Submission Instructions

Please verify that your submission meets the requirements of the The Morganton Scientific style guide (included below) before submitting your paper. Along with your paper, you must also print, complete and submit this author checklist in order for your paper to be considered for publication.

Submissions may be one of three types:

• Original Research Paper – Documentation of complete research project in the most appropriate format for the discipline of study – 13,000 to 26,000 characters and one page of illustrations
• Literature Review – A review of previous research and future work for a specific field of study – Up to 13,000 characters
• Scientific Essay – Reflection or argumentative analysis on a scientific topic – Up to 8,000 characters

Original Research Paper¶

Your original research paper should include the following components:

1. Abstract – In 100-200 words, write a technical synopsis of your paper that includes background, methods, results, and conclusions.
2. Introduction – Start with a broad picture of the importance and significance of your chosen field while explaining introductory concepts. State the problem and goals that your research will address. Please cite any referenced literature.
3. Materials & Methods – Describe how you performed your work, referencing methods and procedures of previous research conducted. Focus on the important aspects of your methods and avoid going into too much detail in describing commonly used methods.
4. Results – Present your findings in sufficient detail so that the reader can understand the results that were obtained or can follow the arguments of a mathematical proof. All figures should be high quality (minimum 300 ppi) and captioned appropriately so that they can be independently interpreted.
5. Discussion – Demonstrate how your results are statistically significant and address the research questions posed in the introduction. Interpret your results and the implications of your findings with respect to your field and describe their possible applications.
6. Conclusion – Recap briefly what was learned from your research and assess the validity of your conclusions. Consider what questions might still remain to be answered and put them in terms of future work and how your research could act as a foundation in addressing these questions.
7. References – References should include a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) whenever possible to ensure accurate and easy citations.
8. Keywords - Include 3-5 keywords for your paper to improve discoverability.
9. Data Availability Statement- Most scientific research involves the collection and analysis of collected data. It’s imperative that the data, and any code used to analyze that data, be included as part of the publication. A data availability statement notifies the reader where they can find the data and code used in the publication, should it exist.
10. Acknowledgements section.
11. ORCID and CRediT information for each author.

Literature Reviews¶

While referencing relevant research, recount the scientific progress of the topic under consideration. Model your diction after professional peer-reviewed journals in your chosen field, but do not assume that the reader has previous knowledge of your topic. Assume, however, that the reader is reasonably well-versed in your discipline.

Scientific Essays¶

Start with a topic that interests you and briefly describe the background information in a manner understandable to those not familiar with the scientific discipline. After evaluating current research, take a stance on your topic by addressing any questions. For example:

• Is there a possible avenue of research that seems promising in the future?
• Have you thought about a different way to approach the topic at hand?
• What makes this topic interesting?

These guidelines were adopted from the Siemens Competition requirements (2012) and Broad Street Scientific

Photos¶

Photos must be original work and not AI generated! Please provide a caption for your photo as well as some background information. For example, if there is a bird in your photo, please tell us the species, where you took the photo, etc.

Citations¶

Only include sources that have been cited in your manuscript. If a work is not cited in the manuscript, it shouldn’t be included in your references/citations section. Use the highest quality and most recent sources possible when citing other published works. Some guidelines for determining the quality of a citation:

• The publication should be peer-reviewed or have an editorial review process
• Research journal articles should have a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) if published in the last 10 years
• Printed reference books should have an ISBN number
• The publication should have a named author
• The publication should have a publication date Whenever possible, do not use websites intended to educate the general public, even from reputable sources like the Mayo Clinic, Department of Public Health, etc as they often lack strict review and editorial processes for publication, and are not attributable to a single author.

Style Guide¶

All submissions should be in the form of a Google Drive Folder that is shared through the submission form. This folder must contain paper, a completed author checklist, all images in JPG, PNG, or SVG format, all data as a spreadsheet or csv file, and all code used in the study. This is a requirement for your paper to be considered.

All figures (images and graphs) must be clear and of a large size and have a minimum resolution of 300 pixels per inch. If your figures were created using computer code, like Python or R, the code used to generate the figure should be included as part of your submission.

All tables should be submitted as eithera Microsoft Word document, Google Doc, or Markdown file, not as table embedded in a PDF (even if the text of your paper was submitted in .pdf format).

• Use the Oxford comma before the last item in a list. Ex. When considering which polymer to use in the product, one must take into account the substance’s melting temperature, density, and pliability.
• Avoid numbered lists, but when they are necessary, standardize their presentation. Use numerals followed by periods, and do not leave spaces in between items. Ex. 1. 2. not 1) 2)
• Use numerals instead of spelled-out numbers when representing quantities. Use “one,” however, when it functions as a pronoun. Ex. One can easily procure the materials to create a non-Newtonian fluid at the local supermarket; the items needed are 1 quart container of cornstarch and 2 gallons of distilled water.
• Use concrete, specific language wherever possible. Avoid abstractions, generalities, and wordiness. Ex. The medical professional charged with the care of the patient’s chronic liver disease ordered a change in diet to treat the resultant retention of fluid in the patient’s body. revise to The doctor treating the patient’s cirrhosis prescribed a reduction in salt intake by the patient to treat his edema.
• Use colons only after independent clauses to introduce a list. Ex. The elements studied by the professor were: helium, lead, and manganese. revise to The professor studied three elements: helium, lead, and manganese.
• When referencing a figure in the text, use parentheses and appropriate abbreviations. Ex. The manganese solution exploded at 400 K, as shown in Figure 1. revise to The manganese solution exploded at 400 K (Fig. 1).
• All figures should have captions underneath. Each caption should include enough information so that a reader can interpret the figure without having to read other parts of the paper.
• If multiple figures are grouped together, consider the use of subfigures (e.g. Figure 1a, Figure 1b, ...) where each subfigure is a separate image or graph.
• All tables should have captions above them. Each caption should include enough information so that a reader can interpret the table without having to read other parts of the paper.
• All figures and tables should be embedded at the appropriate places in the main body of the text, next to the text that refers to them.

Please make every effort to edit all parts of your submission to adhere to the Style Guide. However, you will not be penalized if you do not have time to edit your entire paper. The editors will work with you to help you change your papers to adhere to the Style Guide if your article is chosen for the Morganton Scientific.

Online Submission Process¶

The submission process is completed via Google sites and review is conducted by Morganton Scientific editing team. You can read more about the submission process here:

• https://sites.google.com/ncssm.edu/themorgantonscientific/