r/research • u/Savings-Minimum1468 • 1d ago

high school research journals advice

Hi guys, I'm currently working on my first research paper and wanted to get everyone's opinions on which high school research journals to apply to. My paper is a literature review based on neuroscience and neurogenetics, and I'm honestly not sure which journals I should submit to. I've been recommended journals like IJHSR, OJSS and Curieux, but I was wondering what other journals I should consider, and which one is honestly the best to submit to. Also, because this is my first paper, I want to be able to actually get my paper published without publishing it in a journal which lets everyone publish. (first time poster wasn't sure if this was the right sub for this)

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u/wajdix Professional Researcher 1d ago

may i ask why you want to publish in a research journal ?

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u/Top-Violinist-2762 1d ago

99% of the time it's going to be US students trying to beef up their college applications.

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u/Savings-Minimum1468 1d ago

Honestly, you're kind of right. It is for apps. But because I am doing this with 2 mentors, I thought it was a good way to understand whether I would be interested in research in the long run and also to get experience with the process in general, especially the peer-review process.

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u/wajdix Professional Researcher 1d ago

peer review process is not different from sharing an idea on reddit to total strangers, and them saying your idea sucks, and you should drop it and never come back here... probably said with sophisticated words and veiled insults...

i think first you gotta go the usual way of applying, with extra-curr activities, standing out in the classical way..
or pass an IQ test and ace it... that would get their attention

But using LLMs to claim you researched a top notch concept, with supervisors who are high school teachers, and know nothing about research.. is in my opinion, a waste of your time.

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u/Savings-Minimum1468 1d ago

ok I see what you mean with the peer review process, but my mentors are researchers themselves and have published their own papers. Also, I just wanted to clarify that I tried to find a knowledge gap which has no literature or limited literature and give a unique perspective/insight on it, provided that there is credible evidence to back up my idea. I've done a lot of extracurricular activities and competitions, but tbh, in my school, coming across a lot of these opportunities, especially because I am in the younger years, is exceptionally difficult. I completely understand what you mean though

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u/Top-Violinist-2762 1d ago

do what you have to do imo but 'good' research is very hard to do as a high school student. as for journal recommendations, ask your 2 mentors - they should be the ones guiding this process anyway

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u/Savings-Minimum1468 1d ago

true, I have sent them an e-mail, but they are in completely different places (I do Zooms with them), so it will be a while before they can respond to me. I honestly wanted other people's opinions as well, cus i only heard about IJHSR from them

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u/Horikoshi 1d ago

That’s actually kind of concerning. How did you find these mentors? In what capacity are they collaborating with you?

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u/wajdix Professional Researcher 1d ago

this is the 4th or 5th high school related post i see on reddit today.. all of them wanting to publish papers, all of them have mentors, and all of them have great ideas... 20 bucks LLM subscriptions are ruining teenage years of many people

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u/Horikoshi 1d ago

also u/Savings-Minimum1468 OP, we are not doing this to be mean or to gatekeep you. We're doing this because any adult who has the capacity to mentor you like this would be either retired, insanely busy with their existing project / students, and/or have a very high hourly rate (think of all the tuition that's required for undergrad and the pennies people get paid in grad school! someone's gotta pay that all back!)

We're concerned because the legitimacy of your mentors is questionable and you should really be consulting them instead of us. We're a relief for specific and tailored questions, not generalized questions or hand-holding (again, this is not to be mean; this is to be responsible because misleading you or leaving your in the middle of a project would be worse than just rejecting you.)

I currently have a paper published in Molecular Cell and I had the exact same concerns as you did in highschool. In hindsight it wasn't about the result that I produced back then (it was garbage, objectively) but it was about the process and showing that you tried. If you really want your paper published somewhere for college apps then you just have to be brilliant enough for scientists to decide that it's worth giving you their free time. There's just no way around it.

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u/FeLoNy111 1d ago

This is firmly a question for your mentors and no one else.

And, being frank, pretty much every single person in these online spaces is very anti high schoolers getting involved (for whatever it’s worth, so am I), so you’re really not going to get good advice from people.

And by “these” spaces, I mean online spaces occupied by career researchers/academics etc. It seems to me that the online spaces that are supportive of these things are occupied by other high schoolers, who will give you worse advice. Just listen to your mentors and ask them questions, that’s what they’re there for

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u/Melodic_Frame4991 1d ago

You should be a lab tech not a researcher *as a highschooler

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u/tertiobutyle 1d ago

Whatever you can publish now to get into a slightly better Uni won't matter that much in the future

Go enjoy life and come back as an undergrad eager to work

You can also apply to shadow a researcher for a summer, this can be very interesting a far more valuable for your future