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Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines

The Journal of Undergraduate Research in Calgary (JURC) publishes original undergraduate scholarship from all faculties at the University of Calgary, including the natural and health sciences, humanities, social sciences, engineering, and the arts. Please review these guidelines carefully before submitting.

Article Types

JURC accepts four categories of submission:

  • Original Research Article: reports original data collection, experimentation, or analysis conducted by the undergraduate author(s). Includes a methods section and presentation of results. (3,000 to 6,000 words)
  • Literature Review: a critical synthesis of existing scholarship on a defined research question or topic, identifying patterns, gaps, or debates in the literature. (3,000 to 6,000 words)
  • Case Study: an in-depth examination of a single case, event, organization, clinical presentation, or phenomenon, situated within relevant scholarly context. (2,000 to 4,000 words)
  • Reflective Essay: a scholarly reflection on a research experience, practicum, fieldwork, or creative process, connecting personal insight to academic literature. (1,500 to 3,000 words)

Word counts exclude references, tables, figures, and appendices.

General Requirements

  • Submit manuscripts as Microsoft Word (.docx) files.
  • Manuscripts must be in English. Canadian or American spelling is accepted, provided usage is consistent throughout.
  • Manuscripts must be original and unpublished, and not under review elsewhere. Manuscripts based on course assignments or theses must be substantially revised for standalone publication.
  • Remove all author names, institutional affiliations, and identifying acknowledgments from the manuscript file to support double anonymous peer review. Identifying details (author names, faculty, year of study, supervisor, funding) are entered separately in the submission metadata, not in the manuscript itself.

Manuscript Structure

  • Title (no author names)
  • Abstract (150 to 250 words)
  • Keywords (4 to 6 terms)
  • Main body, structured according to the conventions of the article type and discipline (for example: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion for original research)
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • Appendices, tables, and figures, if applicable

Formatting

  • Font: 12 point Times New Roman or 11 point Calibri, used consistently throughout
  • Spacing: double spaced body text
  • Margins: 1 inch (2.54 cm) on all sides
  • Page numbers: bottom right of each page
  • Headings: use a clear, consistent heading hierarchy (Word's built-in heading styles are recommended)
  • Alignment: left aligned, not justified
  • Paragraph indentation: first line indent of 0.5 inch, no extra blank line between paragraphs

Citation Style

JURC's default citation style is APA (7th edition), used for the natural sciences, health sciences, and social sciences. Authors in the humanities and fine arts may use MLA (9th edition) or Chicago Author-Date, and authors in engineering and computer science may use IEEE, where that style is the accepted convention in their discipline. Whichever style is used, it must be applied consistently and completely throughout the manuscript and reference list. Please declare your citation style in the submission notes.

Tables and Figures

  • Number tables and figures consecutively in the order they are first mentioned in the text
  • Include a brief, descriptive title above each table and below each figure
  • Create tables using Word's table function rather than inserting them as images
  • Submit figures as high resolution images (minimum 300 dpi) in addition to embedding them in the manuscript
  • Confirm you hold the rights to reproduce any figure, image, or dataset not originally created by you, and provide full source attribution

Ethics and Authorship

  • All listed authors must have made a substantive intellectual contribution to the work and must approve the final submitted version.
  • Research involving human participants, animals, or sensitive data must include a statement of ethics approval (for example, a University of Calgary Conjoint Research Ethics Board file number) or an explanation of why approval was not required.
  • Disclose any conflicts of interest and funding sources.
  • Manuscripts are screened for plagiarism and improper citation. Plagiarized material, fabricated data, or undisclosed AI generated content presented as original analysis will result in rejection.
  • Disclose any use of generative AI tools in preparing the manuscript, describing what the tool was used for.

Artificial Intelligence Policy

JURC permits limited, disclosed use of generative AI tools in manuscript preparation. Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of their submission, regardless of what tools were used in preparing it.

Permitted uses, with disclosure:

  • Grammar, spelling, and language polishing
  • Formatting assistance (for example, reference list formatting)
  • Brainstorming or outlining support, provided the resulting analysis and writing are the author's own

Not permitted:

  • Using AI tools to generate original data, results, or findings
  • Using AI tools to write substantive sections of analysis, discussion, or argumentation that are then presented as the author's own scholarly work
  • Submitting AI generated text, citations, or data without disclosure or verification. Authors must independently verify that any AI generated citation actually exists and accurately reflects the source

Disclosure requirements:

  • Authors must disclose any use of generative AI tools in the acknowledgments section, naming the tool and describing specifically what it was used for (for example, "ChatGPT was used to check grammar in the final draft")
  • Manuscripts with undisclosed AI generated content presented as original analysis will be rejected, and may be treated as an academic integrity violation

AI tools are not permitted to be listed as authors or co-authors, as they cannot take responsibility for the accuracy or integrity of the work.

Submission Checklist

Before submitting, please confirm:

  • Manuscript matches the word count range for its article type
  • All identifying information has been removed from the manuscript file
  • Abstract and keywords are included
  • Citation style is declared and applied consistently
  • All tables and figures are numbered, titled, and cited in text
  • Ethics approval statement is included, where applicable
  • Conflict of interest and funding disclosures are included
  • Reference list is complete and formatted correctly
  • Manuscript has been proofread for spelling, grammar, and formatting consistency

Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions must meet the following requirements.

  • This submission meets the requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
  • This submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration.
  • All references have been checked for accuracy and completeness.
  • All tables and figures have been numbered and labeled.
  • Permission has been obtained to publish all photos, datasets and other material provided with this submission.

Articles

Section default policy

Copyright Notice

Authors who publish with the Journal of Undergraduate Research in Calgary (JURC) agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright of their work and grant JURC the right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)]. This license allows others to share and adapt the work for any purpose, including commercially, provided appropriate credit is given to the author and to JURC, a link to the license is provided, and any changes made are indicated.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (for example, posting it to an institutional repository or including it in a thesis), provided they acknowledge its initial publication in JURC.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (for example, in institutional repositories or on personal websites) prior to and during the submission process, as this can lead to productive exchanges and earlier citation of published work.
  4. By submitting to JURC, authors confirm that the submitted work is their own original scholarship, that it does not infringe on the copyright or other rights of any third party, and that any material reproduced from other sources (including images, data, or extended quotations) is properly attributed and used with permission or under fair dealing.
  5. Authors confirm that they have read and agree to this Copyright Notice as a condition of submission.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.