Submissions

Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • I have read the CUSJ Research Submission Info below and identify as an undergraduate student who has completed an original research or review paper.
  • I have read and attached the  Author Agreement. The author(s) agree to the terms of this Author Agreement, which will apply to this submission if and when it is published by this journal (comments to the editor can be added below).
  • For original research submissions to CUSJ, the text follows the Manuscript Template. I understand that failure to do so could result in rejection.
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format (not PDF).
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • The text contains no information about the author's identity.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
  • The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.

Submission Instructions

We accept original research manuscript submissions for our research journal CUSJ. For original research manuscript submissions, please prepare your manuscript according to the manuscript template. All authors to CUSJ must make sure to submit the Author Agreement. Please read the guidelines below before submitting.

The Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal only accepts work from undergraduates. If you're in high school, please visit the Columbia Junior Science Journal or Columbia Scientist.

Please follow ALL GUIDELINES listed in the submission info section below. Failure to do so will result in an automatic rejection. 

Questions about submitting? Email cusj@columbia.edu

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CUSJ Research Submission Info (see below for Columbia Scientist info)

Who can submit? 

Undergraduate students enrolled full-time in a university. The first author must have completed a high school education but not yet graduated from their undergraduate studies at the time of submission in order to be considered for CUSJ 2025. Mentors are allowed to be listed as secondary authors.

Manuscript Review

Manuscripts submitted to CUSJ will undergo a double-blind peer-review process. This process is extensive. Competitive submissions for publication will be concise and contain original scientific research. Exceptional review papers critically examining the existing body of scientific research will also be considered.

We expect that authors of manuscripts selected for publication will have worked extensively with their research mentor preparing their manuscript for submission. Papers prepared for submission should have sufficient introduction for those involved in other scientific disciplines to gain a general intuition about the paper’s original subject matter.

Authors published in CUSJ will retain all rights to their work except the right to publish in another undergraduate-level journal; work previously published in such a journal will not be considered for publication in CUSJ. The editors of CUSJ additionally ask that submissions to CUSJ not be concurrently considered for publication by other undergraduate-level journals. All authors and their mentors must sign off on the author agreement which can be found on the submission portal.

Author Guidelines

  1. Original research submissions must be at least 5 pages and no more than 10 pages in length and constitute a detailed overview of your research. Scholarly review submissions may be up to 15 pages. This page limit includes figures, captions, acknowledgments, and references/citations. 
  2. All submissions must follow the “CUSJ Template 2019”. Take care to follow all formatting specifications. Papers formatted incorrectly may not be reviewed.
  3. All submissions must be accompanied by the form(s) in the submission portal. Please provide there all of the requested information in addition to anything else you would like us to know. This information will not be considered during the review process but is required for acceptance & publication.
  4. All documents submitted must be named and formatted correctly. Please submit your research paper as a .docx or .rtf file with the necessary text, figures, and captions. Please also submit your figures & captions in a separate .ppt file. Follow the naming schema: CUSJ_LastnameFirstname_form/paper/figures.rtf (e.g., you would submit CUSJ_DoeJohn_form.pdf, CUSJ_DoeJohn_paper.docx, and CUSJ_DoeJohn_figures.ppt).
  5. All papers & supporting documentation must be submitted by March 1st, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST to be considered for the 2025 journal. Although in unusual instances papers may be accepted on a rolling basis after this deadline, those submitted before the deadline will be given priority & not all those received afterward may be reviewed.

 

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