Three South Carolina Honors College students have created a new research journal for undergraduate researchers at USC.
The Caroliniana Undergraduate Research Journal (CURJ) aims to promote interdisciplinary undergraduate research from USC students, said Khufu Holly, a third-year biomedical engineering student and CURJ co-editor-in-chief.
“We want to be able to target all different types of students, and (CURJ) is fully for students at the University of South Carolina,” Holly said.
Holly conceived the initial idea for the journal after they were encouraged by English professor Jennifer Blevins to expand and publish their research from a social advocacy and ethical life class.
“(Blevins) really encouraged me to further flesh out my project for that class and better understand the intricacies of the issue I was studying. That way I could eventually publish my work,” Holly said.
Holly reached out to other USC students involved in research to form a panel of editors for the journal, including third-year neuroscience student Megha Badiger, who now serves as co-editor-in-chief.
“(Holly) wanted to start this journal with me because we're both very involved in research, and we have our own respective colleges that we're involved in and we just thought it was a great idea to try and come together,” Badiger said.
Second-year biochemistry student Shrihan Ganesh Babu, who serves as the CURJ managing editor, got involved in research his first year and was later approached by Holly to join CURJ. Ganesh Babu did independent research prior to starting college, he said.
The journal is led by Holly, Badiger and Ganesh Babu, who supervise a team of section editors and review committees. Submissions to each section of the journal — STEM, social science, humanities and interdisciplinary — will be reviewed by a committee of about six people and collectively by the board.
Holly said the committees will collaborate with their editors to decide which articles to publish based on how they feel the article will fit into the journal.
The review committees will review submissions using a double-blind review process to ensure credibility, Holly said. The committees will also consult professors about the articles they choose to publish in order to ensure that the submissions are consistent with the standards of their respective fields.
Badiger said CURJ hopes to help undergrads, both those submitting research and those on review committees, gain experience that will help them later in life.
“We're really hoping for our undergrad students to be able to gain professional development through this. The review committees (are) able to gain experience within the publishing process,” Badiger said. “As for the authors that are publishing through us, they're able to receive these critiques...as well as be able to (get their work published). And that’s super important for grad school and for job applications down the line.”
CURJ is working in collaboration with University Libraries and the South Carolina Honors College. Holly said the partnership with University Libraries started because the team wanted to name the journal after the Caroliniana Library, which is the oldest free-standing academic library in the country.
“Since it is the first free-standing library, and since it has that research history, and currently it has a bunch of resources for students to do research and do humanities research, we thought it would be a great way to not only promote the library, but also to tie in USC's history with our journal,” Holly said.
Holly said their ultimate goal for the journal was to ensure it continued for future students so they would have a dedicated publication for their research.
Badiger said the journal aims to publish once a semester and will primarily publish online.
The Caroliniana Undergraduate Research Journal is accepting submissions and holding a cover art design contest until Oct. 10. Undergraduate USC students can submit their research or cover designs via the journal's Instagram page.