Annually, PSSN recognizes authors/researchers of nature studies with high quality through a paper competition. It has already awarded more than 100 papers in the last 15 years. Once again, PSSN is inviting researchers anywhere in the globe to submit their research papers for this year’s competition. Cash prizes and award citation will be given to all winners.
Mechanics of the Competition
1. The competition has 5 categories: Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, Integrative Studies, and Best Undergraduate Thesis.
2. Participating author/s should send a copy of their full paper to the secretariat@pssnonline.org with “competing paper” as the subject of the email.
3. The submission of entries shall indicate that the author/s are declaring that the papers are original and have no conflict of business interest.
4. Submitted papers should not have been submitted, reviewed, or accepted for publication in any peer-reviewed journal at the time of submission.
5. The entry should be typed in double space and saved as word document (v.97-2003).
6. The entry should contain a title (limit of 15 words), author/s’ name/s, author/s’ affiliation, abstract (limit of 200 words), keywords (limit of 5 keywords), Introduction, Objectives, Framework (if applicable), Methods or Methodology, Results and Discussion, Conclusion (and Recommendations, if applicable), Acknowledgement (if any), and Literature Cited (APA style).
7. Only one entry per author/s will be considered in the competition. PSSN reserves the right to reject any second entry.
8. Submitted entries will be pre-screened or pre-evaluated by the Best Paper Award Committee.
9. The criteria for the pre-screening will be as follows:
Contribution to the body of knowledge – 50%
Relevance to the Theme – 25%
Organization – 25%
10. Only three papers per category will be selected as finalists.
11. The finalists shall present their papers during the first day of the conference proper; otherwise they will be disqualified.
12. Non-finalists will be presented in the regular paper presentation schedules.
13. Members of the Best Paper Award Committee shall not join the competition or shall not be advisers of students competing for the Best Undergraduate Thesis.
14. For the final judging, the criteria for selection of the Best Oral Paper shall be as follows:
Delivery/Presentation – 30%
Content – 30%
Ability to answer questions – 30%
Time management – 10%
15. The decision of the committee is final and shall be respected. The committee shall not entertain questions regarding the selection of the winners.