• MSURJ Volume XV

      Click on the cover to download your own virtual copy.

    • What is MSURJ?

      When the McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal (MSURJ) launched in Fall 2005 as a student-run initiative to promote and support undergraduate research, it was one of North America’s first peer-reviewed journals devoted to undergraduate work. The journal offers undergraduate students from any university the unique opportunity to publish their findings to the McGill research community.

      Writing

      The journal distinguishes itself with its rigorous editorial process; we hold our articles to a high standard of scientific acumen and writing quality: each incoming submission is first revised by our student editorial board. Qualifying articles are then submitted to our peer-reviewers, professors, and graduate students who hail from universities all over the world.

      Editing

      Our diverse editors, united by the mandate to promote undergraduate research, are involved in all journal operations, from soliciting research articles to coordinating the peer-review process and launching the journal. We encourage anyone with strong writing and editing skills and an academic interest in science to apply in the Fall semester of the school year.

      Events

      In addition to providing students with the opportunity to participate directly in the publication process, MSURJ is always looking for ways to encourage student involvement in all things research. In the upcoming school year, we will be hosting a new array of scientific activities to the McGill community ranging from R-workshops to research seminars.

        

      For more information on our upcoming events, please like us on Facebook

    • Peer-Review Process

      The steps to publishing with MSURJ.

      1

      MSURJ Editorial Board Review

      All received submissions are first read and evaluated by the MSURJ editorial board, on the basis of the publication criteria. Rejected submissions are returned to the authors, with a point-form evaluation of the manuscript if requested.

       

      2

      Peer-Review

       

      The short-listed articles undergo the peer-review process. Copies of the manuscript are sent to the selected reviewers, who are knowledgeable professors or graduate students in the given field. Upon receipt of the reviews, the comments are combined with those of the editorial board to reach a decision of the article’s suitability for publication.

       

      3

      Conditional Acceptance or Rejection

      The conditional publication decision, comments from reviewers, and, if requested, a point-form evaluation of the article justifying the decision are forwarded to the author. In order for publication of the article to proceed, outstanding issues in the manuscript must be amended in accordance with the recommendations and resubmitted.

    • Article Submissions are Closed for 2019-2020

      We welcome original submissions from undergraduate students studying at any university. We publish research articles and review papers - interest pieces should be directed towards our blog, “The Abstract.” We always encourage authors to submit articles before the deadline; although it does not improve your chances of acceptance, it allows for more time to complete all edits.

       

      All articles are peer-reviewed by two or more professors or graduate students from the relevant field; all pieces also undergo rigorous style and copy-editing by our editorial board. Above all, we seek to publish well-written articles demonstrating scientific acumen as well as accessibility to the general scientific readership. We encourage authors to write engaging manuscripts and limit technical jargon.

       

      Submission opening: November 15, 2019
      Submission deadline (extended): January 26, 2020
       

    • Publish with MSURJ

      Submission opening: November 15, 2019

      Submission deadline (extended): January 26, 2020

       

      All submissions must meet these criteria to be considered for publication:

      1. The article, in the following format:
        • All papers should be double-spaced throughout.
        • Limit length to ~4000 words.  We will tolerate up to 4500 words, although this is not ideal. These numbers exclude references.
        • Article must be in .doc, .docx, or .tex format.
        • Font: Times New Roman, 12-point font.
        • Format citations and references in Vancouver style only.
      2. Signed Consent Form (we consider the submission an automatic rejection without it). 
      3. Separate file containing figures, appropriately labelled.
        • Individual figures, appropriately labelled. 
          • Minimum image resolution is 300 DPI.
          • .tiff, .png, or .jpg format.
        • Document with appropriately labelled figure and table captions. Each caption is to begin with the text “Fig. #.” or “Table #” in boldface.
        • If you wish to include any previously published table or figure, you must include a written permission from the main author.

       

      Please refer to the following documents for further information and instructions regarding the article submission process. A template for Latex submissions is available for download below. The .zip file contains a class msurj-pan.cls that defines template features, a main.tex file which explains the main features and gives examples, a refs.bib example bibliography, and a folder containing MSURJ graphics. The project should compile without issue if you upload these 4 components to an Overleaf project. If you are using your own Latex compiler and have trouble using the template, please contact shannon.egan@mail.mcgill.ca

       

      Click for Author Instructions.

      Click for Consent Form.

      Click for Latex Template.

       

      To submit, please place your article and pictures in a zip folder and email the zip folder and consent form to applymsurj.sus@mail.mcgill.ca with the express title "LAST NAME, FIRST NAME: Manuscript Submission"

    • Behind the Scenes

      Meet the students who make MSURJ happen.

