Submitted by Undergraduate and Graduate Students
The Annual USC Upstate Student Research Journal is a compilation of outstanding papers submitted by undergraduate and graduate students who have been involved in faculty-mentored research projects and creative activities. The Journal provides a snapshot of the types of research activities at USC Upstate that involve undergraduate and graduate students.
The Student Research Journal is now published online in an open access format through Scholar Commons. Scholar Commons is a service of the University of South Carolina University Libraries and hosted at Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress). The platform features a robust search capability and provides tools to manage and maintain a peer-reviewed journal such as the USC Upstate Student Research Journal. New submissions to the Journal will be made through Scholar Commons.
If you have questions or need additional information, please contact:
Dr. Joshua Ruppel, Editor-in-Chief
864-503-5720
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Call for Papers
The deadline for the submission of a research or creative manuscript is Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. The manuscript must be in MS Word format (a .doc file) and all parts of the online application form must be completed through Scholar Commons. The last step of the form allows you to upload your paper in word format. The student should only submit their contribution after receiving approval from their faculty mentor.
Original research articles and creative articles produced by current or recent USC Upstate undergraduate or graduate students along with the help of their faculty project adviser(s) will be considered for publication by the journal’s Editorial Board. Submitted articles should describe projects that were recently completed, and similar/expanded versions of the article could be published elsewhere. However, if you plan to submit identical versions of articles published in the student research journal, make sure the other publication venues do not object.
Review Criteria
Papers are reviewed based on the following criteria: A well-written paper; significance and purpose of the research well described for a multi-disciplinary audience; well-developed research and methodology; thoughtfully interpreted and analyzed results; excellent utilization of supporting materials or references; a non-repetitive, efficiently organized, convincing and easy-to- follow paper.
There is a best student paper award competition, where the top-ranked paper submitted with an undergraduate as the first author will receive a prize of $500 and the top ranked paper submitted by a graduate student as the first author will receive a prize of $500. The specific review rubric used by the Editorial Board can be viewed here. Note that students are eligible to submit to the journal and compete in the student award competition up to one year following graduation from USC Upstate.
Submission Guide
Use the Submission Guidelines to develop and format your manuscript submission. Submission Guidelines (PDF)
Remember your audience. Your article will be read by mostly undergraduates (as well as scholars from a wide range of academic disciplines) and thus should be readable and comprehensible to anyone interested in this topic, regardless of their expertise. Yet, one should avoid devoting more than a few sentences toward the explanation of standard information that should be known to the majority of those in academia. Your manuscript should uphold a sophistication that represents the standards that USC Upstate strives to promote.
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Our editorial board is comprised of talented faculty and staff who represent a broad range of academic disciplines.