Submission guidelines

What OSRI publishes

OSRI accepts work from students currently enrolled in a secondary school in the Okanagan Valley (Grades 9–12, or the equivalent in a home-learning program). Work is published in two formats. There are no tiers or rankings; outstanding work is occasionally noted as an editor's selection.

Papers

Length

1,500 to 5,000 words, excluding references, tables, figures, appendices, and acknowledgements. Special exceptions may apply, and contacting OSRI is the best way to see your eligibility.

Abstract

Required, 250 words or fewer

Structure

Introduction, Methodology, Findings, and Discussion in said order for empirical work; a flexible but clearly organized structure for literature reviews

References

Required; at least five for a literature review

Review

One to three reviewers depending on availability.

Mini-papers

Length

One to three paragraphs, roughly 150 to 500 words

Abstract

Not required

Structure

One claim, the evidence for it, and one limitation. Explainers written for other students are welcome.

References

Required; two at minimum

Review

One editor; ethics review where applicable

Study type

Every submission is labelled with one of three types so readers know what kind of evidence they are looking at:

• Literature review: synthesizes published sources; no new data.
• Public dataset study: analyzes data that already exists and is publicly available.
• Original data: the student produced the data through an experiment, survey, observation or measurement.

Formatting and citations

• Submit as a shared Google Doc with comment access or as a PDF. A shared Google Doc is preferred.
• Use APA 7th edition for citations and references. Every claim that is not your own finding needs a citation.
• Number in ascending order and title every table or figure.
• Report counts alongside percentages. Report the sample size everywhere a percentage appears.
• Do not include your name inside the manuscript file. Author details go on the submission form so that review is blind.

Authorship and originality

Each listed author must have contributed materially to the work and be able to defend it. Teachers, parents and mentors who advised but did not write are acknowledged, not listed as authors. Work must not have been published elsewhere, though work previously entered in a science fair or submitted as a Capstone project is welcome.

All submissions are checked for plagiarism. A manuscript found to contain uncredited text or fabricated sources is declined, and the author is notified of the reason.

Use of AI tools

AI tools may be used for language editing, brainstorming, code assistance and literature search, and their use must be disclosed. Every submission includes an AI disclosure statement naming the tool, what it was used for, and how the author verified the output. AI tools may not be listed as authors.

Three uses are not permitted: generating results or data, generating references that the author has not personally read, and writing the Findings or Discussion sections. A fabricated citation can be discerned from genuine errors when citing and will damage the perception of authenticity in your work.

Ethics standard

Studies that use only published sources, public datasets, or harmless ways to produce organic data (e.g. temperature measurements) do not need ethics review. When OSRI opens to human-participant research, any study that collects data from people will be placed into one of three tiers before it is reviewed for content. The tier will be determined by the Ethics Review Panel from the study design described on the submission form, not by the author. For that reason, it is imperative to provide clarity for your methodology during submission.

Consent

Every participant in a green- or yellow-tier study must be told, before taking part, what the study is for, what they will be asked to do, that participation is voluntary, and that they may stop at any time. For participants under 18, a parent or guardian must also give permission unless the study is an anonymous, non-sensitive survey conducted with the school's knowledge. OSRI provides ready-to-use consent templates covering anonymous surveys, parental permission, assent, interviews and debriefs.

Research in schools

OSRI review does not replace your school or district's own permission process. If you plan to survey (upon the acceptance of such works) or observe students at school, obtain permission from the school first and state this on the submission form.

Basis for the standard

The tiers are adapted from the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair rules for human participant research, with reference to the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS 2) that governs research ethics in Canada. The standard will be reviewed annually by the Ethics Review Panel once it is fully established. Changes are announced on this site and never applied retroactively to published work.

Review process

1. Submission check

   An editor confirms the manuscript is complete, within scope, and correctly labelled. Incomplete submissions are returned within one week with a list of what is missing.

2. Ethics tier

   For studies involving people, the Ethics Review Panel assigns a tier. Yellow-tier studies wait here until the supervisor co-signature arrives. Red-tier studies are declined with a written explanation and, where possible, a suggestion for a safer design.

3. Content review

   Papers go to two reviewers; mini-papers to one editor. Reviewers assess whether the question is clear, the method fits the question, the evidence supports the claims, and the limitations are stated honestly. Reviewers do not know who the author is.

4. Decision

   Accept, revise, or decline, with the reviewers' comments attached. Most first decisions are revise. First decisions are sent within four weeks of a complete submission.

5. Revision

   Authors have six weeks to respond to each round. A short letter explaining what was changed, and what was not and why, accompanies the revised manuscript.

6. Publication

   The accepted manuscript is copy-edited, the author approves the final version, and the work is published with a permanent link. Papers are also deposited in an archive that issues a DOI.

After publication

Licence. Published work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Authors keep copyright; anyone may share or build on the work with credit.

Corrections. Errors found after publication are corrected with a dated note on the publication page. The original file is kept.

Withdrawal. An author may ask for their work to be withdrawn. The listing remains with a withdrawal notice so that existing links do not break, but the file is removed.

Data appendices. Public dataset studies should cite the exact dataset and version used. Original data studies may attach a de-identified data appendix; no appendix may contain information that could identify a participant.