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.
  • Primary author must be a current Cornell University undergraduate or have graduated from Cornell within the last year. One individual may not be the primary author for more than one submission per cycle.
  • Manuscripts must describe original research/work that contributes new knowledge and/or understanding to its respective field. Manuscripts must not be published in or currently under review for any other journal.
  • A signed Research supervisor/Mentor/Faculty sponsor approval form must be uploaded with the submission. This form is available on the author guidelines page.
  • If the manuscript includes work involving the use of human and/or animal subjects, it must have occurred with approval from the necessary associations (IRB, IACUC), and include a statement to that effect in the manuscript.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word (.docx) file format. A separate, plain text file of the references cited will also be included with the submission.
  • Author agrees to the journal's policies.

Author Guidelines

Instructions for Preparing and Submitting a Manuscript to CURJ

How to Submit

  • Click the REGISTER link in the upper right corner of this site to create a new user account.
  • Once you have completed the registration process, visit your dashboard, available via the user icon in the upper right hand corner.
  • Click the Submissions link (upper left hand corner of the website) and follow the instructions to begin a new submission.

Items Included in Submission

  • Summary Statement (see guidelines below)
  • Manuscript (.docx file) (see guidelines below)
  • Completed, signed Research supervisor/Mentor/Faculty sponsor approval form (PDF)
  • 3-5 keywords that represent the submission
  • Optional: Supplementary materials such as data sets, multimedia, etc. (only included in online journal).

Summary Statement

  • 150-200 words
  • Provide a non-technical overview of the submission’s contents that focuses on the conclusions drawn from the work
  • Should be understandable by non-experts in the field
  • No citations

Manuscript Guidelines

  • Must include: Title, Abstract, Main text, Figures/Tables with captions (if applicable), References
    • Specific Guidelines for each section below
  • Must be anonymized (remove names, class year, course names, lab/PI name, etc.).
  • 2500-5000 words (doesn’t include title, abstract, figures, captions, references)
  • Save as .docx file
  • Include line numbers
  • Double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font, 1 inch margins
  • Free from grammar and spelling errors

Title

  • Concise, Informative title.
  • Length:  no more than 12 words
  • 12 point Times New Roman font

Abstract

  • 100-250 words
  • Concisely summarize your work’s aims, methods, results, and conclusions
  • No citations

Main Text

  • Should be structured as is commonplace in the field
    • ex) Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion
  • Recommended to include section headings and subheadings
  • 12 point Times New Roman font

Methodology

  • Should explain specialized materials and techniques utilized for experimentation or data collection
    • ex) “100mL of solution X was utilized in accordance to the methodology developed by Researcher Y”
    • Methodology should be replicable for future research
  • Statistical Analysis
    • For quantitative data: Statistical analysis programs (SPSS, Excel, RStudio, etc.) and tests (Chi Square, t-test, ANOVA, etc.) should be named. Specific parameters set for each statistical test should also be mentioned (degrees of freedom in Chi square tests, alpha values for t-tests, etc.)
    • For qualitative data: Method of data collection (random sampling, etc.) and explanation of how any quantitative values were attributed to qualitative data for statistical analysis (aforementioned information on program and test utilization should be mentioned if applicable).
  • Source collection
    • Point out how and where sources were collected from and if there are any biases in these sources
    • Explain exactly how sources were found (database, search terms/keywords used, etc.)

Figures/Tables

  • Tables should be in text format
  • All tables should include a title above them
    • ex) Table 1. Title
  • All figures should include a title and/or caption below them
    • ex) Figure 1. Title. Description of Figure
  • Titles/Captions should be 10 pt Times New Roman single-spaced
  • All figures/tables must be referenced in the main text
    • ex) (Table 1) or “As shown in Table 1…”
  • Can be integrated with the main text, at the end of the main text, or a separate file) (will request a file of high-quality images if submission is selected)
  • Figures/tables must not have been published anywhere else

References

  • All in-text references should be cited in main text as (Author, Year)
  • Reference list in APA 7th edition format.
  • Include the complete DOI whenever available: ex) Baniya, S., & Weech, S. (2019). Data and experience design: Negotiating community-oriented digital research with service-learning. Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement, 6(1), 11–16. https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284316979
  • Other URLs (non-DOI URLs) should be specified completely (i.e. https://google.com, not just google.com), and should not include search strings, session ids, or other extraneous information.
  • In addition the references included within your submission, we also require that references be entered into the article metadata as part of the submission process. Essential requirements for formatting references for metadata:
    • We suggest working in a text editor (TextEdit on a mac, Notepad on a PC) to prepare this reference list. These programs work better than MS-Word, which can have trouble with diacritics and some symbols and punctuation.
    • References must be in alphabetical order, or presented as a numbered list.
    • No line breaks within a reference.
    • Spell out author names each time. Do not use "____" or "ibid." or other, similar conventions.
    • If references already include DOIs, include them at the end of the reference, prefaced by "DOI: "(https://doi.org/...).

Acknowledgements (optional)

Keep acknowledgements brief and do not include thanks to anonymous referees or editors, or effusive comments. Grant or contribution numbers may be acknowledged.

Other considerations:

  • If selected, author will be required to correspond with the CURJ editorial team via email in a timely manner
  • If selected, will require an author headshot and short biography (around 100 words)
  • If you have any questions, please email curj@cornell.edu

Articles

All articles that pass a preliminary editorial review are peer-reviewed. Peer review is double-blind and performed by Cornell graduate students. The CURJ team copyedits and prepares articles for final publication.

Copyright Notice

This agreement is between the Cornell Undergraduate Research Journal (hereafter “Journal”) and the submitting or corresponding author (hereafter “Author”), acting on behalf of all authors of the work (“Authors”) and applies to the work (“Work”) being submitted for publication. The Work includes the principal work, as well as any supplementary materials included in the submission.

The Journal applies the Creative Commons License CC BY license to Works it publishes. Copyright in the Work remains with the Authors. The Author represents and warrants that:

  • The Author has the power to make this agreement. In the event the Work has multiple authors,all other authors are identified in the Work, and the Author will inform all other authors of theterms of this agreement.
  • The Work is the original work of the Author(s), and that it does not violate or infringe the law or the rights of any third party and, specifically, that the Work contains nothing that is defamatory or that infringes any intellectual property rights, or any rights of privacy.
  • If the Work reproduces any material that is the intellectual property of another, the Author hasobtained the unrestricted permission of the copyright owner to grant the rights required by thislicense and to publish that material in the Work, or that the material is being incorporatedbased on an informed application of fair use principles.
  • The Work has not been previously published, and is not pending review elsewhere. If this isnot the case, the Author will inform the Journal of the other locations where the Work appearsor is awaiting review.
  • If the Author is a student, the Author agrees to share their work and waive any privacy rightsgranted by FERPA or any other law, policy or regulation, with respect to the Work, for thepurpose of publication. If the Author has any student co-authors, the Author will obtain and provide to the Journal a signed copy of this agreement from all student co-authors.
  • The Work complies with all relevant Journal policies and submission guidelines provided onthe Journal’s website at the time of submission, including any policies on conflict of interest,informed consent, human and animal rights, or appropriate content.

Journal’s responsibilities:
In consideration of the Author’s grant of rights, the Journal agrees to publish the Work, attributing the Work to the Authors.

Indemnification:
The Author will indemnify and hold the Journal harmless against loss, damages, expenses, awards, and judgments arising from breach of any of the above warranties.