      Howard Li

      Editor-in-Chief

      Department: Biochemistry

      Research Interests: Cancer genomics, targeted therapy

      General Interests: Basketball, food, cats, snowboarding

      Jacqueline Yao

      Editor-in-Chief

      Department: Microbiology and Immunology

      Research Interests: Endocrinology, deubiquitinase

      General Interests: Listening to podcasts, running, dance

      Carrie Gu

      Managing Editor: Technology

      Department: Pharmacology

      Research Interests: Neuroendocrinology, personalized medicine, antibiotic resistance

      General Interests: Ultimate frisbee, cooking, music

      Yingke Liang

      Managing Editor: Logistics

      Department: Biochemistry

      Research Interests: Structural biology of proteins, x-ray crystallography, cryo-EM

      General Interests: Eating food, playing the recorder, PyMol

      Janet Wilson

      Managing Editor: Outreach

      Department: Physiology

      Research Interests: Cardiac arrythmias, exercise physiology

      General Interests: Singing, running, being outside

      Mathilde Papillon

      Managing Editor: Journalism

      Department: Physics

      Research Interests: Exoplanets, Lagrangian mechanics of dance

      General Interests: Dance, chocolate, fishing

      Shannon Egan

      Managing Editor: Operations

      Department: Physics

      Research Interests: Particle physics and the Standard Model, topological materials, theoretical physics

      General Interests: Soccer, bouldering, photography

      Richard Yang

      Senior Editor

      Department: Pharmacology

      Research Interests: Anti-cancer drug development

      General Interests: Eating food, cats

      Viet Hoang

      Senior Editor

      Department: Biology and Computer Science

      Research Interests: Multiple sclerosis, diffusion MRI, white matter tractography

      General Interests: Paleontology, food, math

      Laura Meng

      Senior Editor

      Department: Neuroscience

      Research Interests: Role of the imprinted gene network in retinal regeneration

      General Interests: Teaching, science advocacy, riddles, forensics

      Katharine Kocik

      Senior Editor

      Department: Molecular Biology and English Literature

      Research Interests: Epigenetics, circadian rhythms, mental illness

      General Interests: Visual arts

      Janet Tang

      Senior Editor

      Department: Microbiology and Immunology

      Research Interests: Neuroinflammation, chronic pain

      General Interests: Piano, cooking

      Elias Andraos

      Editor

      Department: Chemistry

      Research Interests: Energy storage, materials chemistry

      General Interests: Cooking, cycling

      Michael Agaby

      Editor

      Department: Math and Computer Science

      Research Interests: Machine Learning applications, computational biology

      General Interests: Hockey, reading

      Alina He

      Editor

      Department: Neuroscience

      Research Interests: Synaptic plasticity, neurodegeneration

      General Interests: Painting, cats

      Jenny Zheng

      Editor

      Department: Biology and Computer Science

      Research Interests: Genetics, computational biology

      General Interests: Baking, reading

      Sofia Reynoso

      Editor

      Department: Biology

      Research Interests: Genetic engineering, bioethics

      General Interests: Music history, rock climbing, and travelling

      Ryan Huang

      Editor

      Department: Life Sciences

      Research Interests: Endocrinology, diabetes

      General Interests: Piano, chocolate, reading

      John Ni

      Editor

      Department: Life Sciences

      Research Interests: Neurogenetics

      General Interests: Soccer, cooking

    • Donate to MSURJ

      Please note that this a donation for MSURJ, which is directed through the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS). We kindly ask that you write "For MSURJ" under the notes section of the donation page.

    • Discover...

      Click the image above to visit our blog.

    • MSURJ Alumni

      The people who have made MSURJ great. Includes MSURJ board members from 2016 onward.

      Alexander Chatron-Michaud

      Editor-in-Chief (2016)

      Sapan Patel

      Editor-in-Chief (2016)

      Lavinia Lee

      Managing Editor (2016)

      Helen Lai

      Managing Editor (2016)

      Jasmine Li-Brubacher

      Senior Editor (2016)

      Nick Pant

      Editor-in-Chief (2017)

      Rachel Greben

      Editor-in-Chief (2017)

      Cheng Lin

      Editor (2017)

      Sebastian Andric

      Editor-in-Chief (2018)

      Abtin Ameri

      Managing Editor: Technology (2018)

      Deifilia To

      Managing Editor: Journalism (2018)

      Graydon Tope

      Managing Editor: Outreach (2018)

    • Contact Us

      McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal
      805 Sherbrooke St. West Room 1B21
      Montréal, QC H3A 2K6

      Email: msurj.sus@mail.mcgill.ca

      P. 514.398.6979 | F. 514.398.6766 (Science Undergraduate Society)

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    © McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal 2019

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