Q8: After I submit my entry, can I publish the paper publicly or present it at an academic conference before the competition results are announced?
A: To ensure the fairness of the competition, we require that all submitted papers have not been published through any public channels nor presented under the author’s real name at any academic seminars. Additionally, the submitted paper must not be published or presented via any public channels in the period after submission and before the announcement of the competition results, so as to prevent the disclosure of the author’s identity that may affect the judges’ evaluation. If such a situation is discovered, we will have to revoke the participant’s eligibility for the competition.
Q9: For "opinion pieces", to what specific extent is the format flexible? Can the conversational or manifesto style be adopted in full? Must the references still strictly follow the Chicago or APA format?
A: Opinion pieces do not need to adhere to the academic paper standards rigidly and may adopt experimental forms such as the conversational or manifesto style. However, the crucial prerequisite is to maintain academic rigor and in-depth argumentation. This means that regardless of how innovative the form is, the paper must have a clear awareness of research questions, a rigorous reasoning process, and a set of strong supporting evidence. As for references, there are no mandatory requirements for opinion papers, but the sources of the ideas and data referenced must be clearly indicated in an appropriate manner (e.g., listing a bibliography at the end of the paper and marking in-text citations clearly), which are part of basic requirement for academic integrity.