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 submission information below and the author guidelines, then register an account (or login if you have an existing account).

Types of Articles

We welcome the following types of research submissions:

1. Primary Research Articles

Primary research articles present original scientific investigations carried out by scientists and students. These should include clearly defined hypotheses, data collected through experiments, surveys, or observations, and thoughtful analysis of the results.

Submissions must demonstrate a novel contribution to the field, whether through discovery, methodology, or application. Projects may be conducted in the classroom, in research labs, online, at home, or in the field.

The research or project has to be conducted with mentorship support.

2. Secondary Research Articles (Literature Reviews, Meta Analyses, Computational or Bioinformatics Research)

Secondary research articles provide a structured synthesis and critical evaluation of existing scientific knowledge on a particular topic within the biological sciences. These submissions may include:

Traditional Literature Reviews that summarize key findings from published studies, highlight current trends or controversies, and identify knowledge gaps.
Computational Biology or Bioinformatics Research that involves collecting and analyzing publicly available datasets, running simulations, or comparing biological sequences or structures using digital tools. These projects do not require laboratory experimentation but must include a clear research question, hypothesis, methodology, data source(s), analysis,interpretation of results, a conclusion and suggestion for future research.

Students conducting bioinformatics-based investigations, such as differential gene expression analysis, protein structure predictions, or genome comparisons, can only submit work that highlights a novel finding and meaningful conclusions from data using appropriate bioinformatics tools , databases, or coding approaches (e.g., R, Python, GEO, NCBI, BLAST).

3. Conference and Science Fair Research Work

This category includes poster or oral presentations and their associated abstracts or project summaries that were originally developed and presented at academic conferences, science fairs, symposiums, or poster sessions. These submissions provide a platform for new scientists and students to share projects that have already undergone peer or judge review in another setting. When submitted to our journal, these will still undergo peer review.

Peer Review

Open Peer Review Policy

OJSSR uses an open peer review model where both authors and reviewers are aware of each other’s identities. This approach promotes transparency, accountability, and respectful scholarly dialogue.

However, the full peer review history is not published, but the names of participating reviewers are included in the Acknowledgements section of each article (with their consent), recognizing their contribution to the review process.

We encourage constructive, professional feedback that supports new scientists and students in their professional development, learning and research integrity.

Peer Review Process

Initial check
When you send in your paper, our editorial team looks it over to see if it aligns with the journal’s focus and scope and guidelines. We either send it back with a rejection or move it on to the next step.
Peer feedback
Your paper goes to two or three reviewers. These might be university professors, postdoctoral researchers, graduate or undergraduate students, or other scientists. They read your work and give constructive comments.
Revision
Once all comments are collected, we send them back to you so you can improve your paper. You revise your work by addressing the comments and then send us back your revised work.
Expert review and publication
After you revise, our editorial team handles final copyediting, formatting, and proofreading. Finally, your paper is published online.

Throughout, we keep the author's and reviewers' identities open to promote transparency, accountability, and respectful scholarly dialogue between the author and reviewers. This approach encourages professionalism, supports professional development and learning, and models constructive feedback. Reviewers receive public recognition for their contributions, fostering a collaborative academic community built on trust, mentorship, and integrity.

Creative Commons License

OJSSR uses a CC-BY-SA license for all its publications.

Authors hold full copyright in their work, and retain publishing rights without restriction.

Publication Agreement

The author grants OJSSR a perpetual non-exclusive right to reproduce, format-shift, and distribute their submission worldwide in print, electronic, audio, or video formats. The author agrees that OJSSR may, without otherwise editing the content, format-shift the submission to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation and continued access. The author agrees that OJSSR may keep multiple copies of this submission as needed for purposes of security, back-up, and preservation.

Attribution

You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. ShareAlike means that If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. No additional restrictions. This means you may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Publication Fees: Free and Accessible

Open and freely available to all to read. There are no submission fees or publication costs. We prioritize inclusion and equity.

Publication Cycle: Yearly Publications (January to December)

Rolling publication throughout the year (January to December). The general timeline from submission to publication is approximately 2 weeks to 2 momths.

Authorship Criteria

OJSSR adheres to widely accepted authorship standards, adapted from the ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) recommendations. To qualify for authorship, each individual listed must meet all of the following criteria:

Substantial Contribution
– Made a meaningful contribution to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
Manuscript Development
– Participated in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
Final Approval
– Provided final approval of the version to be published.
Accountability
– Agrees to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring that any concerns related to accuracy or integrity are appropriately investigated and resolved.

All authors must have contributed significantly and should be able to take public responsibility for the content of the work. In the case of student-authored submissions, a supervising educator or mentor may be listed as a co-author only if they meet all authorship criteria above.

Contributions that do not meet these thresholds—such as administrative support, general supervision, or routine editing—should be acknowledged in a separate section, but do not justify authorship.

Acknowledgements Policy

Authors may include an Acknowledgements section to recognize individuals or organizations that contributed to the project but do not meet the criteria for authorship. This may include:

Administrative or technical support
Editorial or formatting assistance
General supervision or mentorship that did not involve direct scholarly input
Funding sources or institutional backing

Acknowledgements should be concise and placed in a separate section at the end of the manuscript, prior to references. All individuals acknowledged must have given consent to be named.