Peer-Reviewed · Open Access
Journal of High School
Training the next generation of social scientists
Rigorous double-blind peer review with a guaranteed two-week turnaround — up to three rounds of mentoring feedback.
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Questions about your submission, payment, or the review process? Email editorjhsss@gmail.com — we reply within one business day.
The Journal of High School Social Science (JHSS) is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal devoted exclusively to the social sciences — economics, business, political science, sociology, psychology, and the related fields below. We are not a general-interest journal that publishes a little of everything from every discipline; our scope is deliberately focused so our review can be deep and our standards specific. Our mission is to identify high school students with the makings of a real researcher, nurture that talent through rigorous mentoring review, and help them produce college-ready scholarship of genuine quality.
Most student journals accept any topic from any field by any method. JHSS does the opposite. We publish social science, and we publish evidence-based research built on one of four established methodologies. If a paper does not test a question with data or formal analysis, it is outside our scope — that focus is exactly what makes a JHSS acceptance mean something to a university admissions reader.
Randomized or controlled studies — lab or field experiments that manipulate a variable and measure its effect.
Original analysis of existing real-world datasets — administrative records, public data, archives, and secondary sources.
Formal or quantitative modeling that derives and tests propositions about behavior, institutions, or markets.
Rigorously designed surveys and questionnaires with sound sampling, measurement, and statistical analysis.
Students' time is precious. That is why Round 1 is a decisive go/no-go gate, not a slow drip of feedback. In the first round we make the critical judgment about whether a paper can realistically reach publication. If it cannot, we decline it then and there — with clear reasons — so you are never strung along through rounds that were never going to end in acceptance.
Roughly three in ten submissions advance past Round 1. A pass is a real signal that your work has a credible path to publication.
If a paper is not publishable, we say so in Round 1 rather than postponing the inevitable across multiple rounds.
Whether the news is yes or no, you receive a complete, reasoned report within fourteen days — no indefinite waiting.
Volume 1 (2026) is out now — ten peer-reviewed empirical studies by high school authors across the social sciences. Volume 2 is open for submissions and publishes October 1, 2026.
JHSS publishes experimental, empirical (archival), analytical, and survey-based research across the social sciences and adjacent business disciplines. We do not accept literature reviews, essays, or opinion papers — every submission must present original data or original analysis, and every one is read under double-blind review.
Transparent, time-boxed, and capped at three rounds. A $100 fee applies to each review round.
An editor confirms scope, formatting, and ethics; the round fee is paid when you sign in.
A critical go/no-go on contribution and methodology. Only about 30% advance; if a paper is not publishable, it is declined here so no time is wasted.
Reviewers verify that major concerns are resolved and assess evidence and clarity.
Final polish and verification — accept, accept with minor edits, or decline.
Every author receives a complete review report within 14 days of each submission or resubmission.
A $100 fee per round is paid securely via PayPal when you sign in, before each round proceeds.
Open the PortalJHSS reviews and publishes finished research, but writing a strong empirical paper from scratch is hard. Authors who want guidance can work with JBE Research Education, an independent program that pairs high school students with university professors to design, conduct, and write original empirical research in the social sciences — the kind of work JHSS is looking for.
Students are matched with professors actively publishing in their field and guided through a real, feasible research question.
Real data and methodology — surveys, archival analysis, and statistics — structured for peer-reviewed publication.
Programs are organized around getting a manuscript ready to submit to journals like JHSS.
Explore JBE Research Education →
JBE Research Education is an independent third party and is not affiliated with JHSS. Using a mentoring service is entirely optional and does not affect how a submission is reviewed.
PhD
Dr. Bryan Kyung holds a PhD and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of High School Social Science. He oversees the review process and the final decision on every manuscript, bringing university-level research standards to a journal built for high school authors and committed to giving them rigorous, supportive feedback.
The Journal of High School Social Science exists for one kind of work: empirical research. We publish studies in which young scholars ask a clear question about people, institutions, or behavior, gather their own data or analyze an existing dataset, and let the evidence — not opinion or rhetoric — carry the argument. We do not publish essays, position papers, or literature reviews. What we want is a measurable claim, a method sound enough to test it, and an honest account of what the data do and do not show.
This focus is deliberate. The social sciences advance because someone designs a study carefully, reports it transparently, and allows others to scrutinize and build on it. High school students are fully capable of this craft, but they are rarely given a venue that treats their work as real research rather than a class exercise. JHSS is that venue. Every manuscript is read against the same standards a university journal would apply: Is the question well-posed? Is the design valid? Are the limitations stated plainly? Could another researcher reproduce what you did?
We pair that rigor with genuine support. Our reviews are detailed and constructive, returned within two weeks, and designed to teach as much as to judge. A decisive Round 1 means we will not string an author along through revisions that cannot succeed; when a paper can become publishable, our feedback is a map for getting there. The goal is not to gatekeep but to hold the bar high and then help students reach it.
If you are a high school researcher with a dataset, a hypothesis, and the discipline to follow the evidence wherever it leads, this journal is built for you. We look forward to reading your work.
Bryan Kyung, PhD · Editor-in-Chief
Our editorial board is comprised of PhD professors who have published peer-reviewed research in business, economics, and the social sciences. They safeguard the rigor of every review and mentor student authors toward publishable scholarship.
PhD faculty with published research in management, finance, marketing, and organizational behavior guide submissions in the business disciplines.
Doctoral economists with peer-reviewed publications oversee micro- and macroeconomics, behavioral and experimental economics, and applied policy.
Professors across sociology, political science, psychology, and related fields ensure methodological validity and scholarly contribution.