.

JHSS is open-access, meaning published papers are freely available online without a paywall. According to the journal's own published guidelines, it does not charge authors an article processing fee, which makes it accessible to students regardless of institutional resources. The journal is indexed and has an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), which gives published papers a citable, permanent record in the academic literature.

This matters because a publication in JHSS is a real academic credential. It is not a certificate of participation or an honorable mention. It is a peer-reviewed paper with your name on it, findable by anyone searching academic databases. That distinction is worth understanding clearly before you invest time in a submission.

If you are comparing JHSS to other venues, including conference proceedings and preprint servers, the breakdown at journal vs conference vs preprint server differences explains how each one works and what each credential actually means.

What kinds of research does JHSS accept?

JHSS accepts original empirical research, meaning work where you collected data, ran an experiment, conducted a survey, or performed an analysis on a dataset. It does not publish literature reviews, opinion essays, or science fair summaries. Your paper needs a clear research question, a methodology section, results, and a discussion of what those results mean.

The journal covers biology, chemistry, physics, environmental science, psychology, economics, and other fields. The scope is broad, but the requirement for original data is consistent across all of them. If your project involved a controlled experiment, a field study, a computational model, or structured data collection, it is likely in scope. If it involved summarising what other researchers have found, it is not.

One common mistake is submitting a paper that reads like a school report rather than a research article. School reports explain a topic. Research articles answer a specific question using evidence the author gathered. Before submitting, read two or three published papers in JHSS and compare their structure to yours. If the comparison reveals gaps, address them before submitting.

If you are working on structuring your paper correctly from the start, the guidance on how to write an abstract journal editors read is directly relevant, since the abstract is often the first thing a JHSS editor uses to decide whether to send a paper out for review.

How to prepare your submission for the Journal of High School Science: a researcher's guide to formatting

Formatting is where many otherwise strong submissions fail. JHSS publishes its author guidelines on its website, and those guidelines specify everything from font size and margin width to how references should be formatted. Following them precisely is not optional. Editors at peer-reviewed journals routinely desk-reject papers that do not meet formatting requirements, because non-compliance signals that the author has not read the guidelines carefully.

The standard steps for preparing a JHSS submission are as follows:

1. Download the journal's current author guidelines from the JHSS website and read them completely before touching your draft.

2. Reformat your manuscript to match the required structure: title page, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and references.

3. Check your citation format. JHSS specifies which citation style it uses. Every in-text citation and every reference list entry must follow that format exactly.

4. Remove any identifying information from the body of the paper if the journal uses blind review, meaning the reviewers do not see your name during evaluation.

5. Write a cover letter that states the paper's title, confirms it is original and not under review elsewhere, and briefly explains the research question and its significance.

The cover letter is often treated as an afterthought, but it is the first thing an editor reads. A clear, professional cover letter signals that you understand the submission process. The detailed walkthrough at how to write a cover letter for journal submission covers exactly what to include and how to phrase it.

If you want structured support preparing a submission like this, Publication Compass is a platform built to help student researchers move from a finished draft to a submission-ready paper, including feedback on formatting, structure, and journal fit.

Understanding peer review at JHSS

Peer review at JHSS works the same way it does at professional academic journals. After an editor confirms your paper meets basic requirements, it is sent to two or more reviewers with expertise in your subject area. Those reviewers read the paper and return written feedback. The editor then makes one of four decisions: accept, accept with minor revisions, major revisions required, or reject.

Most first submissions receive a request for revisions rather than an outright acceptance. This is normal and expected. Peer review is not a pass-or-fail test. It is a process of structured improvement. Reviewers are not trying to reject your work; they are trying to make it stronger before it enters the permanent record.

When you receive reviewer comments, read them carefully before responding. Do not treat critical feedback as an attack. Treat it as a list of specific problems that need specific solutions. For each comment, either explain why the reviewer's concern does not apply, or revise the paper to address it. A point-by-point response letter, where you address each reviewer comment individually, is standard practice and expected at most journals.

