JOURNYS welcomes all youth under the age of 20 to submit articles for publication. There is no age minimum. This guide describes how to submit and format articles for submission. Please read this thoroughly to ensure that you have met all requirements before submitting.

The four article types JOURNYS publishes are review, original research, op-ed, and DIY articles. Please see "Article Types"  for detailed information about each.

How to Submit Articles:

Email your article as a Microsoft Word attachment to submit@journys.org containing the following information:

Subject line: Article ID or Article Title (if you don't have an ID)
Message body:
*1st line: author name (first and last)
*2nd line: article type  (chosen from list of Article Types)
*3rd line: article subject (biology, chemistry, physics, math/engineering, etc.)
*4th line: school, city, state. 


Article Formatting Requirements:

  • Use Microsoft Word, and save the file as Word 97-2003 compatible (.doc) file
  • Use black, 12-point “Times New Roman” font
  • Leave one space after periods and other punctuation marks
  • Indent the first line of every new paragraph
  • Double-space all text
  • Set margins as 1” on all sides
  • Original Research articles should contain at least the following headers:       
    a. Abstract
    b. Introduction/Background 
    c. Methods
    d. Results/Conclusion
    e. Discussion 


Citation Guidelines:

References are cited in the text as numbers and fully listed at the end of the article sequentially, in the order in which they appeared in the article. There are no footnotes.
References must adhere to the following format for the article to be accepted for publication:

The first in-text citation is listed as a bracketed 1, [1], in-line with the text; the second in-text citation is listed as [2], and the numbering continues sequentially.
  • Formula: Sentence [N].  … where N= the source number/sequential number of the in-text citation.
  • Use square brackets. Do not use superscript.
  • Example: Algal blooms are caused by an excess of limiting nutrients, such as phosphorus [8]. (Here, you would be referring to source #8 on your list of references)

 Only one publication/source may be listed for each number.
  • Example: You cannot call both Article A and Paper B “source #1” in the in-text citations and reference list. They would have to be assigned different source numbers, i.e. source #1 and source #2, and listed as such in-text and in the reference list.
  • If you are citing more than one source, all source numbers should be listed and superscripted after the sentence, separated by commas.

Only one number is assigned to a given source.
  • Example: If Article X is initially cited as source #4 and it is cited again later in the article, after source #16, you would insert a bracketed 4, not a bracketed 17.

Reference List Formatting:
At the end of your article, number each of the references used in the article sequentially, not alphabetically.
  • Single spaced throughout
  • Use a list format; no other indents are necessary. 

1. Name of Author(s): Listed with last name first, followed by a comma, and initials of first/middle names.

Example: Morton A. Gernsbacher would be written as:

Gernsbacher, M. A.

If there is more than one author, all should be included in the order as they appear in the original source, with “&” preceding the last author, in the above format.

Example: Morton A. Gernsbacher, Isaac Mottron, and Marcia Dawson would be written as:

Gernsbacher, M. A., Mottron, I. & Dawson, M.

However, if there are more than 5 authors, you would only include the name of the first author, followed by ‘et al.’ in italics.

2. Title of Work, accompanied by publication information:

For Articles (works found in professional journals, not news articles):

1. Titles should be cited in upright text, not italicized. The title should be written exactly as it appears in the work. (Often, only the first word will be capitalized; that is how you should write it in your reference list.)

            i.e. Demethylation of trimethylated histone.

2. The title of the article is followed by a period.

3. The journal title should be in italics and abbreviated according to conventional usage (may need to look up abbreviation).

            i.e. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology should be written as:

            Nature Struct. Mol. Biol.

4. The journal title is followed by the volume number in bold.

            No commas or periods are needed between title and volume number (unless a period is used to abbreviate a title)

5. If the article was in print: volume number is followed by a comma (in bold), then the page numbers of the article, and then the year of publication in parentheses.

If the article was found in an online-only journal: volume number is followed by a comma (in bold), then the URL in full or the DOI, and then the year of publication in parentheses.

6. End the citation with a period.

For Books:

1. Titles should be italicized with all main words capitalized. No period should follow.

2. The title should be followed by the following information in parentheses: the publisher (followed by a comma), the city of publication (followed by a comma), and the year of publication.

3. End the citation with a period.

For Websites:

1. Title of page should be written in upright text, in quotations, followed by a period.

2. Title should be followed by URL in full, then by year of publication in parentheses.

3. Make sure URL is not underlined!

Example Citations:

1. Liang, G., Klose, R.J., Gardner, K.E. & Zhang, Y. Demethylation of trimethylated histone. Nature Struct. Mol. Biol.14, 240-242 (2007).

2. Samson, F., Mottron, L., Soulières, I. & Zeffiro, T.A. Hum. Brain Mapp. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1002/hbm.21307 (2011).

3. Jones, R.A.L. Soft Machines: Materials and Life Ch. 3 (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 2004).

4. Emsley, B. “Making Chemistry Cool.” http://www.absw.org.uk/news-events/features/447-making-chemistry-cool (2010).

(Source 1: Article in print, source 2: Article from online-only journal, source 3: Book, source 4: Website)