SPORK offers JGU students the opportunity to publish aspects or excerpts of their seminar papers, term papers or theses, research or project reports or other research-oriented contributions as scientific Open Access articles. 

Contributions will be submitted within the framework of an advertised call for papers with recommendations from lecturers. With SPORK, lecturers can actively involve students in the publication process and provide them with targeted support during their first experiences in open access publishing: In the competent use of a professional editorial management system as well as with valuable feedback on writing skills. 

SPORK complements the University Library’s publication offerings by making student research accessible to a broad audience in a clear and engaging way, including readers beyond academia. But SPORK has even more to offer: In addition to open-topic submissions, themed booklets bring together content from different academic disciplines.

Submissions can be made by Bachelor's and Master's students of all subjects at JGU. Contributions can be submitted in German and English. The original papers must have been reworked into scientific articles before submission.

Seminar papers, term papers and theses are often too extensive to be published in full. We therefore recommend highlighting only one interesting aspect of your work and writing it up as a scientific article. Remember to incorporate any feedback and corrections you have already received from your teachers/supervisors.

Submissions will be made via an Editorial Management System, which will be activated shortly.

Checklist:

• The article has not yet been submitted to another journal
• Authors should consider the notes on academic integrity and the use of AI tools at JGU 
• Text as Word and PDF document
  Please use the template provided by SPORK to create your manuscript. 
  Please also refer to the manuscript preparation notes in the template.
  Please ensure that the text does not contain any references to yourself or your institution to allow for an anonymized review. Your name will be visible only to the editors.
• Abstract: max. 250 words
• Text (including footnotes and bibliography): 6,000-8,000 words
• Illustrations as individual image files (Note: Authors are responsible for obtaining and clarifying the rights to all images used)
• Letter of recommendation from a teacher
• License: To publish on SPORK, authors must use the following CC-BY license for their work, which allows SPORK to uphold the principles of Open Science: CC-BY 4.0
  A detailed description of the license conditions can be found on Seafile.

The call for papers for our first open issue is currently open! The deadline is October 1, 2026. Contributions from all disciplines are welcome!

Call for Papers (PDF)

Ideas for themed issues—such as related contributions from a project seminar, student conferences, or student exhibitions—can be submitted to the Editorial Team at any time throughout the year. If you are interested, please contact the Editorial Team with a brief summary of the issue.

Those interested in contributing to SPORK as a reviewer of student submissions or in other capacities are welcome to be added to our list. Doctoral students can also become reviewers at SPORK. 

Please contact the Editorial Team with all inquiries.