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Submissions

This page is designed to help you ensure your submission is ready for and fits the scope of the journal.

Before submitting you should read over the guidelines here, then register an account (or login if you have an existing account).


About Synthesis (ISSN 2643-8410 (online)) is a journal dedicated to publishing student science communication in various forms, including written, visual, and audio. Our mission is to showcase the innovative ways students communicate science to diverse audiences. We aim to reach audiences beyond the scientific community, making science accessible and engaging for all. Submission of primary research results is not appropriate for this journal. The primary focus should be on the outreach as opposed to the research itself. The journal is published by the University of Iowa as a joint effort of the Latham Science Engagement Initiative and the Digital Scholarship and Publishing Studio.
Focus and Scope

For information regarding content that is appropriate for submission to this journal, please see the About page. 

Publication Guidelines
  1. Work must involve science communication with the public. This journal centers on students actively participating in science communication within their communities.
  2. This work must be produced by a university or college-enrolled student (recently graduated is acceptable).
  3. Your submission cannot be published or currently in the review process in other journals.
  4. The following digital media will be considered: podcasts, videos, digital art, and written works.
  5. All work must have a title that is no longer than 15 words.
  6. All submissions should have an abstract of work (~300-word count). Abstracts should: 
    • ▸ Briefly introduce the topic and its relevance.
    • ▸ State the main goal or purpose of the work.
    • ▸ Describe the methods or creative approaches used in the science communication.
    • ▸ Summarize the key findings or outcomes.
    • ▸ Highlight the significance or impact of the work.
  7. Your submission must include one image that can be used as a banner for your article's future
Copyright Notice This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or their institution; there is not embargo period. The journal allows readers to read, download, print, search, or link to the full texts of its articles, without asking prior permission from the copyright holder. Any other use, including distributing non-commercially, must be approved by the author, unless such use is allowed by a license.
Peer Review

Synthesis is not a peer-reviewed journal, but rather an editor-reviewed journal. In contrast to the traditional peer-review model, our publication stands apart as we prioritize a hands-on editorial process. Our dedicated team of editors actively reviews submissions and collaborates closely with authors. Our goal as editors is not only to evaluate the merit of the content but also to assist authors in refining their work. This unique model allows for a personalized interaction and many opportunities to update and edit submissions - this ensures that each piece undergoes a thoughtful and constructive editorial process.

Authorship Standards

Authorship should be limited to those individuals who have contributed in a meaningful and substantive way to its intellectual content. Order of authorship will be determined by the order in which you submit author names. To change order of authorship after submission, all authors can send a request to the editor.

Thumbnail and Banner Image

Please provide a thumbnail image to be displayed when viewing your article as part of a list of articles. The recommmendation is to use a width-to-height ratio of about 3 to 4.

Please provide a banner image with your submission as well. This image will show up at the top of your article behind the title of your article (see current articles from Volume 6 for an example). The website platform recommends using a wide image (4:1 width to height ratio) that has good resolution when the height is set to around 300 or 400 pixels.

Media Usage Guidelines

For any media you use (including images, music, etc) in your manuscript, you must either:

1) own the copyright

or

2) be licensed by the copyright holder to use the work

You must check the license for EVERY piece of media you include that is not your own. Some licenses, such as CC BY, allow you to reuse the media but require attribution, and others, like CC BY-SA, require that any modified versions of the media be shared under the same license.  Stock images often require a subscription to use, and some licenses do not allow commercial use. In addition, some AI image generation models give the creater the copyright, while others do not.

Authors are responsible for making sure that the media used in the manuscript are appropriately licensed for use. If you have questions about whether certain media are appropriate to include in your submission or where to find media with permissive licenses, please reach out to us.

Publication Fees

Synthesis is an open access journal that has no publication fees.

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