UC Riverside Undergraduate Research Journal Submission

This page is designed to help you ensure your submission is ready for and fits the scope of the journal.

Before submitting please read over the guidelines below, then register an account (or login if you have an existing account).

Register Login Contact Us

About

The University of California Riverside Undergraduate Research Journal provides a student-edited multi-disciplinary journal that features the very best faculty-mentored undergraduate research and scholarship accomplished on our campus. This peer-review process is managed by the Student Editorial Board (SEB) with guidance from the Faculty Advisory Board (FAB), and logistical support from the Center for Undergraduate Research and Engaged Learning team. The Journal is sponsored by the Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education.

Focus and Scope

The University of California Riverside Undergraduate Research Journal provides a student-edited multi-disciplinary journal that features the very best faculty-mentored undergraduate research and scholarship accomplished on our campus. This peer-review process is managed by the Student Editorial Board (SEB) with guidance from the Faculty Advisory Board (FAB), and logistical support from the Center for Undergraduate Research and Engaged Learning team. The Journal is sponsored by the Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education. Authors of submissions must be current UCR undergraduates or UCR undergraduates who graduated in the last 3 months.

Submission Checklist

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS.
  • Authors of submissions must be current UCR undergraduates or UCR undergraduates who graduated in the last 3 months.
  • Should your study involve human subjects, IRB approval is required and approval must be stated in your Methods section. 
  • Margins must be 1-inch on all sides.
  • Abstract must be single-spaced.
  • Article text must be double-spaced.
  • All pages must be numbered. Place the page number in the center of the page at the bottom.
  • Articles must be submitted as a Word document (.doc or .docx format)
  • Submission manuscript will require approval by your faculty mentor.
  • Name the file as “First Submission - Title” (Future revisions should include the Submission #).
  • References: Follow the citation styles of your discipline (ex: MLA, APA, CSE, etc…) Please work with your faculty mentors to determine which should be used.
  • Document size cannot exceed 5 MB.
  • The maximum length of a submission cannot exceed 15 pages, 12-point Times New Roman, including all figures, tables, illustrations, footnotes, citations, and references. Does not include the abstract or author information.
  • The final page of your article should include your faculty mentor's bio. Please consult with your faculty to ensure that you are included the most updated bio.


PAPER STRUCTURE.

**NOTE: The ideal structure of any article will depend on the discipline. Please consult with your faculty mentor to determine the paper structure that is most appropriate for your submission. It is recommended that all submissions contain the following elements: 

  • Title -- Place the title of your article at the top of each page, followed by the names of the student author(s) and the faculty mentor(s).
    • Authorship is very specific. It is an explicit way of assigning responsibility and giving credit for intellectual work. In order to properly assign authorship credit, please follow these guidelines.
      • One author should take primary responsibility for the work as a whole. The Primary Author is responsible for submission.
      • Everyone who is listed as an author must have made a substantial, direct, intellectual contribution to the work. For example, they should have contributed to the conception, design, analysis and/or interpretation of data, as well as to the actual writing of the article. 
      • Please list authors in order of contribution. You are encouraged to discuss this with the team members prior to submission. The order that you provide in this submission is the order the authors will be listed.
      • All authors should participate in the editing process by reviewing drafts and approving the final version before publication.
  • Abstract --A single paragraph containing no more than 250 words. An abstract briefly defines the problem, purpose, or specific topic addressed by the research. It briefly indicates the methods and/or approach taken in inquiry and summarizes results or conclusion. It should be written in grammatically correct, logically connected sentences. Furthermore, it should be understandable by any audience with reasonable knowledge of its field. The abstract should not contain any charts, tables, graphs, figures, or spreadsheets. The abstract must be single spaced.
  • Keywords -- 6-8 keywords relevant to the topic
  • Introduction – Enough background information for any reader to understand the position taken. Define field-specific terms here.
  • Methods/Methodology - A logical, step-wise process defined enough such that anyone in the field can replicate your results with accuracy. If your study requires IRB approval, mention this here. 
  • Results/Findings
  • Discussion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Works Cited / References

PLEASE NOTE:  If your paper is accepted, and you have photos/ graphs/images, we will ask that you submit the images in high resolution (300 DPI) for publication.
For more information on each of these paper sections, please review our template for articles, watch the Publishing in the Journal Workshop Video and attend the mandatory Submitting to the Journal workshop.

