Information and Library Services
Publish Your Undergraduate
Psychology Research!
Where Can I Publish My Undergraduate Research?
Explore the Undergraduate Journals & Conferences Directory (UJCD) to find possible venues for publication. Look under the headings "Psychology/Cognitive Science" and "Interdisciplinary." You can even try journals listed under "Natural Science/Neuroscience/Medicine" if your research tends that way.
Examples of undergraduate journals listed in the UJCD to which you can submit papers are:
Additionally, if you are eligible for membership in UMUC's chapter of Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology, then you can submit an article to the Psi Chi Journal.
Unfortunately, some of the journals listed in the UJCD may accept submissions only from undergraduates at certain institutions. You must read and follow any journal's submission guidelines before sending in your paper. And, if possible, read an issue or two of the journal in which you want to publish: you will learn a lot by reading other students' articles, and you can judge whether your work will fit in with the approach of that particular journal.
Note that, depending on the undergraduate journal and the type of article you are submitting, you may be required to have your article reviewed and signed by a faculty mentor, a professor here at UMUC, who is familiar with you and your research. The faculty mentor can also guide you in your research and writing. Again, check the submission guidelines for the journal to which you are submitting to see if you need a faculty mentor.
What Kind of Articles Can I Publish?
Depending on the undergraduate journal you are writing for, you can write various types of articles, such as:
Review articles survey and evaluate research by others on a particular topic. In other words, you are searching library databases and finding current, in-depth information on a topic, and you are analyzing and synthesizing that information to draw conclusions of your own. However, you are not yourself conducting an original study and gathering data.
Research articles report on original research you've conducted, presenting the data you've collected and conclusions you've drawn. Research articles contain references to relevant work by other scholars—the references may even amount to a mini-literature review—but the main purpose is to communicate your original research.
When your research involves gathering data from human participants, you have to consult UMUC's policy and follow the proper procedures. This is an absolute necessity, even if the paper you are planning to publish is not part of your UMUC course work (see Section IV. item C of the policy page).
Feature articles report on current psychology news in a journalistic fashion, in lively, non-technical language; citations sometimes are not used, though there may be links for further reading. This is science writing aimed at non-experts, the sort of thing you would see in a popular magazine.
Some undergraduate journals may accept other types of writing, such as book reviews, opinion pieces, and so on.
What Resources Are Available to Help Me Write a Psychology Paper?
Here are some resources that will offer you help with writing and other types of scholarly communication in psychology. Even if you are not thinking right now about publishing your work, these resources will help improve your college research papers, and they will give you insight into the world of peer-reviewed literature. In fact, when your professors require you to use peer-reviewed articles in your research, it's not just to make sure that you will be using authoritative sources—it's also an invitation into the profession, to the type of information that you will be using (and producing!) when you are working as a psychologist.
NetLibrary has the following book on research and writing in psychology. You can read it in its entirety online:
If you're not familiar with NetLibrary, you can review our guide, How to Use NetLibrary.
In the library's online catalogUSMAI, you can do a basic search on psychology AND authorship and find lots of guides. Below are just a few, beginning with the redoubtable APA manual. For help using catalogUSMAI, including how to request books, see the library's guide.
JOURNAL OF YOUNG INVESTIGATORS GUIDE
The Journal of Young Investigators has an excellent guide, written especially for undergraduates in a practical, down-to-earth style, on Writing Scientific Manuscripts. Addressing scientific writing in general, the guide applies to psychology manuscripts as well. It explains: