FAQs

If your question has not been answered below, please email us at usurj@usask.ca.

Why Submit?

  • The fact that excellent student work goes unread by anyone other than a single professor is unfortunate, and undergraduate journals are important contributions to the research community across the disciplines.
  • Going through the process of preparation of a manuscript for submission, as well as the peer review process, is excellent preparation for graduate studies. Of course, even if you aren't considering graduate work, the experience will deepen your learning and improve your own writing and researching skills.
  • If your paper goes to review, you will receive constructive feedback from experts in your field, regardless of whether the piece is accepted for publication. 
  • USURJ is an Open Access journal, meaning that its articles have further reach as there are no fees for authors or those who want to access articles. USURJ is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), a quality-controlled list of journals with rigorous standards for inclusion.

You can peruse current and past USURJ issues.

For other examples, please refer to the archives of the journals listed below. Keep in mind that we aim to publish work from a wide variety of disciplines and approaches. Other undergraduate journals should be viewed as what is possible, not a collection of templates.

Peruse these other multidisciplinary undergraduate research journals for examples of research papers:

Who Can Submit?

  • Undergraduate students in any college or program at the U of S are eligible to submit their articles to USURJ, as long as that work was done while the student was enrolled at the U of S.
  • Students who complete work while studying abroad, but who are still registered U of S students, are eligible to submit work to USURJ.
  • As well, those who finished their U of S undergraduate degree within the last two years are eligible to submit work done as an undergraduate student at the University of Saskatchewan.
  • USURJ accepts multi-authored papers, including papers co-authored with professors or graduate students as long as the undergraduate student is the primary author.

What Can I Submit?

  • USURJ accepts submissions of original research and review articles from across the disciplines, and there is no deadline for submission.
  • A review article critiques and/or synthesizes current research in a given area. It assesses the current state of knowledge of a given topic, assesses the implications of current research, comments on validity, draws new conclusions, and suggests future directions for research in this area.
  • USURJ also accepts research snapshots. These are short explorations of a research project, providing a concise overview of students’ ongoing research. They can also take the form of an original mini-analysis. Research snapshots are ideal for students engaged in ongoing research that cannot yet be represented in a full research article. 
  • USURJ also accept submissions of artwork for our cover and otherwise. However, the submission process is different. Please contact us for more information.
  • USURJ does not accept submissions of creative writing as there is a U of S journal for this already: The Fieldstone Review.
 

There is no word limit for submissions to USURJ.

So as not to compromise USURJ's mandate to publish original work, articles that have been previously published in another journal are ineligible for publication in USURJ, as are those being considered for publication elsewhere. USURJ allows articles to be submitted to another journal following publication in USURJ. However, authors should review the journal's submission policies to ensure that prior publication in an undergraduate research journal does not preclude publication.

Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the journal, we do not prescribe a specific style manual. Instead, authors should use whatever documentation style is common in their discipline and take care to use it consistently. We ask that when you submit your paper, you specify on your information page which documentation style you are using, and edit it carefully to ensure the citations and formatting are done correctly. See the Library Citation Style Guide for more information. Please submit your paper as a Word document (.doc, .docx), not as a pdf.

When you submit your work to USURJ, you will be asked to select a disciplinary category (humanities and fine arts, social sciences, health sciences, or natural sciences), but we can change the category if need be.

  • A research paper in the social sciences qualifies as any paper that presents original research, which may be quantitative, qualitative, or theoretical; synthesizes or presents a new theoretical conclusion from existing research or literature; serves as a review or collection of existing research or theories; presents a new perspective on pre-existing or original research; interprets data from a prior study; or attempts to cohesively and coherently account for a paradigm or approach within topics traditionally represented by the social sciences.
  • Research papers in the humanities and fine arts cover a broad spectrum and may deal with literature, history, philosophy, visual or performing arts, linguistics, classics, or any topic focused on the study of human culture. Such research papers focus on comparison, analysis, and/or aesthetics more than the empiricism stressed in the natural, health, or social sciences. For health sciences and natural sciences, research can take a few different forms. At the undergraduate level, some students will be performing their own experiments and creating original, primary research articles. Undergraduate students may also synthesize the ideas in primary research articles and write a review article.
  • For health sciences and natural sciences, research can take a few different forms. At the undergraduate level, some students will be performing their own experiments and creating original, primary research articles. Undergraduate students may also synthesize the ideas in primary research articles and write a review article.
  • An interdisciplinary research paper communicates knowledge through “research that combines the skills and perspectives of multiple disciplines” (Aboelela et al. 2007, 330). Repko and Szostak (2016) write that the “prefix inter means ‘between, among, in the midst,’ or ‘defined from two or more’ . . . [so] the starting point for understanding the meaning of interdisciplinary studies is between two or more fields of study” (3). For example, research papers may bring together the field of history and the field of psychology in an analysis of the history of mental illness. Some research papers, though, come from fields of study that are already interdisciplinary, such as Women’s and Gender Studies, Rural and Urban Development, or Land Use and Environmental Studies. In sum, an interdisciplinary research paper submission will extend beyond a single disciplinary perspective to form an integrated understanding or meaning (Repko and Szostak, 2016).

