Issue I Released
Home > Open Access Statement
GESRI (Georgia Emerging Student Research Initiative) Journal – a fully open access, student-focused publication for emerging research. We are firmly committed to open research and the benefits it brings for students, researchers, educators, and the wider public. All articles published in the GESRI Journal are made freely available online immediately upon publication, with no paywalls or subscription barriers. As a non-profit academic journal, GESRI ensures that anyone, anywhere can read and build upon the research we publish.
Under the open access model, an article is made immediately available online when published, and is free to read for anyone in the world, rather than only to subscribing readers or institutions. The work is typically distributed under a Creative Commons license, which allows others to reuse or share the material according to specified terms. In the case of GESRI, all content is released under an open license (usually Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial), allowing readers to read, download, and share the work 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 while granting the public broad permission to use it, aligning with our educational mission . In summary, open access means free and universal access to knowledge, enabling anyone to learn from and apply the findings without restriction.
In fully OA journals like GESRI (and others such as Nature Communications or Scientific Reports in the professional sphere), all articles are published open access by default. By contrast, some traditional or “hybrid” journals offer a choice between open access or subscription-only publishing. GESRI is proud to be an entirely open access journal, so every article we publish is available to all readers from day one under the open access license terms. This ensures that student-driven research findings can reach the broadest possible audience, including peers, teachers, and researchers around the world, without any financial or accessibility hurdles.
Open access offers numerous benefits for both authors and readers. By publishing your work open access in GESRI, you can:
Reach a Global Audience Immediately: Anyone anywhere can read your research as soon as it’s published, since there are no subscription requirements. This global visibility means that educators, students, and researchers around the world – even those without access to expensive journal subscriptions – can find and learn from your work. Open access breaks down barriers, allowing your discoveries to inform and inspire the widest possible audience right away.
Increase Your Research Impact: Studies have shown that open access articles tend to receive more readers and citations than articles behind paywalls. With broader accessibility, your work is more likely to be read, referenced, and built upon by others. For example, an analysis by Springer Nature found that open access articles were on average cited about 1.6× more often than non-OA articles and downloaded up to 4× more frequently . OA publications also attracted significantly higher attention in news and policy outlets, reflecting greater visibility.¹ By publishing in GESRI’s open access journal, you maximize the potential impact and recognition of your research.
Accelerate Scientific and Educational Progress: Open access helps speed up the pace of science and learning. When findings are freely available, other researchers (including fellow students) can immediately build on your results, compare data, or attempt new experiments, rather than waiting or struggling to obtain a paper. This rapid dissemination of knowledge fosters collaboration and innovation. In an educational context, teachers and mentors can use open access articles as learning materials in the classroom, and students everywhere can see examples of research by their peers. Overall, OA removes friction in knowledge-sharing, allowing science and education to progress more quickly and openly.
Maintain High Standards with Wider Reach: Choosing open access with GESRI doesn’t mean compromising on quality. Every submission to GESRI undergoes careful editorial review for clarity, accuracy, and sound scientific reasoning . While our journal is an educational platform and not a formal peer-reviewed publication, we uphold rigorous editorial standards to ensure your work is presented credibly and ethically. In other words, you get the same commitment to quality review while enjoying a far broader readership through open access. Your research will meet scholarly standards and simultaneously reach readers well beyond the usual academic circles.
Meet Open Science Guidelines and Requirements: Publishing open access also helps authors align with the increasing mandates of funders and institutions that encourage or require research to be publicly accessible. Around the world, there is a strong movement toward open science – many grant agencies, universities, and science fairs prefer or mandate that student research outputs be openly available. By publishing with GESRI, authors can easily satisfy these evolving requirements and demonstrate a commitment to open science principles. Even if you are a high school or undergraduate researcher, embracing open access showcases your dedication to transparency and public engagement in science.
GESRI is a fully open access publication. This means that from the moment an article or research proposal is published in our journal, it is free for anyone to read and download. There are no subscription fees for readers and no paywalls on our content. In line with this commitment, all GESRI articles are published under a Creative Commons open license (typically CC BY-NC 4.0), which explicitly permits non-commercial reuse and sharing with attribution . Readers and other researchers are welcome to share, copy, distribute, or adapt the work for educational and scholarly purposes, as long as the original authors are credited and the use is not for commercial profit. This licensing ensures that knowledge from GESRI can be disseminated widely in classrooms, science clubs, or other journals, amplifying the educational impact of student research. Importantly, authors retain their copyrights under this model – GESRI does not take exclusive rights. Instead, authors simply grant the public a broad permission to use their work, allowing their discoveries to become a resource for the broader community while preserving authors’ intellectual ownership.
We also encourage open science practices alongside open access. Whenever possible, GESRI invites authors to share their data, code, and methodologies (for example, in supplementary materials or public repositories) to enhance transparency and reproducibility. By making not only the paper but also the underlying research materials openly available, student researchers can contribute to a more robust and verifiable scientific record. While sharing of data or code may not always be applicable in every student project, GESRI supports these practices as part of our ethos of openness and education. Likewise, we publish articles with full author attribution and contact information (with the authors’ consent) to encourage scholarly communication – readers or other young researchers can reach out to authors directly for questions or collaboration. This open exchange of ideas is a cornerstone of both scientific progress and learning.
Open access at GESRI is provided at no cost to authors. We operate on a non-profit model specifically to make publishing and accessing research inclusive for all. No fees are charged to authors or readers for publishing in the GESRI Journal . There are no article processing charges (APCs), submission fees, or subscription fees whatsoever. This policy removes financial barriers that might otherwise prevent students from sharing their work. Whether you are a high school student in Georgia or a young researcher from a developing country, you can publish your findings in GESRI free of charge. Our mission as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization is to empower student researchers and disseminate their work for the public good, not to generate profit . Any funding we receive (for example, through donations or grants) is used solely to support the journal’s operations and educational programs – never to charge authors or readers .
By eliminating publication fees, GESRI provides dedicated support to authors from all backgrounds. In the wider academic publishing world, Article Processing Charges can be a significant barrier, especially for researchers in low-income regions or those without institutional funding. GESRI’s no-APC approach means that excellent student research from under-resourced schools or communities can still be published and shared widely. We strongly believe that the opportunity to contribute to science should not depend on one’s ability to pay. This inclusive open access model ensures that the diversity of student voices in scientific research can be heard, fostering a richer and more equitable scientific dialogue.
In summary, GESRI is proud to champion open access in student research. By publishing with us, you ensure that your work is freely accessible to everyone and positioned to have maximum impact, all while retaining your rights and meeting high academic and ethical standards. Open access is central to our mission of making research a collaborative, inclusive endeavor. We are excited to work with student scientists across the globe, helping you share your discoveries openly for the benefit of all. Together, we can accelerate learning and innovation by removing barriers to knowledge – one student research article at a time.
GESRI and its partners remain committed to continually improving and supporting open research. If you have any questions about our open access policy or how to make the most of publishing open access, please contact our editorial team.
¹ Based on data from a Springer Nature analysis of hybrid journals (2018), examining article performance within the first three years of publication .