Can high school students submit paper?

[benzun_1999]

Hi,
I am really in need of help. i want to know if high school students can submit papers and if so how do they do?? My aunt was telling anyone can submit parers but i am confused . I really want to submit papers. i have done some really good work in computer programming and physics but i don't know how i can submit papers on it. Is there any pattern or some sort of a letter format you must follow to submit papers? I need serious guidance here.
pls help. my teachers are as blank as me.

-Benzun

 

[imabug]

I doubt most journals have any kind of policy that says they can't accept papers from high school students. The might not get ranked as highly as papers coming from someone in graduate school though. Before you even start to think about writing, read lots of journals relevant to the field(s) you think you'd like to write on. That will give you a good idea of the types of articles, style and material each journal is interested in.

These are the steps I would take:

1. Come up with an idea to write about
2. Do a literature search to see if someone's already written about it or something similar
3. Collect the relevant papers and read through them (from the results of your literature search)
4. Find the Information for Authors page for some journals you'd like to submit to. This will usually tell you everything you need to know about submitting to that particular journal
5. Write something
6. Ask someone in the field to review it for you
7. Make any corrections/edits (repeat as required)
8. Submit to your chosen journal

You could always publish all your stuff online yourself if you want.

 

[ZapperZ]

Hi,
I am really in need of help. i want to know if high school students can submit papers and if so how do they do?? My aunt was telling anyone can submit parers but i am confused . I really want to submit papers. i have done some really good work in computer programming and physics but i don't know how i can submit papers on it. Is there any pattern or some sort of a letter format you must follow to submit papers? I need serious guidance here.
pls help. my teachers are as blank as me.
-Benzun

I don't want to burst your bubble, but the fact that you're asking this, and from the way you ask it, it implies that you have never seen a physics journal. So how are you to know that whatever you have done is good enough or new enough that a journal would accept whatever it is that you're going to submit?

A LOT of background work has to be done when you submit something. You have to know that it is new, no one has done it before, and it is important enough that a journal would think it is worthwhile to publish. And I haven't even talk about the issue that every submission has to go through one, two, three, sometime even four referees who will examine any manuscript. These are people who are familiar with the field of study that you're submitting to. You just don't get published just because you submit something.

As has been suggested, pick up a few physics journals and look at the standard that is expected. Only then can you judge for yourself if you have a chance of getting published there.

Zz.

 

[alex caps]

but to answer your question.. YES, high school student's can, I am in fact very close to publishing.. of course, I did seek out the help and advice of a few professionals in the field I am studying who have helped tremendously.

 

[JasonRox]

but to answer your question.. YES, high school student's can, I am in fact very close to publishing.. of course, I did seek out the help and advice of a few professionals in the field I am studying who have helped tremendously.

What area are you studying?

 

[alex caps]

chemistry... well more so material science.

 

[Astronuc]

Hi,
I am really in need of help. i want to know if high school students can submit papers and if so how do they do?? My aunt was telling anyone can submit parers but i am confused . I really want to submit papers. i have done some really good work in computer programming and physics but i don't know how i can submit papers on it. Is there any pattern or some sort of a letter format you must follow to submit papers? I need serious guidance here.
pls help. my teachers are as blank as me.

Normally, one would present a paper to some peers privately or perhaps at a conference, and then perhaps with concurrence would then submit a paper on some work to a journal. Usually, a paper addresses something that contributes to the field.

It sounds like the topic "in computer programming and physics" falls in the area of computational physics. I would recommend finding a journal, e.g. Journal of Computational Physics (Elsevier), and compare your work with what has been published.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=JournalURL&_cdi=6863&_auth=y&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f29df84cfc7e5bd837ad6ece0d9475d4

Author guide - http://authors.elsevier.com/JournalDetail.html?PubID=622866&Precis=DESC

I concur with Zapperz, one must do one's homework before submitting a paper for publication.

Perhaps your work could be submitted to the Science Fair - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Science_Talent_Search. http://www.intel.com/education/isef/
http://www.intelisef2006.org/

http://www.sciserv.org/sts/

Siemens-Westinghouse Competition - http://www.siemens-foundation.org/

Good luck!

 

[benzun_1999]

Thanks atronuc for your advice. I am searching for journals to do my homework as stated by zapper. My work is not in computational physics but on spacetime and the effects of gravity. i am also working with my sir on some computer projects. Thanks a lot. for now i will go through the sites u have suggested me.

-Benzun

 

[G01]

Thanks atronuc for your advice. I am searching for journals to do my homework as stated by zapper. My work is not in computational physics but on spacetime and the effects of gravity. i am also working with my sir on some computer projects. Thanks a lot. for now i will go through the sites u have suggested me.

-Benzun

You are really brilliant for your age if you understand General Relativity enough to write a paper on it. Are you sure your ready? I mean I am an undergrad physics major I have very little knowledge about the technical side of general relativity.(I have no idea what a tensor is, but I think there used in general relativity)

Good luck.

 

[Aridea]

Thanks atronuc for your advice. I am searching for journals to do my homework as stated by zapper. My work is not in computational physics but on spacetime and the effects of gravity. i am also working with my sir on some computer projects. Thanks a lot. for now i will go through the sites u have suggested me.

-Benzun

Wow! I'm blown away that someone so young could understand spacetime and gravity so thoroughly; that's great! I hope you have plans to go on to college in this area after high school.