How Do I Submit?

  1. Register as an author on the USURJ submission and review website.
  2. Start a submission. Make sure to submit your article as a Microsoft Word, RTF, or OpenOffice file, along with an abstract and follow the Author Guidlines.
  3. Download and fill out the USURJ Publication Agreement (be sure to read it carefully as it contains very important information regarding ethics, author rights, and co-authorship).
  4. Upload the completed publication agreement to your submission by selecting "Upload File" while viewing your current submission and select "Publication Agreement" from the "Article Component" dropdown.

I’ve Submitted My Work. What Now?

  1. Your submission will initially be reviewed by the USURJ Editorial Board and, provided it falls within the scope of the journal, the Editorial Board will forward the article to faculty reviewers with appropriate expertise.
  2. After the article has been reviewed, the Editorial Board will make a decision regarding the publication of your article and you will be provided comments and suggestions to revise the paper. Sometimes these revisions can be quite comprehensive, so do not be alarmed if there is quite a substantial amount of feedback. This can be a time-consuming part of the process, but our editors are here to help you along the way. 
  3. Once you have finished the revisions, your article or review will be again reviewed by the Editorial Board. Sometimes a second round of review is necessary depending on the articles' needs. 
  4. Provided revisions are satisfactory, the article will be copyedited and the layout editors will format the article into its publishable form. This .PDF will be sent to the author to review and approve for publication.
  5. If selected for publication, your article will be published online in a future issue of USURJ.

If at any time you have questions about where your article is in the publication process, do not hesitate to reach out to the editorial board handling your submission or the Editors-in-Chief at usurj@usask.ca.

Please see the complete review policy if you have any further questions.

Yes. You will be notified whether or not your paper is accepted, rejected, or accepted with revisions. Regardless, you will receive constructive feedback on your paper from the editors or the reviewers (professors in the field). The review process can be very slow as it's dependent on how quickly we can find reviewers, so if you haven't heard from the editors for some time, please get in contact with them by logging to your account, finding your submission under "Submissions" and clicking on “Add discussion,” or contact the Editors-in-Chief at usurj@usask.ca. You can also check the status of your paper by logging in to your account.

We have moved to continuous publication (publishing as we go rather than waiting until we have enough papers for an issue), and this usually will happen during regular session (September to April). The papers published will be collected into two separate issues, which will be launched and celebrated twice a year. The review process can be very slow as it's dependent on how quickly we can find reviewers, and so if you haven't heard from the editors for some time, please just contact them by logging to your account, finding your submission under "Submissions" and clicking on “Add discussion,” or contacting the Editors-in-Chief at usurj@usask.ca. You can also check the status of your paper by logging in to your account.

Peer review refers to the evaluation of work by experts within a similar field of study. These reviewers are not part of the editorial board. Articles submitted to USURJ will generally be reviewed by University of Saskatchewan professors, faculty, and graduate students. On occasion, faculty from other universities will be asked. Peer review allows the Editorial Board to make informed, fair assessments of articles in order to determine suitability for publication and provides invaluable feedback to authors regarding the strengths of their article and areas requiring improvement. Please see our Editorial Policies if you have any questions about the peer review process. USURJ employs a double-blind review process which means that the author’s identity will be concealed from the reviewers and vice versa.

Getting Involved with USURJ

University of Saskatchewan undergraduate students hold the majority of USURJ staff positions. They are supported by a small number of graduate, staff, and faculty advisers. This is our current Editorial Board and this is the list of our Editorial Positions. Each academic year, students may apply to volunteer for USURJ positions with a cover letter, résumé, and academic transcripts. We put out a call for applications each spring/summer. These volunteer positions average anywhere from 2-6 hours a week of work during fall and winter terms. Senior Editors can expect to work an average of 3-6 hours a week. Please contact us at usurj@usask.ca any time if you have questions.

If you would like to contribute to undergraduate student development by becoming a USURJ reviewer, visit Become A Reviewer.