Copyright Notice

The following is an agreement between UC Riverside Undergraduate Research Journal (the Journal) and the submitter (the Author), governing the work currently being submitted, including the primary contribution as well as any supporting materials such as an abstract, data sets, media files, figures, or tables created by the Author and any co-authors (the Submission). 

The Journal is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to readers or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. 

1. As consideration for publication in the Journal, the Author grants the Journal the following rights: 
1.1. A non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free right to publish, reproduce, publicly display, publicly perform and distribute the Work in perpetuity throughout the world in all means of expression by any method or media now known or hereafter developed; and
1.2. A non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free right to license others, including databases or printing vendors, to do any or all of the above on a non-exclusive basis. 

2. The Author warrants that: 
2.1. The Author is the author of the Submission, or is authorized to act on behalf of the author(s) and copyright holder (if different from the author(s)), and has the power to convey the rights granted in this agreement.
2.2. If the Submission has multiple authors, the other authors are identified in the Submission, and the Author will inform the other authors of the terms of this agreement.
2.3. Any textual, graphic or multimedia material included in the Submission that is the intellectual property or work of another is identified and cited in the Submission. 
2.4. If the Submission reproduces any material that is the intellectual property of another, the Author has received permission to publish that material in the Submission, or the material is being incorporated based on an informed, reasonable, and good faith application of fair use.
2.5. The Submission is the original work of the Author(s). To the best of the Author’s knowledge, it does not contain matter that is obscene, libelous, or defamatory; it does not knowingly violate another’s right of privacy, right of publicity, or other legal right; does not contain false or misleading statements; and is otherwise not unlawful.
2.6. The Submission has not been previously published, and is not pending review elsewhere. If this is not the case, the Author will provide the Journal with information about the other locations where the Submission appears or is pending review. Prior distribution of a Submission, including on a preprint server or in a repository, does not disqualify a Submission from potential publication; the Journal is primarily concerned with other appearances in similar publications.
2.7. If the Author is a student, the Author agrees to share their work and waive any privacy rights granted by FERPA or any other law, policy or regulation, with respect to the Submission, for the purpose of publication. If the Author has any student co-authors, the Author will obtain a signed copy of this agreement from those co-authors.  

3. Indemnification 
The Author will indemnify and hold the Journal harmless against loss, damages, expenses, awards, and judgments arising from breach of any of the above warranties. 

4. Author’s Rights and Obligations 
4.1. Nothing in this agreement constitutes a transfer of the copyright by the Author. As such, the Author retains all rights not expressly granted herein, including but not limited to, the right:
4.1.1. To reproduce and distribute the Submission, and to authorize others to reproduce and distribute the Submission, in any format;
4.1.2. To post the Submission in an institutional repository or the Author’s personal or departmental web page.
4.1.3. To include the Submission, in whole or in part, in another work.
4.2. If the Author distributes the Submission on another website or in another publication (as described above), the Journal will be cited as the source of first publication. 

5. Rights for Readers 
The Journal and the Author agree that the Submission will be distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), or other later version of the same license, that allows others to copy, distribute, translate, adapt, and build upon the Submission, as long as they provide appropriate credit to the author(s) and do not use the Submission for commercial purposes. Anyone who uses or redistributes the Submission under this license must indicate any changes that were made, must link to the license, and cannot imply that the author(s) endorse them or their use. More information about this license is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.   

6. Termination 
The Author agrees to the terms of this agreement for the Submission being considered for publication. If the Submission is declined, this agreement is terminated. 

Peer Review

This journal operates a double anonymous, peer review policy to ensure fairness throughout the reviewing process.

Licences

UC Riverside Undergraduate Research Journal allows the following licences for submission:

  • CC BY-NC 4.0
    Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Publication Fees

The University of California Riverside Undergraduate Research Journal requires no fees to submit and publish in our journal.

Publication Cycle

This journal publishes once every spring quarter of the academic year. We open submissions for prospective authors once every fall, winter, and spring quarter. For exact deadlines, please refer to our homepage (https://engage.ucr.edu/research/journal).

Sections

Section or article type

Public Submissions

Peer Reviewed

Indexed

Articles