I was a top student in America.

"I don't know much about journals, so I'll have to trouble you to recommend some," Li Ao said frankly.

Professor Jensen pondered for a moment:

"Your short paper has some potential application value and is well-written. You could try submitting it to the Journal of Inequalities and Applications."

To reassure Li Ao, he added a few more details:

"This journal specializes in accepting papers on inequalities and is also an SCI journal. The review standards are quite high, but your topic is a good fit for it. Moreover, it is relatively friendly to short papers, and the review period usually doesn't take too long."

"Okay, I'll go back and prepare to submit it." Li Ao readily agreed.

In this field, Professor Jensen is an absolute authority, and there is no reason to question his advice.

David, standing to the side, muttered something under his breath, and the way he looked at Li Ao had changed.

Is this really a manuscript that can be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal? And the professor's evaluation is so high?

As a third-year doctoral student, David knew all too well the ins and outs of international mathematics journals.

That's not some low-quality journal that you publish casually; it's a genuine SCI journal.

Even he himself is not entirely confident that the papers he currently holds will be accepted into journals of this caliber.

If it's not polished well enough, it will most likely be rejected outright.

Professor Jensen looked at Li Ao with increasing satisfaction. If other professors had their eyes on such a promising talent, they would definitely try to snatch him away.

Having thought of this, he immediately made a decision and gestured for Li Ao to sit down:

"David told me you're already studying real analysis and your foundation is quite good. In that case, why not get involved in real research problems sooner? After the second phase of testing, I'll arrange some convex function optimization material for you separately."

He looked at Li Ao and added half-jokingly, "How about it, dare to give it a try? But let me make it clear beforehand, I won't go easy on you just because you're a high school student."

"I'm willing to give it a try," Li Ao nodded immediately.

As his personal attributes improved and new terms were unlocked, his learning efficiency far surpassed that of ordinary people, and he was naturally unwilling to remain at the level of high school competition questions.

Only by engaging in in-depth mathematical research as early as possible will a larger academic stage open up for him.

"Very good." Professor Jensen was in a good mood and gently patted his shoulder. "In the meantime, you should focus on preparing for the national team selection."

After the matter was settled, Li Ao didn't linger and said goodbye to return to his dormitory.

David offered to walk him downstairs.

In just a few dozen minutes since he entered the room, his gaze toward Li Ao has completely changed.

"Congratulations, Leo. To have your first paper published in an SCI mathematics journal already puts you far ahead of many undergraduates."

Outside the math building, David, with dark circles under his eyes, spoke with genuine envy.

This is no exaggeration.

Even at top universities like the University of Chicago, mathematics students typically don't get their first paper until their senior year of undergraduate studies or even graduate school, let alone aiming for an SCI paper.

I've never heard of a high school student being able to independently complete a high-quality math essay.

Even if the postdocs in the research group found out, they'd probably be quite envious for a while.

"Thank you for helping me with the paper format yesterday," Li Ao casually mentioned.

David waved his hand and said self-deprecatingly, "Hey, I wasn't helpful at all. I was worried you'd get stuck on the formatting, but now it seems I should worry more about my own paper. Hopefully, you won't push me too far in the future."

He paused, then added with a smile, "We're all in the same research group, so don't call me 'teacher' anymore, just call me David. Email me anytime if you need anything; the professor has already said you're officially our 'fellow student' now."

"Okay, David," Li Ao nodded in agreement.

The two then said goodbye downstairs and turned to leave.

While passing by the Illini Union Restaurant, Li Ao sent Taylor a text message and learned that his roommates were still studying hard in the dormitory, so he bought some snacks and energy bars to take back with him.

As soon as the things were put down, a cheer erupted in the dormitory.

"I love you, Leo!" Taylor reacted the most dramatically, opening her arms to rush over for a hug, but Li Ao pushed her away: "Go eat your food."

Kevin, biting into his sandwich, mumbled a question:

"You just saw Professor Jensen? What did he say?"

Everyone knew that Li Ao was writing a short essay, and they also knew the purpose of his visit to the professor today.

Li Ao replied, "The professor said there wasn't much that needed to be changed. He would polish it a little and then I could submit it directly."

As he spoke, he walked to his desk and opened his laptop.

Before submitting a manuscript, you need to understand the manuscript submission process and format of "Mathematical Inequalities and Applications". Only after you have dealt with this can you free up your time to continue studying ordinary differential equations and real analysis.

He currently has Professor Philip's small project lined up and national team review in hand, so time is already tight, and he also needs to try to push his intelligence attribute to 120 as soon as possible.

If you calculate it this way, even studying for seventeen or eighteen hours a day is still not enough.

Upon hearing this, Kevin's hand, which was reaching for the energy bar, froze in mid-air.

Contribute?

He had always thought that Li Ao's writing was just ordinary material for professors to read, and he hadn't asked any further questions because he thought it was impressive.

But "submitting an article" is a completely different concept.

Kevin put down his sandwich and couldn't help but confirm, "Your paper, is it for publication in a journal?"

"Yes. Professor Jensen suggested submitting to 'Mathematical Inequalities and Applications,' an SCI journal," Li Ao nodded in reply.

Kevin was, after all, a veteran student. Although he wasn't yet at the level to publish papers, he was well aware of the weight of those three letters.

He suddenly raised his voice: "What you've been working on all this time, is it an SCI paper?!"

This shout immediately drew Taylor and Ethan over.

"An SCI paper? And you passed the professor's review on the first try? You're amazing."

Taylor, with something in his mouth, mumbled his agreement.

Ethan looked completely bewildered: "What are SCI papers?"

He came from a remote town in Arkansas, and all he knew was coding challenges and competitions; he had no idea about academic concepts.

"It's a paper published in a reputable mathematics journal, something usually done by undergraduates, doctoral students, or even professors," Kevin quickly explained, then turned to Li Ao, "Speaking of which, what exactly was the research topic of your paper?"

While the computer was booting up, Li Ao tried to explain in plain language: "It's about mathematical analysis. When I was studying AP Calculus, I accidentally proved a two-sided estimation condition for a weighted Hermite-Hadamard inequality, which might be useful for the average value of convex functions."

His response was a long silence in the dormitory.

Taylor seemed to understand but not quite, and after a long pause, he managed to utter two words: "Awesome."

Ethan's eyes were filled with adoration.

Kevin opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't say anything. He silently walked back to his desk and dragged the competition experience document that he had half-written on the computer into the recycle bin.

Li Ao ignored them and logged into his email, opening the journal's webpage at the URL the professor had given him.

After registering an account, filling out a bunch of tedious information, and finally downloading the paper format and submission process documents, I finally got around to it.

"Finally finished."

Li Ao closed the webpage, let out a long breath, and then pulled out the ordinary differential equations textbook from the table.

Everything is ready; we're just waiting for Professor Jensen to send back the revised manuscript so we can submit it.

The main focus now is to quickly increase your intelligence attribute.

Once you master real analysis and differential equations, the IQ 120 level will be within your grasp.

As for the publication of the paper, it will definitely help with university applications and subsequent research, but it's more like icing on the cake, so he's not in a hurry.

There was still a problem-solving session in the afternoon, so he quickly focused on deriving the theorems in the Real Analysis textbook and then reinforcing his understanding by doing problems.

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye, and a new feedback message popped up on the panel in front of me:

[Under intense study conditions... Intelligence +0.1]

……