Author guidelines

1. Science Around Us

Explain the science behind everyday objects, natural phenomena or familiar technologies. Introduce the question, explain the scientific principles in accessible English, give examples and cite reliable sources. Clearly labelled illustrations are welcome.

2. Explore and Experiment

Describe a safe student investigation or experiment. Include the question or prediction, materials, method, variables and controls where relevant, observations or measurements, results and what you learned. Explain limitations and safety precautions so readers can understand how the investigation was carried out.

3. Young Inventors

Present an original idea, model, prototype or practical solution. Describe the problem, existing approaches, your design and what is new about it. Include materials, construction steps, testing, performance, limitations and possible improvements. State clearly whether the invention is a concept, a working prototype or a tested device.

4. Computing and Robotics

Share a programming, AI, electronics, automation or robotics project. Explain the purpose, hardware and software, design or algorithm, implementation, testing and results. Credit reused code, datasets and tools. Include diagrams or short code extracts where helpful, and remove passwords, API keys and personal data.

5. Our Environment

Explore climate, conservation, biodiversity, pollution or sustainability. Define the environmental question, provide evidence or local observations, explain causes and effects, and discuss practical responses. Distinguish measured findings from estimates and opinions; avoid unsupported environmental claims.

6. Meet a Scientist

Write a scientist profile, interview or career story. Introduce the scientist, their field, contributions and advice for students. Verify biographical facts and scientific claims. For interviews, obtain permission and reproduce quotations accurately. Credit information sources and photographs.

7. School Science Spotlight

Report a school science club activity, exhibition, project or student achievement. Include the school, activity, date, purpose, participants and learning outcomes. Describe what students contributed and learned. Obtain permissions for names, quotations and photographs, including guardian permissions where applicable.

8. Challenges and Quizzes

Contribute science puzzles, quizzes, design challenges or problem-solving activities. State the intended school level, clear instructions and any required materials. Provide correct answers with explanations for quizzes and puzzles; for open-ended design challenges, provide assessment criteria and a possible approach. Identify safety precautions and credit adapted questions.

9. Research Paper

Present original student research with a clear research question or hypothesis, the research gap, the novelty of the work, methods, results, discussion, conclusions, acknowledgements and references. Explain what you investigated, how your work addresses the gap and what new finding, approach or evidence it contributes. Support claims of novelty with relevant literature; a local replication or extension should be described accurately rather than presented as a first-ever discovery.

Recommended Research Paper structure

1. Title and author information: Give a specific title, author names and affiliations, and identify the corresponding author. Supply contact details through the submission form.
2. Abstract and keywords: Briefly state the research question, method, main results and conclusion. Add relevant keywords.
3. Introduction: Explain the background and relevant previous work. State the research gap, question or hypothesis, objectives and novelty of your contribution.
4. Materials and methods: Describe materials, equipment, procedures, variables, controls and analysis in enough detail to understand and reproduce the work. Include applicable safety and ethical considerations.
5. Results: Present your findings using clear text, tables and figures. Give units, sample sizes and uncertainty or variation where relevant. Identify experimental, simulated and illustrative data correctly.
6. Discussion: Interpret the findings, compare them with previous work, explain whether they answer the research question, and discuss limitations and potential applications. Results and Discussion may be combined where appropriate.
7. Conclusions: State the main findings, their significance and useful next steps without introducing unsupported claims.
8. Acknowledgements: Credit non-author assistance, mentorship, access to facilities and other support. Obtain permission before naming individuals. If there are no acknowledgements, state “None.”
9. Declarations: Disclose AI assistance, funding, competing interests and the availability of data or code. Describe author contributions and any applicable ethics approval or consent truthfully. Do not invent approvals or declarations.
10. References: Cite sources in the text and provide a consistent reference list containing enough information to locate each source.

Number figures and tables, provide informative captions, and cite them in the text. Research Papers must follow the same originality, permission, safety and submission requirements as other contributions. Selecting this category does not itself establish that a paper has been peer reviewed or accepted.