Aims and Scope
As part of the Canadian charity STEM Fellowship, STEM Fellowship Journal (SFJ) provides students with an opportunity to have their work reviewed by an established subject matter expert (e.g., PhD, MD) and published in a scholarly journal. Since its conception in 2015, we have published research from all STEM-related areas and those which prioritize original primary research, interdisciplinary approaches, data science methods, and in-depth review papers. The journal's initiatives focus on highlighting youth-led reseach conducted nationally and internationally to help foster the next generation of international academics and industry leaders.
SFJ accepts individual and team submissions in any field of research and innovation regardless of the origins or locations of the authors. We are dedicated to high school and undergraduate students’ research.
We follow robust peer review and academic publishing best practices and act withing the guidelines of Canadian Science Publishing (CSP).
Peer Review Process
When an article is submitted for consideration by the STEM Fellowship Journal, it undergoes a three-phase process of review and consideration before a final decision is made. This process is described below. Note that if, at any point, a submission is declined, the authors will be notified and given provided adequate justification.
- Editorial review
- The article is first reviewed by a Managing Editor or an Associate Editor, often a graduate student or post-doctoral researcher. This editor can choose to, at this stage, decline the submission or to recommend it for further review.
- If the submission is considered to be within the scope of SFJ and of strong potential, the Associate Editor will request revisions to areas which require improvement. This process may be repeated multiple times until the editor believes it is of publishable quality.
- Peer review
- If the manuscript is recommended, it will then move forward to a double-blinded peer review process where an expert in the research area either within the editorial board or outside of it will review and provide feedback to the authors anonymously.
- Expert reviewers can accept the manuscript as is, accept the manuscript with minor revisions, accept with major revisions, or recommend declining the submission.
- Articles recommended by an expert reviewer, either after initial review or a revision process, will be published contingent upon the managing editor’s approval.
- Copy editing
- Once the manuscript completes the peer review phase, a copy editor will be assigned to a manuscript and this individual will provide edits and suggestions to improve the flow, grammar, and formatting of the manuscript. Generally, these edits are minor in nature.
- Once the manuscript completes the peer review phase, a copy editor will be assigned to a manuscript and this individual will provide edits and suggestions to improve the flow, grammar, and formatting of the manuscript. Generally, these edits are minor in nature.
- Production
- A layout editor will prepare galley proofs and the authors will be invited to review the article one final time before it is sent to our publisher.
Open Access Policy
SFJ provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.