I agree with what the others said; do your homework. There have been thousands of papers published in this area of research by many brilliant minds. I think it's great that you would take on such a huge task. Comprehension of these subjects is difficult in themselves, but to go one step further and to research and attempt to get a paper published is wonderful.

I think it would terrible for anyone to discourage you, but I would tell you that this is tremendously difficult. I didn't go to school for Physics, but I've spent the better part of my life since I was able to read studying Physics, and I've spent probably the last 15 years since I was about 14 or so reading published papers and journals on various Physics subjects. Personally, as a person without a degree in this area I think this would be really hard.

One other thing to mention is that the research that goes into many of these papers takes months and months, and thousands of hours of work. Don't let this get in the way of the school work you have. You obviously are very intelligent, and it would be a shame to have your grades slip if you got a bit consumed by your paper. Remember if you stay on track and work hard in college; you'll have years to publish papers. Take your time.

You should be proud of yourself, don't let anyone discourage you either. Even if you do write a paper and can't get it published, it's still a huge accomplishment, and you could always use it in a science fair or possibly to try and get a scholarship for college. You can also take the next few years to further research and expland on your idea if it doesn't happen now, and try to publish went your in college or a graduate student.

It's nice to see a teenager who is interested in things other than their cell phone and the lastest pimple on their face music. Good luck.

 

[lolipop]

Ah... I was rather curious as well, as to to process of getting a paper published. I am working on a little something of my own at the moment. =)

 

[ZapperZ]

Ah... I was rather curious as well, as to to process of getting a paper published. I am working on a little something of my own at the moment. =)

In case you haven't read it, I'll be tacky and point this out.

https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=897062&postcount=111

Zz.

 

[benzun_1999]

You should be proud of yourself, don't let anyone discourage you either. Even if you do write a paper and can't get it published, it's still a huge accomplishment, and you could always use it in a science fair or possibly to try and get a scholarship for college. You can also take the next few years to further research and expland on your idea if it doesn't happen now, and try to publish went your in college or a graduate student.

It's nice to see a teenager who is interested in things other than their cell phone and the lastest pimple on their face music. Good luck.

Thanks a lot for the encouragement. The main reason that i am trying to do something ie put what is in mind in the papers is the hope that this will get me some scholarship. I have an interesting hypothesis abt the space time and just as u told i should do it one at a time. Can u just guide me and tell me how i can make use of this hypothesis of mine to get into a good college with scholarship.

-Benzun

 

[plum]

In all likelihood you would impress the potential scholarship granting intitution more with the background knowledge you have that could lead to writing such a paper than with the actual paper. This is because even if you know what you're talking about and the subject has ingenuity and novelty, they would still have a strong bias against you based on your age and lack of formal education. Besides, if you're the next Einstein you shouldn't even need to go to college. Your spelling alone is enough to convince me that you're far from it.

 

[ZapperZ]

Thanks a lot for the encouragement. The main reason that i am trying to do something ie put what is in mind in the papers is the hope that this will get me some scholarship. I have an interesting hypothesis abt the space time and just as u told i should do it one at a time. Can u just guide me and tell me how i can make use of this hypothesis of mine to get into a good college with scholarship.

-Benzun

However, you should also consider the possibility that you could give off the wrong impression of being a quack. It's one thing to show creativity, but it is another to show creativity without knowledge, which is just plain ignorance.

If I were you, I'd stick with good grades, and extra-curricular activities that show you are more than just a one-dimensional person.

Zz.

 

[Gokul43201]

Here's some good advice : rather than trying to come up with new results and solutions to unsolved problems, try to reproduce/verify known results by yourself. This will be far more rewarding (both for admissions prospects as well as towards your self-education), but you'll just have to take my word on it.

 

[Emieno]

However, you should also consider the possibility that you could give off the wrong impression of being a quack. It's one thing to show creativity, but it is another to show creativity without knowledge, which is just plain ignorance.

If I were you, I'd stick with good grades, and extra-curricular activities that show you are more than just a one-dimensional person.

Zz.

Zapperz,That's nice advice.
if only many so-called professors werenot stupid enough to submit a bunch of papers by different circulation methods.

even without a single paper in journal, I would show more my respects I can have to allof those who are broad generous minded than such a bunch of FAKE-IDIOTS growing up by tongues!

 

[BryanP]

Your spelling alone is enough to convince me that you're far from it.

 

[J77]

The quote above wasn't too constructive but there is a point...

When I review papers, the first thing which stands out is the spelling and grammar. If the author wants someone to go over their results to a high standard, they had better write an introduction which can be read!

Some papers I receive look like they've been thrown through an, e.g., Chinese to English translator and left at that.

Some of my advice to the OP: Get people to read your work. Do you know anyone at your local university who will give it a look over?

If it is up to standard - I hold my judgement, but it takes more than results to write a decent paper - perhaps you could submit it, if only to get criticism from experts (which, believe me, you'll always get no matter how old you are )

Once again, good luck with it all.

 

[benzun_1999]

In all likelihood you would impress the potential scholarship granting intitution more with the background knowledge you have that could lead to writing such a paper than with the actual paper. This is because even if you know what you're talking about and the subject has ingenuity and novelty, they would still have a strong bias against you based on your age and lack of formal education. Besides, if you're the next Einstein you shouldn't even need to go to college. Your spelling alone is enough to convince me that you're far from it.

i am very sorry for my spellings, i am not very good at spellings. you see i type it quiet fast but i am definitely sure that when i write a paper i will make sure i have none...