Publication Process
We accept submissions on a rolling basis throughout the year and process them in the order they are received. Your manuscript is first screened by our editorial board to assess general fit for the journal. Successful manuscripts are then reviewed by 2-3 volunteer faculty members and/or graduate students who evaluate the quality and rigour of the article. Any comments and/or constructive criticism from the reviewers are sent back to the author(s) for manuscript revision. CJUR implements two stages of the review process; following each stage, the reviewers and CJUR editorial board assess the manuscript’s suitability for publication. If deemed appropriate, the manuscript is copyedited and then typeset for eventual publication. Please note that CJUR reserves the right to decline a manuscript for publication at any point throughout the peer-review process.
CJUR issues are published typically two to three times a year, whenever we have collated enough manuscripts to compose an issue. Due to the volume of submissions we receive, we cannot guarantee that your submission will be considered for the upcoming issue.
Any questions or concerns can be directed to [email protected]
Submission Requirements
Any manuscripts that blatantly do not follow our requirements will be automatically rejected. Prior to submitting your manuscript, please ensure you meet the following (click for drop down):
1. You meet our author eligibility criteria:
- The research you did was performed during your undergraduate degree at a Canadian institution. Submissions from authors who have graduated are welcome, so long as you graduated within the current or the previous calendar year.
- If the research is based on coursework, it must:
- Discuss projects originally designed by the author(s)
- Acknowledge the help of the instructors of the course for which it was originally intended and be granted permission by the instructor to be submitted for publication
- Be confirmed that a grade has already been obtained upon submission
- The research must have been either supervised by a faculty member, or is endorsed for publication by a faculty member. Explicit permission to publish the manuscript must be obtained from a faculty member who is familiar with the subject matter, such as your principle investigator or course professor. Their signature must be included in the submission form.
- The research you are submitting is neither currently under review, nor has been published in another journal.
2. Your submission falls into 1 of the 3 accepted submission categories:
Original research
Research articles report on the outcomes of primary observation and/or experimentation performed in response to a research question. These can concern topics in the sciences or the humanities.
Articles fall between 4 and 6 pages and must cite at least 10 peer-reviewed sources.
Reviews
Narrative reviews summarize the state of understanding on a research topic, while scoping and systematic reviews synthesize the findings of existing literature in response to a research question.
Reviews should only take primary literature into consideration, falling between 4 and 8 pages and citing at least 15 peer-reviewed sources.
Book reviews
Book reviews discuss the findings and methodologies of a work of non-fiction and place it in the context of its wider discipline.
Submissions should fall between 3-5 pages in length and must cite at least 5 peer-reviewed sources in the bibliography.
3. Your manuscript adheres to our formatting rules:
The article is in a Microsoft Word file and in 1.5 spaced 12-point Times New Roman font.
All citations are in APA style and are in-text.
All lines in the text file are numbered.
All illustrations and figures must be submitted as separate PNG, BMP, RAW, JPEG, or TIFF files of at least 300 dpi, and datasets for all figures and tables must be submitted as clearly labelled spreadsheet files.
All tables must be submitted as separate Excel or CSV files.
All illustrations, figures, and tables must be referred to in the main text in addition to being submitted as separate files
All original quantities must be given in SI units; if a quoted source notes a quantity in a non-SI unit of measurement, the SI equivalent must be indicated in square brackets.
To ensure a double-blind process, the article text and the file name itself must not contain any identifying information. This includes author names and affiliations, any names present in the acknowledgements, etc. These may be added in again after the review process is complete.
4. You follow our style and accessibility tips:
CJUR is a multidisciplinary undergraduate journal. Submissions should be clear and concise, and be written to be accessible to readers outside of the research field. Although no submission will be rejected on grounds of poor language, CJUR reserves the right to make all final decisions regarding writing style.
Include as much background and contextual information as possible. Abstract and obscure ideas should be explained clearly and concisely at first mention. Avoid using loaded descriptions or non-standard terms.
Technical terms and jargon should be avoided where possible. Specialized names and abbreviations must be written in full using internationally agreed nomenclature at first mention.
Submission Forms
Your submission should include:
- A submission form
- The manuscript text, following the appropriate submission template relevant to your type of manuscript:
- Any data referenced in your article text, formatted appropriately as a separate file
- Any figures referenced in your text, formatted appropriately as a separate file
To submit to CJUR, first register into the Open Journal Systems (OJS) Library as an author, then upload your submission package. An editor will get in contact with you within a few weeks.
Rights for authors
Usage Policies
The posting, reproduction, transmission or other distribution or use of the article submitted or any material therein, in any medium as permitted by a personal-use exemption (see below) or by written agreement of the Canadian Journal of Undergraduate Research, requires credit to Canadian Journal of Undergraduate Research as copyright holder (e.g., Canadian Journal of Undergraduate Research © 2024).
General Terms and Conditions
The failure of the Canadian Journal of Undergraduate Research to exercise or enforce any right or provision in the policies or the Submission Agreement does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any term of the Submission Agreement or these policies is found to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavour to give effect to the parties’ intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Submission Agreement and these policies remain in full force and effect. These policies and the Submission Agreement constitute the entire agreement between the Canadian Journal of Undergraduate Research and the Author(s) regarding submission of the Article.
Personal Use Exemptions
The following uses are always permitted to the author(s) and do not require further permission from the Canadian Journal of Undergraduate Research provided the author does not alter the format or content of the articles, including the copyright notification:
- Posting of the article on a non-commercial course website for a course being taught by the author at the university or college employing the author.
- Storage and back-up of the article on the author’s computer(s) and digital media (e.g., external hard drives, back-up servers, etc.), provided that the article stored on these computers and media is not readily accessible by persons other than the author(s);
- Posting of the article on the author(s) personal website, provided that the website is non-commercial;
- Posting of the article on the internet as part of a non-commercial open access institutional repository or other non-commercial open access publication site affiliated with the author(s)’s place of employment (e.g., a biochemistry student at the University of British Columbia can have her article appear in the University British Columbia’s Department of Biochemistry online publication series)