The timeline for peer review at JHSS varies. The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), which sets standards for academic publishing globally, notes that review timelines across journals range from weeks to several months. Build that uncertainty into your planning, especially if you are working toward a college application deadline.

Journal of High School Science: a researcher's guide to what happens after submission

After you submit, you wait. That is the honest answer. The submission portal will typically send an automated confirmation. After that, the process moves at the journal's pace, not yours. Sending follow-up emails within the first few weeks is considered poor practice in academic publishing. Most journals include a stated review timeline in their guidelines; if yours has passed, a single polite inquiry is appropriate.

If your paper is accepted, you will receive proofs, which are formatted versions of your paper as it will appear in print or online. Review these carefully. Errors in proofs become permanent errors in the published record. Check every figure, every number, every citation, and every name spelling before approving them.

If your paper is rejected, read the reviewer comments anyway. A rejection from one journal does not mean the research is flawed. It may mean the paper was not the right fit, or that specific sections need strengthening. Many published papers were rejected at least once before finding a home. The next step is to revise based on the feedback and identify a different journal that fits your work. The process of matching research to the right venue is covered in depth at how to choose the right journal for your research paper.

Other peer-reviewed journals that publish high school research

JHSS is not the only option. Several other legitimate peer-reviewed journals accept student research, and knowing your alternatives makes you a stronger, more strategic researcher.

The American Journal of Undergraduate Research (AJUR) accepts work from students at the high school and undergraduate level across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. It is peer-reviewed and open-access. The Journal of Emerging Investigators (JEI) publishes biological and biomedical research by middle and high school students and explicitly pairs each submission with graduate student mentors who guide authors through revision. Curieux Academic Journal accepts research across a wide range of disciplines from students aged 13 to 18.

Each journal has its own scope, formatting requirements, and review timeline. Reading the submission guidelines for each one before choosing where to submit will save you significant time. The full process for doing that is laid out at how to read a journal's submission guidelines.

Submitting to multiple journals simultaneously is not acceptable in academic publishing. Each submission must be exclusive. If you are rejected, you are then free to submit elsewhere. Plan accordingly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does JHSS charge a fee to submit or publish?

According to the journal's published author guidelines, JHSS does not charge an article processing fee. Submission and publication are free for authors. This makes it accessible to students who do not have institutional funding. Always verify this on the journal's current website before submitting, as policies can change.

Can I submit research I completed for a class or science fair?

Yes, if the research is original and meets the journal's scope requirements. Presenting work at a science fair does not disqualify it from journal submission. However, the paper must be written in academic format, not as a project summary. A science fair display board and a peer-reviewed manuscript are structurally different documents.

How long does peer review take at journals like JHSS?

Review timelines vary by journal and by the availability of qualified reviewers. Most student-focused journals aim to return decisions within two to four months, though this is not guaranteed. COPE guidelines note that review timelines across journals vary significantly. Check the journal's website for its stated timeline and plan your submission schedule accordingly.

What is the most common reason high school submissions get rejected?

The most common reasons are mismatched scope, meaning the paper does not fit what the journal publishes, and formatting non-compliance, meaning the manuscript does not follow the author guidelines. Content-level rejections usually involve insufficient methodology detail or conclusions that go beyond what the data actually supports. These are all fixable problems.

Do I need a teacher or mentor to submit to JHSS?

JHSS does not require a faculty co-author or mentor, though some journals do. Having a mentor review your paper before submission is advisable, but it is not a formal requirement at JHSS. If you do include a mentor as a co-author, their contribution to the research must be genuine and documented, in line with standard authorship guidelines from bodies like COPE.

Where to go from here

Publishing in the Journal of High School Science is achievable. The barrier is not talent or access. It is preparation. Read the guidelines, write to the format, understand what peer review actually is, and treat feedback as useful information rather than a verdict on your worth as a researcher. Every published researcher has a stack of rejection letters. The ones who publish are the ones who kept revising and resubmitting.

If you want to take the next step with structured support, you can join the waitlist for Publication Compass, a platform built to help student researchers prepare and submit their work to peer-reviewed journals. For more guides on the research and publication process, the full blog is at publicationcompass.ai/blog.