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The Gesri Journal is a nonprofit academic research publication for high school and college students. This statement clarifies the journal’s status and policies, underscoring that Gesri is not an indexed scholarly journal and is intended purely for educational purposes. By outlining our practices below, we aim to ensure transparency and distinguish Gesri’s mission from the practices of predatory journals.
The Gesri Journal exists to provide students with experience in conducting and sharing research, serving as a learning platform rather than a professional academic outlet. All content is published for educational enrichment, and the journal does not appear in or claim inclusion in any major academic indexing databases (such as DOAJ, Scopus, or Web of Science). In fact, many predatory journals falsely claim to be indexed in reputable directories like DOAJ or Clarivate’s Master Journal List when they are not. Gesri makes no such claims – it is not indexed by these services, by design, because its focus is on education over formal academic credentialing. Readers and contributors should understand that publications in Gesri may not be discoverable through scholarly citation indexes, reflecting our role as a student educational resource rather than a traditional scholarly journal.
All submissions to the Gesri Journal undergo review by our editorial team prior to publication. This review is strictly for quality control – our editors check each paper for grammar, clarity, and adherence to sound scientific reasoning. The goal of this internal review is to ensure that the student-authored papers meet basic standards of writing and accuracy, thereby enhancing the educational value for both authors and readers. Note: This editorial review is an educational oversight process and not an external professional peer-review; we do not advertise the journal as peer-reviewed (and we intentionally refrain from using that term here). By focusing on grammatical correctness and scientific reasoning, we help student authors improve their work while maintaining integrity in the content presented.
Gesri is committed to open access – all published articles are freely available to read without any subscription or paywall. To formalize this, all content is released under a Creative Commons license. In particular, articles are typically published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, or a similar open license, which allows anyone to read, download, share, and use the material for educational purposes as long as the original authors are credited and the use is non-commercial. Under this model, authors retain full ownership of their intellectual property and simply grant the public a broad permission to use it. This Creative Commons open-license approach aligns with our educational mission, ensuring that student research can be accessed and utilized widely (e.g. in classrooms or by other young researchers) without barriers. By publishing under Creative Commons, Gesri guarantees that no exclusive rights are taken from the authors and that the work can be a resource for the broader community.
In keeping with standard academic practice, the Gesri Journal publishes each article with clear author attribution. Student authors’ names, affiliations (e.g. school or college), and contact email addresses are displayed alongside their articles. We include this information to promote transparency and accountability, and to enable readers or other researchers to contact the student authors for academic discussion or collaboration. Providing an email contact for authors is a normal scholarly convention – for example, major journals require listing a corresponding author’s email on the manuscript title page. Gesri follows this convention: at least one contact email (usually the student’s or their supervisor’s) is provided with the publication. All personal contact information is published with the consent of the student authors and is intended solely to facilitate constructive academic communication. The journal does not harvest or use author emails for any commercial purpose. By openly listing author names and contacts, we reinforce that each paper is the authentic work of the named student(s) and encourage an educational dialogue between our authors and the readers.
Publishing in the Gesri Journal is an extracurricular educational activity and does not confer any formal academic credit, degree, or certification. Participation in writing or publishing a paper with Gesri is for the student’s personal and professional development only – it will not count towards high school or college course credit, and it is not recognized on any official transcript or diploma. This policy is comparable to other non-credit educational programs: involvement is voluntary and purely for enrichment, and completing a publication “does not confer academic credit or certification”. Students should view Gesri as an opportunity to gain experience, improve research and writing skills, and share knowledge, but not as a substitute for credit-bearing academic coursework or accredited research publications. We make this clear to avoid any misunderstanding: the journal provides learning and exposure, not formal qualifications.
Gesri is operated by the Georgia Emerging Student Research Initiative as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. We have no commercial motive – our mission is solely to empower student researchers and disseminate their work for the public good. No fees are charged to authors or readers. There are no submission fees or publication fees to publish in the Gesri Journal, and all content is freely accessible. (Many reputable student-run journals likewise charge no publication fees, underscoring that open educational access can be achieved without billing authors or subscribers.) Gesri’s funding, if any, comes from donations or grants and is used only to maintain the journal’s operations and educational programs, not to profit any individuals.
We explicitly distance ourselves from predatory publishing practices. Predatory journals typically prioritize profit over ethics – for instance, they often levy high charges on authors and falsely advertise academic prestige (such as claiming nonexistent indexing or impact metrics). In stark contrast, Gesri does not charge fees, does not misrepresent its indexing status, and does not promise quick acceptance or unwarranted academic benefits. Our editorial standards, open licensing, and transparency about our non-indexed, non-credit nature are aimed at ensuring honesty. We encourage contributors and readers to exercise due diligence and to understand that Gesri’s role is educational. By providing this statement, we affirm that Gesri is an ethical, educational journal and not a predatory outlet. We strive to uphold academic integrity and the trust of our student authors and mentors.
In summary, the Gesri Journal is an open-access, student-focused publication dedicated to learning and not a conventional indexed journal. All articles are editorially reviewed for quality, published under Creative Commons for free use, and include student author names and contacts to promote scholarly communication. Gesri confers no academic credit or formal credential – its value lies in the experience and knowledge gained. As a nonprofit educational initiative, we maintain full transparency about our processes and status. This statement is provided to clearly outline our practices and to reassure our community that Gesri operates with integrity, in contrast to predatory journals. We remain committed to supporting young researchers in an ethical and educational manner, consistent with our nonprofit mission and academic values.
Sources: This legal statement references established practices and guidelines for academic and educational publications to ensure clarity:
• Open access licensing norms and author rights in student journals
• Common requirements for providing author contact information 
• Typical disclaimers about non-credit educational programs