The Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal (CUSJ) was founded in 2006 by students who were passionate about showcasing undergraduate excellence in scientific research. Since then, CUSJ has remained Columbia’s premier publication for original scientific research and scholarly reviews, and is managed by an editorial board of undergraduates with a vast scope of interests across all disciplines. We are a peer-reviewed, open-access academic journal published annually in the spring semester, with life sciences, physical sciences, and social sciences featured; any currently enrolled undergraduate is welcome to submit their work. The editorial board also manages the Columbia Junior Science Journal (CJSJ), a publication designed to introduce high school students to research. In the 2021-22 academic year, the editorial board also announced the inauguration of our editorial journal, Columbia Scientist, to promote scientific literacy and knowledge beyond original research.

In addition to our publications, the CUSJ team is dedicated to fostering the scientific community, both within Columbia and in the surrounding Morningside Heights and Harlem communities. To this end, the board frequently plans outreach and networking events relevant to young and early career scientists, including an annual Research Symposium poster session each spring.

Finally, CUSJ is committed to the continuing success of our editorial members and published authors. To this end, an anonymous survery was recently conducted on CUSJ editors who served on our club during or before 2020 and on our published authors over the past seventeen years. We found that 78% of CUSJ editors and 80% of our published authors attended a graduate program (PhD, MD, MBA, MA, JD, etc.). We are thrilled to see so many people involved with CUSJ continue their careers in science and other disciplines, and we will continue to create an enviornment where other undergraduates can set themselves up for future success in their respective disciplines. 

Please direct all inquiries to cusj@columbia.edu.

Open Access Policy

CUSJ is an open access journal, which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. Authors retain their copyright and agree to license their articles with a Creative Commons "Attribution" license (CC BY 4.0). You can read more about Creative Commons licenses at creativecommons.org.

CUSJ is a no-fee journal. Authors are not charged for the publication of their articles.

Peer Review Policy

As of the Spring 2021 issue, CUSJ will follow a rigorous double-blind peer review process consisting of the following steps. First, manuscripts undergo preliminary screening by members of the editorial board as we assess the original submission's scientific rigor, fit with the journal's aims, and general viability of publication. As a part of the peer review process, doctoral students in relevant fields also review the submissions and suggest a course of action. Based on the editorial screening and the peer review process, the Editor-in-Chief will approve selected papers for publication, pending edits. The process is double-blind. Authors can expect to hear back within a few weeks of the submission deadline. Each accepted article is assigned to editorial board members with relevant expertise. Each article will undergo several rounds of suggestions by the editors and updates by the author. CUSJ has a Faculty Advisory Board of distinguished professors, who review and approve the issue before publication.

Code of Ethics

Prospective author(s) represent that their submission is an original manuscript and is an unpublished work that is not under consideration elsewhere. Plagiarism in whole or in part, including duplicate publication of the author's own work, will not be tolerated. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to: 

• The reuse of exact wording or phrases of another published work
• The improper use of quotation marks 
• A failure to attribute quoted texts and ideas to their original authors 
• Using tables, data visualizations, illustrations and other elements without proper attribution
• Reusing one’s own previously published words or ideas without attribution

Issues of plagiarism will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis by the editorial board. In the event that the editors are notified of suspected plagiarism in a submitted manuscript or published article, the editors will follow guidelines suggested by the Committee on Publication Ethics.    

Columbia Scientist

CUSJ also manages Columbia Scientist, an open-access editorial journal that features non-research-based material including opinion editorials, scientific briefings, science artwork, science podcasts, and more. Columbia Scientist welcomes submissions from all members of the scientific comunity. If you are interested in submitting to Columbia Scientist, please visit our submissions page here.