how to get a research paper published as an undergraduate

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Writing an academic paper as an undergraduate researcher, by ariane garrett, our peer research ambassador.

Publishing papers is the primary way that scientific knowledge is disseminated within the academic community. Therefore an essential part of becoming a successful researcher is learning how to write an academic paper. Throughout your undergraduate research career you may or may not have the opportunity to be published. Regardless, learning how academic papers are written is useful knowledge for anyone interested in pursuing a research career. Whether or not you have the opportunity to be published as an undergrad depends on a variety of factors, including the nature of your project, how often your faculty advisor publishes papers, and your particular role in the research lab. If you haven’t been published as an undergrad, no need to stress. There are many other ways your research can shine on an application.

I was tasked with writing my first paper in the spring of my junior year. As I am the primary person working on my research project, my faculty advisor expected me to write the paper by myself with his help and feedback. At first, this seemed to be a very daunting task. I had never written an entire academic paper by myself before, and I had no idea where to begin. The writing process took much longer than I expected (I didn’t finish until Fall 2019), and the paper I submitted is currently under review. In this blog post, I will share what I learned while writing my first academic paper. As a biomedical engineering major, my experience is a reflection of the norms within the engineering field. However, I hope that some of these tips will prove useful for those in all majors.

Getting Started

I began my first draft of my paper as I had begun many other papers I have written- with an introduction. When I showed my first draft to my PI, he told me that it is actually most common in the engineering field to begin writing an academic paper by constructing the figures. At first, I thought this seemed rather counterintuitive. Shouldn’t the figures be based on the writing, rather than the other way around? There are several reasons why the opposite is actually true. Firstly, the figures are the most eye-catching part of every paper and sometimes the only thing a reader will look at. In addition, many journals have figure limitations so the figures that are chosen must be carefully thought out in order to maximize their effectiveness. Lastly, constructing the figures first establishes a clear outline that you can follow as you write the rest of the paper.

Writing the Paper

Writing the actual paper is a long process that typically involves many revisions. I found it helpful to read papers from the same journal I was submitting to in order to get an idea of typical paper formats in that journal. I would also recommend seeking feedback at several stages of the writing process. Don’t wait until the entire paper is finished before showing it to your PI, instead, ask for feedback after the first draft of each section is finished. As an academic paper can have anywhere from five to hundreds of sources, I would also suggest using a citation manager as you write. This will save you from having to constantly update the sources in the paper as you add and revise.

Submitting the Paper

In my case, my PI submitted the paper and is the primary contact with the journal. However, I was expected to fully format the paper before I gave it to him to submit. If you visit the website of the journal you are submitting to, there will be details on the formatting expectations. Reformatting the entire paper after it has been written can be a lot of work, so it’s helpful to review these before you begin writing. Often, it is expected that you include a letter to the editor requesting for your paper to be considered, which you may or may not have to write depending on your PI.

After Submission

Depending on the journal, it can be up to several months before you hear back about your submission. In my case, I heard back from the reviewers about two months after submission. There were two reviewers for the paper I submitted, though this number will likely vary depending on the journal. The comments that were made were useful and provided good insight into an outsider’s perspective on my research. It is very common for journals to request revision and resubmission, so don’t expect the first paper you submit to be published!

Although writing an academic paper is challenging, I found it to be a very rewarding experience. I now appreciate how much work it takes to write a good paper and I feel like I grew as a scientific writer throughout the process. If you feel that your research deserves to be published, don’t be afraid to reach out to your PI and ask them if they think you could write a paper. Even if it is never published, writing about your research is an excellent way to become a better writer and also understand your own research area more fully.

Ariane is a senior majoring in biomedical engineering and Spanish. Click here to learn more about Ariane.

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Five great tips to start publishing as an undergraduate

If the PhD and masters’ students are the flesh of any university, undergraduates are its laboring bones and joints. They are what forms the supporting structure of the academia. An average undergrad will go through college with a lots of study pressure, exams, assignments and occasional snippet of research for theses. Occasionally, an ambitious undergrad may be work on a nice piece of project or create one of their own research questions that has great implications. This is a good chance for this student to show the world the fruits of their efforts.

In my bachelors, I had an opportunity to work as a research assistant on multiple projects, two of which, resulted in scientific publications with my name as one of the authors. They were neither prestigious articles nor belonged to a high-impact journal but nevertheless, it was an inspiration for me to continue my journey in the academia. I have written this blog to highlight some aspects of publishing whilst being an undergrad student. So, here goes--

Why publish as a bachelor student?

If you are a bachelor student who wants to pursue a career in academia or in a research rich environment, it is generally a good idea to aim for a publication in the course of your undergraduate education. It won’t guarantee you a good postgrad position or a job in prestigious industry but will definitely give you a taste of what it is like to publish and obviously, an opportunity to showcase your work. But it is not a simple job and hence will require a lot of effort on your part in addition to the burdens that you carry being an undergrad student.

What to publish?

This is an important question. Although, the judgements and reputations of a successful academic career seem far off, a publication will be a permanent addition to your resume. Thus, it is very important to be sure of what stuff you should put out there. Generally, undergrad research is a part of a team project or a subproject of a much larger scheme. If you are sure that the work being done is sufficiently because of your individual contribution , it is a good idea to go ahead. You can be a part of a bigger list of authors in an over-arching paper that contains your work. Very rarely, you might do something that entitles you as a sole contributor of a research piece.

When to publish?

This is another important aspect of your decision. The question of directing your attention to working on a publishable manuscript whilst studying full-time for a graduation can be a difficult one. In my case, I spent a better part of last two years of my bachelors struggling with full time courses along with trying to get drafts of manuscript on the paper at the same time. Remember, your studies have the priority over all else while graduating. When you are sure that you have some ‘publishable’ research material available with complete results, then it is a good idea to look into the option for publishing.

