Submissions

Author Guidelines

UJOP welcomes and reviews manuscripts about topics in Psychology and Psychology-related fields. Interdisciplinary research is highly valued and encouraged, but should retain a close connection to Psychology.

All articles must be submitted online via our Open Journal System. You must register to obtain login information. Authors should note relevant academic (sub)disciplines and keywords for their research topic when uploading manuscripts.

By submitting your manuscript to UJOP, you are agreeing to our copyright terms. Please review these terms before submitting your manuscript.

Papers received earlier will have higher priority. UJOP accepts and reviews submissions from all psychology-related fields, as long as the papers are the original work of undergraduate students. Please ensure that all papers submitted make original arguments, do not report hypothetical studies, and are of general interest to the psychology community. Please do not submit papers that are being reviewed or have been published by other journals. However, research that has been presented at a conference is acceptable for submission. Multiple submissions from the same authors are welcomed.

 

Author and Faculty Supervisor: Agreement to Review

UJOP is committed to developing and maintaining a vast community of students and professionals passionate about science. We encourage student involvement in the peer-review process as an important learning experience. We also value the diversity afforded by having faculty supervisors participate as expert reviewers. Accordingly, we ask that all authors and their faculty supervisors participate in the UJOP review process by agreeing to review other students’ manuscripts. Authors and their faculty supervisors should register in our Open Journal System prior to manuscript submission and indicate their primary research interests and areas of expertise.

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APA Guidelines and IRB Approval

All manuscripts must follow current American Psychological Association guidelines and show IRB approval where necessary.

Helpful Links: APA; Purdue University OWL; APA Tutorial; UNC Charlotte IRB

 

Co-Authors

Manuscripts must have an undergraduate as the primary author. Manuscripts by graduates will be accepted if the work was completed as an undergraduate and submission occurs within 1 year of graduation. Graduate students or faculty may be co-authors if their role was one of teacher or mentor and not full-fledged collaborator.

 

Faculty Supervisor Statement

Manuscript submissions must be accompanied by a statement from the author’s faculty supervisor. All statements should include the components detailed in the template provided:

I, (supervisor’s name), supervised (student’s name) undergraduate research project and reviewed the resulting manuscript being submitted to UJOP. My role was (sponsor only or co-author and sponsor). I attest that the undergraduate author primarily executed the project. The research was conducted in adherence to APA ethical standards. The undergraduate student also wrote the manuscript submitted. I reviewed and critiqued the manuscript on content, method, APA style, grammar, and overall presentation prior to submission to UJOP.

In support of UJOP’s commitment to developing and maintaining a passionate community of student and expert reviewers, I agree to review other students’ manuscripts.

Sincerely,

(supervisor’s full name, University affiliation, email, other appropriate contact information)

 

Submitting Faculty Supervisor Statements

Faculty Supervisor Statements should be saved in PDF format and uploaded during the Upload Supplemental Files step of the online manuscript submission process. Please indicate "Other" as the type of file. When uploading the statement, authors should title the document "Faculty Supervisor Statement."

 

Brief Author Bio Statement with Q&A

When submitting manuscripts to UJOP, authors should upload a brief bio along with answers to questions about their research and research experiences. Providing author information increases transparency about the research and publishing process. From these bios, readers will also gain important information about the undergraduate research and peer review experience.

Author Bio Statements should include the information below. Authors are free to add hyperlinks as appropriate and desired.

Author's Bio Statement (includes Q&A)

• Home institution, major(s)/minor(s)
• (Anticipated) graduation date
• Research experiences, mentors, and supervisors
• Optional: Academic honors/awards
• Optional: Relevant affiliations (e.g., clubs, societies)
• Optional: Future plans

Q&A

• How did you get involved in research?
• What led you to this topic?
• What has the process of working on this research/paper been like for you?
• What advice would you offer to other undergraduates interested in conducting research and publishing their work?

 

Submitting Author Bio Statements

Please do not upload Author Bio Statements when registering to gain access to the submission portal. In addition to their manuscript and Faculty Supervisor Statement, authors should upload a formatted Word document during the Upload Supplemental Files step of the online submission process. Please indicate "Other" as the type of file. When uploading the statement, authors should title the document "Author Bio Statement."

 

General Manuscript Guidelines

All manuscripts should be double-spaced; use 12-point font; saved and submitted in Microsoft Word or RTF file format; employ italics (rather than underlining, except URL addresses); and include appropriately place, in-text illustrations, figures, and tables (rather than at the end of the document).

All manuscripts must include the following sections:

1. Title Page: This includes the title of your manuscript, the author names, the author affiliations (e.g., your university), the public contact information for each author, and the Acknowledgements section.
2. Acknowledgements: Thank the people/organizations and funding sources that have supported the research.
3. Abstract (150 word maximum): A brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of the article. This should be one single-spaced paragraph.
4. Keywords: This is a list of up to five words or short phrases that are central and specific to your research. We will use these keywords to facilitate the retrieval of your paper from abstracting and indexing databases.
5. Body (includes appropriate sub-sections)
6. References Cited: All references should follow APA style format. URLs to references must be provided, when available.

For more information on how to write an APA style paper, consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, (2009) 6th edition and/or the following links: APA; Purdue University OWL; APA Tutorial.

Section-Specific Manuscript Guidelines

In addition to general manuscript guidelines, manuscripts must also follow section-specific guidelines for submission type: Empirical Research, Literature Review, Hot Topics. Preference given to empirical work.

 

Resubmitting Revised Manuscripts

Please resubmit revised manuscripts through the UJOP submission portal. Please review our Tips for Submitting Revised Manuscripts for detailed instructions. Authors typically have 30 days to submit revisions.