Articles submitted to the Journal must be original work written by currently enrolled undergraduate students at UCR, who are involved in faculty-mentored research, scholarship, and/or creative activity.

All articles must be approved by the student researcher's faculty mentor(s) for submission to be complete. Once the student has submitted the article online, each faculty mentor will receive notification via email.  The faculty mentor will then have the option to approve, hold the article for edits, or not approve.  It is highly recommended that students acquire verbal approval from their mentor(s) before they submit online. The student will be notified of the mentor's action and is responsible for following up with the mentor if the article was not approved.  Only those submissions approved by faculty mentors will move forward to the editorial evaluation process. If appropriate, research must have approval from institutional oversight boards or committees. 

The UCR Undergraduate Research Journal is considered a campus journal.  The Journal is housed in the Rivera Library Special Collections and can be found in the UCR Library.  The submission of a paper to the Journal does not exclude the possibility of submitting similar work to an external journal unless the external journal's submission or publication restrictions prohibit it.  Students who are published in the Undergraduate Research Journal may also submit their work for publication in other journals. 

You are encouraged to review articles previously submitted and accepted. You can view the most recent Journal to see examples.
 

• 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 page number in the center of the page at the bottom.
• References:  Follow the citation styles of your discipline. Some examples are MLA, APA, CSE, ACS, etc. Please work with your faculty mentors to determine which should be used.
• Articles must be submitted as a Word document (.dox or .docx format).
• 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.
• Name your file as "Submission Number - (XXXXX) - First Submission" - upon submission your article will be assigned a Submission Number, please use that number for future revised submissions.
• Document size cannot exceed 5MB.
• Maximum length of the article cannot exceed 15 pages, 12-point Times New Roman, including all figures, tables, graphs, footnotes, and references. It does not include the abstract and author information.
• Journal Template

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. 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

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 watch the Publishing in the Journal Workshop Video or attend a Submitting to the Journal workshop.
 

• Abstract
  • Is the research question clearly articulated?
  • Is the research approach clearly defined?
  • Does it make clear the results/relevance of this research?
• Article Body
  • Well-defined position and motivation for research.
  • Logical, step-wise method and methodology.
  • Clarity of conclusions.
  • Significance of results.
  • Direction of study and broader implication of research.
• Style Points
  • Grammar and spelling.
  • Proper formatting and labeling of figures and graphs.
  • Clarity of article presentation.
  • Appropriate use of citations/references.
     

• All students submitting articles for consideration will also need to provide a brief biography. The biography should be no more than 80 words. It should be written in third person, present tense and include the following:
  • Name
  • Year of Study
  • Major
  • Research and research mentor
  • Awards/recognition (funding, research, honor societies, leadership roles)
  • Future goals

It is important that care be taken with grammar and spelling in your biography, as it is considered part of your submission in the review process.

• Example:
  • Author: Connor Richards, Department of Physics and Astronomy
  • Connor Richards is a third year Physics major. He studies physics beyond the standard model at the Large Hadron Collider. With funding from the Goldwater Scholarship, University of California Regents’ Scholarship, UC LEADS Fellowship, and Chancellor’s Research Fellowship, he has participated in research and outreach at the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) for two years under the guidance of Dr. Owen Long. Currently Vice President of CNAS Science Ambassadors, Richards’ passions are research, science outreach, and STEM education. He plans to pursue a Ph.D. in High-Energy Physics and a faculty position.
     

Library Research Guides (Find citation styles for your discipline) 
Managing your references
UCR library Workshop Schedule
UCR Library Specialist
 

• Submissions must be your own artwork.
• Submissions must be unpublished (unless being used in the Journal).
• No less than 300 dpi set at their required size in: Photoshop, InDesign, or high resolution PDF, CMYK color setup.
• Preferred submission size is 8.75" x 11.25" (or scalable down to this size).
• You are allowed to submit up to 3 images.
• You must provide a description of no more than 80 words.
   

Each entry will be judged by a panel consisting of the Faculty Editorial Board Chair, the Editor-In-Chief, the Associate Editors-In-Chief, and the Copy Editors.  The top 3-5 covers will be voted on by the entire Editorial Team, including the Faculty Advisory Board and the Student Editorial Board.  The winning design will be used on the cover of the Journal, which will also include a half-page about the winner and his or her work.  The winner will be recognized at the Journal Unveiling Ceremony.

The judges reserve the right not to award the prize if no entry is deemed fitting. The judges’ decisions will be final and no correspondence will be had in relation to their decisions or the competition.
 

Dr. Monica Carson, Biomedical Sciences
Dr. Andrea Denny-Brown, English
Dr. Alejandra Dubcovsky, History
Dr. William Grover, Bioengineering
Dr. Erica Heinrich, Biomedical Sciences
Dr. Xiaoping Hu, Bioengineering
Dr. Ye Li, Business
Dr. Joshua Morgan, Bioengineering
Dr. Leonard Mueller, Chemistry
Dr. Vorris Nunley, English
Dr. Wendy Saltzman, Biology
Dr. James Tobias, English

SEB Board Members gain hands on experience in the publication of the Journal.  They work closely with the Faculty Advisory Board members as well as several undergraduate researchers and their faculty mentors. Serving on an editorial board is a wonderful experience for students contemplating careers in research and creative scholarship.

Students who are involved in faculty mentored research, scholarly or creative projects will be invited to submit their articles for the review by the Student Editorial Board, working with guidance from the Faculty Advisory Board.  

• Student Editorial Board Job Descriptions
• Peer-Review Process

Apply for the Student Editorial Board - Application Deadline, September 30

Apply Here

• Editor-In-Chief: 
  • Ledia Nasr
  • Angelin Simon
• Associate-Editor-In-Chief: 
  • Priya Iyer
  • Sekirou Shimono
• Copy Editors
  • Nicole D'souza
  • Vanessa Hua
  • Katherine Morrisette
  • Kashish Rai
• Members
  • Trusha Bhagwat
  • Matthew Dimaandal
  • Wesley Hur
  • Tara Keezhanjil
  • Hannah Kim
  • Bobbi Monae Mandour
  • Aurchana Manickavasagan
  • Nandini Mannem
  • Vishruth Nagam
  • Elliot Randolph

The UCR Undergraduate Research Journal was first published in 2007. All current and past volumes of the Undergraduate Research Journal can be found in Special Collections in Rivera Library. Starting in 2018, all issues will be made available on Escholarship, the open-access publication source for the University of California. 

• Volume XVII (2023)
• Volume XVI (2022)
• Volume XV (2021)
• Volume XIV (2020)
• Volume XIII (2019)
• Volume XII (2018)
• Volume XI (2017)
• Volume X (2016)
• Volume IX (2015)
• Volume VIII (2014)

• Creative Works: Mosaic Art & Literary Journal
• Honors Audeamus Journal