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@harrisonqian / Young Builder Resources / wiki/publishing-research.md
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--- visibility: public-edit --- # publishing research you can publish real research as a teenager. not "student research" in scare quotes — actual papers in actual journals that actual researchers read. the barrier is lower than you think, and the process teaches you more than any class. ## how to find a research mentor the hardest part isn't doing the research — it's finding someone willing to work with you. here are the paths that actually work: ### cold email a PI this is the most direct route. find a professor or researcher whose work interests you, read their recent papers, and send them a specific email about their work. not "I'm a high school student interested in your field" — that's what everyone sends. instead: "I read your 2025 paper on X, tried to reproduce your results, and had a question about Y." the response rate is low (~5-10%), so send volume. 30-50 thoughtful, customized emails is reasonable. see [[mentorship-networking]] for the full cold email playbook. ### through a program or internship research programs like RSI, SSP, Garcia, and Simons pair you with PIs. but you don't need a formal program. I found a researcher at a hospital research lab through my neurotech internship — visited them, discussed category theory, then we collaborated on a CNN binary classifier for anesthetic depth from EEG signals (<400 parameters). the internship opened the door, but the collaboration happened because I showed genuine interest and technical capability. see [[summer-programs]] for research-oriented programs. ### through existing connections teachers, parents' colleagues, [[communities|community]] members — anyone in academia can introduce you. one warm intro is worth 20 cold emails. ## the process research isn't magic. it's a learnable process: 1. **read papers.** pick a field. read 10-20 papers. use Google Scholar, arXiv, PubMed. you'll be confused at first — that's normal. by paper 10 you'll start seeing the landscape. 2. **find a gap.** what hasn't been done? what could be done better? what could be applied to a new domain? 3. **reach out to someone working in that area.** propose a specific collaboration. "I noticed no one has tried approach X on dataset Y — I'd like to try it and I think your lab's expertise in Z would be valuable." 4. **do the work.** build the model, run the experiments, collect the data. this is the part most people skip — they want the publication without the months of grinding. 5. **write it up.** follow the structure of papers in your target journal. abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion. 6. **submit.** get rejected. revise. resubmit. this is normal. ## my research ### EEG anesthetic depth classifier - collaborated with a researcher at a hospital research lab on a CNN binary classifier for anesthetic depth from EEG signals - the model had fewer than 400 parameters — intentionally small to be interpretable - submitted to Davidson Fellows (submitted Feb 2026) and targeting IEEE TBME - this came from genuine curiosity about consciousness and brain signals, not from wanting a publication ### phase change materials (PCMs) - paper on PCMs for AI data center cooling - applied materials science to a real engineering problem ### AI bias - offense detection across datasets - examining how bias manifests differently depending on training data ## where to publish ### journals that accept high school research - **International Journal of High School Research (IJHSR)** — dedicated to high school student research, multiple issues per year - **Journal of Student Research (JSR)** — multidisciplinary, faculty-reviewed, accepts high school through grad students - **The Concord Review** — specifically for history research essays (5,000-9,000 words) - **PRESS Journals** — high-quality research and review articles across scientific disciplines - **Journal of Emerging Investigators (JEI)** — peer-reviewed, specifically for middle and high school students - **Curieux Academic Journal** — student-run, publishes across disciplines ### real journals (not student-specific) - **arXiv** — preprint server, no peer review but gets your work out fast and cited. CS, physics, math, bio. - **IEEE student papers** — IEEE conferences often have student paper tracks - **field-specific journals** — many journals don't care about your age, only your work. if the research is good enough, submit to the real venues. ### conferences and fairs - **JSHS (Junior Science and Humanities Symposium)** — present original STEM research, regional → national pipeline, fully funded - **Golden Gate STEM Fair / regional science fairs** — the ISEF pathway starts here - **ISEF** — the pinnacle of high school science fairs. $9M+ in prizes. - **NeurIPS High School Projects Track** — yes, NeurIPS has accepted high school submissions. 330+ submissions in their inaugural track. - **Davidson Fellows** — $10k, $25k, or $50k for significant research. not a journal, but a serious award that validates your work. see [[competitions-hackathons]] for Davidson Fellows and science fair details. ## the Davidson Fellows path Davidson Fellows is worth special mention. it's a $10,000-$50,000 scholarship for students 18 or under who have completed a "significant piece of work." the bar is high — they want genuine contribution to a field, not a school project with a fancy title. the application is essentially: describe your work, its significance, and your process. research you publish can become a [[competitions-hackathons|Davidson Fellows submission]]. I submitted my EEG paper (submitted Feb 2026). ## practical tips - **start reading papers now.** even if you don't understand everything. you'll learn the vocabulary, the structure, and what "good research" looks like in your field. - **use Semantic Scholar and Connected Papers** to find related work and understand the citation graph. - **learn LaTeX.** every serious paper is written in LaTeX. overleaf.com makes this easy. - **keep a research notebook.** document everything — your hypotheses, experiments, failures, insights. you'll thank yourself when writing the paper. - **research is slow.** my EEG paper took months. don't expect to go from "I want to do research" to "published paper" in a few weeks. the products you [[shipping-products|ship]] and the research you publish are the two strongest things you can put in a [[mentorship-networking|cold email]] or a [[funding-grants|grant application]].