Both templates follow the journal’s manuscript structure and include prompts for the information authors must report. The Word template uses APA 7 professional-paper formatting. The LaTeX package includes a compilable manuscript, a sample bibliography, and setup instructions.
Before you submit
Tell us what you wondered, what you did, what happened, and how sure you are. The title can have a sense of humor. The methods need to be useful to the person trying to repeat them.
Prepare the manuscript
Title and abstract. Use a descriptive title and an abstract stating the question, methods, main result, and limitations.
Authors. Include names, affiliations where applicable, contributions, and an ORCID if you have one. An institutional affiliation is not required.
Methods. Describe the design, materials, controls, sample sizes, exclusions, and analysis. Separate exploratory choices from decisions made before collecting data.
Results. Report effect sizes and uncertainty where appropriate. A null result is welcome; a failed significance test alone does not establish equivalence.
Discussion. Explain what the evidence supports, what it does not, and what might have gone wrong.
Research materials. Provide a data availability statement and links to versioned data, code, protocols, or design files where possible.
Declarations. Disclose funding, conflicts of interest, author contributions, applicable ethical approvals, and material use of generative AI. Authors remain responsible for every claim, reference, and analysis.
References. Cite sources accurately, including relevant prior attempts at the question.
Using the templates
The Word template uses the APA 7 professional-paper format, with a title page, running head, page numbers, abstract, section headings, and a reference list. The LaTeX template provides the same manuscript sections in a portable source package. Replace the bracketed instructions with your work and delete unused examples.
Use APA 7 author–date citations and references. The template adds journal requirements for data availability and declarations; these are identified in the instructions. For details, consult the APA Style paper format guide.
Format
Unaffiliated authors can enter “Independent researcher” in the affiliation field.
Submit an editable manuscript and a readable PDF. Keep formatting simple. Number figures and tables, supply captions, and use searchable text. Large datasets and videos belong in an appropriate repository, with persistent links in the manuscript.
Journal and article identifiers
We plan to apply for an ISSN through the U.S. ISSN Center after publishing our first issue with at least five articles. The journal has not yet been assigned an ISSN.
We are working toward providing digital object identifiers (DOIs) for published articles. DOI registration is not yet available, and we will update this policy when it is in place. In the meantime, articles can be cited using their authors, title, publication details, and journal webpage.
Copyright and licensing
Authors retain copyright and grant Journal of Sidequests the right of first publication. Published articles use the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). Others may share and adapt the work, including commercially, provided they give appropriate credit, link to the license, and indicate changes. Authors must obtain permission for any third-party material that they do not have the right to publish under this license and identify any separate terms that apply.
Review and decisions
An editor screens the paper for scope and completeness, then invites one independent external reviewer. The editor may request revisions, accept, or decline the submission. Additional expertise may be sought for a specific unresolved issue. We do not promise an acceptance rate or a fixed decision time.
Fees
Payment requests are paused while payment processing is being activated. The $50 USD publication fee still applies, and accepted authors will be contacted about payment before publication unless the editor grants a fee waiver.
Submission and review are free. The $50 USD publication fee is requested only after acceptance following peer review. We will not request payment until after acceptance.
The fee helps cover website hosting, manuscript and article storage, backups, email, payment processing, and ongoing maintenance of the publishing system. These costs continue after an article is published, and the fee helps keep the journal running while leaving articles free to read.
A useful boundary
A funny research question still carries the normal responsibilities of research. Obtain any required approvals before conducting the work, respect consent and privacy, and report risks and restrictions honestly.
Fee waivers
The editor can waive the publication fee for an individual article. To request a waiver, contact the editorial office. A waiver request does not change the review process or the standards for acceptance.
Submission Preparation Checklist
All submissions must meet the following requirements.
This submission meets the requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
This submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration.
All references have been checked for accuracy and completeness.
All tables and figures have been numbered and labeled.
Permission has been obtained to publish all photos, datasets and other material provided with this submission.
Articles
The Articles section accepts original experiments, simulations, measurements, replications, and engineering investigations pursued outside the authors’ everyday work. Small studies and negative results are welcome when the methods and reporting allow readers to assess the findings.
An editor screens each submission and invites one independent external reviewer with relevant expertise. The editor makes the final decision and may request revisions or additional expertise. Submission and review are free; the $50 USD publication fee is requested after acceptance.
Follow the author guidelines on this page and include methods, results, limitations, references, a data availability statement, and relevant ethical and conflict of interest declarations.
Copyright Notice
Authors retain copyright and grant Journal of Sidequests the right of first publication. Published articles are licensed under CC BY 4.0, which permits sharing and adaptation, including commercially, with appropriate credit, a license link, and an indication of changes. Authors must obtain permission for third-party material and identify any separate terms.
Privacy Statement
Information used by the journal
Journal of Sidequests uses the account details, contact information, affiliations, and manuscript materials supplied by authors, reviewers, and editors to manage submissions, peer review, publication, and correspondence. Please avoid including personal information about research participants in submission files; explain any restrictions on access to the underlying data.
Access and publication
Unpublished manuscripts and review materials are available to the people assigned to handle the submission and to journal administrators. Reviewer identities are kept confidential unless disclosure is agreed. Published articles include their authors’ names, affiliations, and other publication information supplied for the scholarly record. Authors should include a correspondence address they are willing to publish.
Cookies and service providers
OJS uses cookies to maintain login sessions and support site functions. The journal’s hosting, domain protection, email, and backup providers process information needed to operate those services. Publication fees are collected through Stripe’s hosted payment pages. Payment card details are entered with Stripe; journal staff record payment status and invoice identifiers.
Records and requests
Submission, review, and payment records support editorial accountability and the publication record. Backup copies may retain earlier versions until those backups expire. Published scholarly records may need to be preserved when an account is closed. Contact the editorial office through the journal’s Contact page to ask about access to your information, corrections, or account closure.