Where to publish?

Most commonly, this is a question that your guide or supervisor will give you the best suggestions about. There are very specific domains outlined by journals that you can publish in. Sometimes, however, it can be a good idea to look for specific places where undergraduate research is highlighted. In such journals or magazines, you are reviewed on undergrad standards and not on those of the broader scientific world. Some details of such research journals can be found here . Sometimes though, it is a good idea to aim for a higher journal depending on quality of your research because, if you have a publication in a prestigious journal, it makes your resume more alluring for future prospects.

How to publish?

This is a question that I saved for the last. Let’s start with ‘what is a publication?’. More often than not, it is a report of research work that was done towards a specific goal. The report or research ‘paper’ generally includes description of the goal and gaps in knowledge (introduction), what was done to fill that gap or achieve that goal (methodology), what was the result (results) and the interpretation of the result in existing knowledge along with its future implications (discussion). This research paper will start out as a manuscript that you write and get reviewed from your supervisor, then it gets reviewed by group of other qualified people (either peers or editors of journal, depending on the nature of journal) and then after making necessary alterations, gets accepted to be published. A publication is complete when you have this manuscript printed in the official volume of the journal in question. It is always a good idea to ‘ target a journal’ while preparing the manuscript.  See the figure below for an example of a peer review flow chart. Source: APEM 

We hope this blog will help you make your first steps into the publishing world. Do you want to read more articles by Pranav Kurkani? See his other blog posts How to become a PhD student and First steps in the PhD program . 

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An Undergraduate's Guide to Funding and Publishing Research

• URECA and other SBU Research Programs and Opportunities
• Funding Your Research
• Publishing Your Research: Why and How?
• Publishing Your Research: List of Undergraduate Journals

Why publish?

Writing and publishing an article can be a difficult and time-consuming process. How might you know if it will be worth the time and energy? Here are some reasons why undergraduates might want to consider publishing their work:

• Improve your writing, research, and time management skills
• Experience the scholarly publishing process
• Build connections with students, mentors, faculty, staff and other researchers who share your interests
• Demonstrate your dedication to sticking with a long term project outside of class time
• Add a layer of professionalism to your student experiences
• Show off your writing, research, and time management skills!

This list is adapted from Anna Trammell's " The Benefits of Publishing as an Undergraduate " (University of Illinois, 2014)

How to Choose a Journal

Sometimes, half the battle of getting published is simply finding a journal that is a good match . Reviewers often reject an article not necessarily because of the quality of the work, but because the work does not fit within the scope of the publication. It can pay off to put substantial effort into selecting the right journal to submit your work to.

There is a lot to consider when choosing a publication! Here are some things to think about:

• Get advice from your mentor, a librarian, or other supportive experts. Those with special knowledge in your field or with experience helping undergraduates publish their work will likely know of publications that other students have had success with and will help you know what to look for.
• Are you eligible to submit to this journal? Some journals might have restrictions based on degree level, institution, citizenship, or residency.
• Is there a specific disciplinary focus or is the journal multidisciplinary?
• Do submissions require that you have a faculty mentor?
• Is it peer-reviewed? If yes, are the reviewers students, faculty, or a mix?
• Is there an Advisory Board and/or Editorial Board?
• Is it open access? If no, where is it indexed? How will others access your work?
• Most journals don't have a publishing fee, but some do. Double check whether or not there's a fee.
• Do you like the presentation, readability, and access of the journal? For example, are all the articles available as free pdf downloads, or is there a specific web platform or service that hosts the articles?
• Is there a consistent style / structure to all the articles, or are they each very different from each other?
• Is there a single genre or a mix? Are they essays, studies, critical reviews? Does the journal only publish original research, or does it also accept creative work such as artwork and short stories?
• Does the tone, content, style, approach, and rigor of the research in the journal seem to be a good match to your own work?
• In all cases, consider submitting a copy of your work to SBU's repository, the Academic Commons . This is a platform that hosts materials that are openly available to all.

Carefully Review the Submission Guidelines

After you've chosen a journal that you feel is an excellent match for your research, you will need to carefully review the submission guidelines . Look for the following elements in the guidelines when preparing your article for submission:

• Is it required that you have a faculty mentor or formal letter of recommendation with your submission? 
• Is there a required citation style (for example, MLA or APA)? If the journal is multidisciplinary, it might allow for whatever citation style is appropriate for your subject area.
• Is there a fixed submission deadline, or is it a rolling deadline (meaning you can submit at any time)?
• Are there any particular criteria listed? How do the reviewers decide whether to publish the article?
• How strict are the format guidelines? How many pages, what file format (.doc, .pdf, etc), font, spacing, and other stylistic elements?
• Are you required to also submit an abstract or keywords?
• Are simultaneous submissions allowed? That is, does the journal allow you to submit to more than one journal at once?
• Once your work is published, are you allowed to resubmit the work to another journal? If yes, will you be required to recognize the journal as the first publication before republishing somewhere else?
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• CAREER COLUMN
• 15 March 2019

A student’s guide to undergraduate research

• Shiwei Wang 0

Shiwei Wang is a junior undergraduate student studying Integrated Science and Chemistry at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Twitter: @W_Shiwei

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience working in a materials-chemistry laboratory at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, for the past two years. Being able to mix an undergraduate education with original research in a proper laboratory has been a fantastic opportunity.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-00871-x

This is an article from the Nature Careers Community, a place for Nature readers to share their professional experiences and advice. Guest posts are encouraged. You can get in touch with the editor at [email protected].

Wang, S. et al. Preprint at ChemRxiv https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv.7824707.v2 (2019).

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