Frequently Asked Questions

NexGen Journal publishes original research conducted by high school students and literature review articles written by high school students, across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

Currently enrolled high school students from anywhere in the world may submit. Students on a gap year, and students who have graduated from high school, are not eligible. Work may be single-authored or co-authored, and one primary author submits on behalf of any co-authors.

No. Please submit only your strongest paper for consideration.

Yes. List all collaborators and mentors, and choose one primary author to submit on the team's behalf. There is no limit on team size. Only the primary author should submit, to avoid duplicate entries.

Yes. If your paper was not accepted in a previous cycle, you may submit it again in the current cycle.

Yes. You may post your work to a preprint platform.

Yes. You retain the copyright to your work and may use your data in future research, science fairs, and other work. If your article is accepted and published by NexGen Journal, that specific published article may not then be republished elsewhere.

Submissions for the inaugural issue are open now. The current deadline and key dates are listed on the Current Issue page.

There is no fee to submit. A publication fee of $250 is requested only after an article has been accepted for publication, and it helps cover editing, indexing, and hosting costs.

It is not required to list an adult supervisor, teacher, or mentor as an author. If a mentor played a vital role in the research, they may be listed, but they must be identified as a supervisor, teacher, or mentor rather than as an author. Student names should be listed first. Unless your mentor asks to be included as an author, list them as a mentor rather than as an author.

Anyone who contributed to the research design, the research work, the data analysis, or the manuscript preparation should be considered an author. Contributions that were helpful but not central should be noted in the acknowledgments. Once an article is accepted, the authorship list and order cannot be changed. The corresponding author handles all communication with the editors.

Yes. Original research papers should be two to three pages, and review articles four to five pages, not including figures or references.

Use a numbered bracketed citation style, consistent with IEEE, applied throughout your manuscript. Make sure every citation is complete and verifiable. You are responsible for the accuracy of all citations.

Yes. Review articles must provide an in-depth, rigorous synthesis of existing research. Because only a small number of reviews are accepted per issue, the selection process is highly competitive.

Format your manuscript as a PDF or Word document, include a title page and abstract, and follow the preparation checklist in the submission guidelines. Submit each figure separately as a high-resolution file, in addition to placing it in the manuscript.

The editors first check your manuscript for formatting, citations, plagiarism, and generative AI use. If it is sound and suitable, it goes to two or more outside reviewers. Reviewers may request revisions, or the manuscript may be declined. Once it is fully accepted, it moves into copy editing and production, and you review the final version before publication.

The average time to acceptance is roughly one to three months, depending on the quality of the submission, the responsiveness of reviewers, and how quickly authors respond to requests. Publication may take an additional two to three months after acceptance. Responding promptly to editing requests helps your article publish sooner.

Generative AI may be used only in limited supporting roles and may not replace your original research, analysis, interpretation, or writing. Some uses require disclosure, citation, and a log of your prompts. All submissions are screened for plagiarism and generative AI use before acceptance. The full policy is on the submission guidelines page.

Yes. When generative AI is used for idea development, initial code, the selection of statistical tools, or other uses that require disclosure, keep a log of your prompts as part of your research records.

You may use AI for limited grammar and syntax corrections after you have written the text yourself, as long as the AI does not add, remove, or change your main ideas. More substantial AI-assisted refinement requires disclosure, citation, and a record of your prompts.

Yes. Choose the field that most closely matches the primary focus of your study. If your research draws on several disciplines, submit it under the field that best represents its central question, method, and contribution.

Send questions and correspondence about your manuscript to the editors at contact@nexgenjournal.org.

Common reasons include a lack of originality, plagiarism or excessive similarity, fabricated or manipulated data, serious ethical concerns, unverifiable references, undisclosed AI use, writing that prevents meaningful review, methods that cannot be reproduced, and conclusions that are not supported by the data.