Who We Are
When the McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal (MSURJ) launched in Fall 2005 as a student-run initiative to promote and support undergraduate research, it was one of North America’s first peer-reviewed journals devoted to undergraduate work. The journal offers undergraduate students from any university the unique opportunity to publish their findings to the research community.
Currently, MSURJ is affiliated with the Science Undergraduate Society of McGill University, but is managed independently. Both editorial policies and activities beyond the journal publication are overseen independently by MSURJ with governance by the MSURJ Editorial Board.
Our constitution is available here.
Writing
The journal distinguishes itself with its rigorous editorial process; we hold our articles to a high standard of scientific acumen and writing quality: each incoming submission is first revised by our student editorial board. Qualifying articles are then submitted to our peer-reviewers, professors, and graduate students who hail from universities all over the world.
Editing
Our diverse editors, united by the mandate to promote undergraduate research, are involved in all journal operations, from soliciting research articles to coordinating the peer-review process and launching the journal. We encourage anyone with strong writing and editing skills and an academic interest in science to apply in the Fall semester of the school year.
Events
In addition to providing students with the opportunity to participate directly in the publication process, MSURJ is always looking for ways to encourage student involvement in all things research. In the upcoming school year, we will be hosting a new array of scientific activities to the McGill community ranging from R-workshops to research seminars.
Peer Review Process
MSURJ Editorial Board Review
All received submissions are first read and evaluated by the MSURJ editorial board, on the basis of the publication criteria. Rejected submissions are returned to the authors, with a point-form evaluation of the manuscript if requested.
Peer-Review
The short-listed articles undergo the peer-review process. Copies of the manuscript are sent to the selected reviewers, who are knowledgeable professors, postdoctoral researchers or graduate students in the given field. Upon receipt of the reviews, the comments are combined with those of the editorial board to reach a decision of the article’s suitability for publication.
Conditional Acceptance or Rejection
The conditional publication decision, comments from reviewers, and, if requested, a point-form evaluation of the article justifying the decision are forwarded to the author. In order for publication of the article to proceed, outstanding issues in the manuscript must be amended in accordance with the recommendations and resubmitted.
Open Access Policy
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Articles are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.