Journal profile
McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal
ISSN 1718-0775 · eISSN 1718-0783 · McGill University Library · Canada
McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal: diamond open access (no APC); no APC; review about 10 weeks (community reports); 36 articles in 2025.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal is published by McGill University Library. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Climate variability and models, Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research and Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation, together about 17.4% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Issue Description Dear Reader, The twenty-first volume of the McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal comes on the heels of celebrating two decades of publishing. Last year, we took the opportunity to look back at how far the journal and, by extension, undergraduate research has come. If Volume 20 was about where we had been, then Volume 21 is decidedly about where we are going. Milestones deceive. They invite us to view our progress as a project that has been completed rather than as a continual process. This year has marked a turning point in science globally. The enterprise of science is changing rapidly and sustaining a research journal within it requires work renewed each year by a new board, new authors, and new questions. In so doing, each year, we earn the platform we have been given. This volume features nine articles, including MSURJ's first-ever Commentary, reflecting the breadth of undergraduate investigation. In particular, we are proud to publish work spanning scales: from using electricity to stimulate germination in plants, to characterizing crayfish species composition in the Gault Nature Reserve, to modelling our peatland carbon sinks from space. Undergraduate research remains unconfined by scope, discipline, or scale. What these works share is an orientation: each author chose to subject their findings to the scrutiny of peer review, to revise and defend their conclusions. That process, as much as the published result, is what our journal exists to foster. We present to you Volume 21 with immense pride in our past and excitement for the future of undergraduate scientific inquiry. On behalf of our entire Editorial Board, thank you. Lisa Xie and Benjamin Lévesque KinderEditors-in-Chief More Full Issue PDF
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Climate variability and modelsEnvironmental Science5.8%
- Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology ResearchNeuroscience5.8%
- Developmental Biology and Gene RegulationBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.8%
- Meteorological Phenomena and SimulationsEarth and Planetary Sciences5.8%
- Schizophrenia research and treatmentMedicine5%
- Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeuroscience5%
- Reproductive Biology and FertilityMedicine5%
- Genomics and Phylogenetic StudiesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.1%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
DOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- h-index
- 5OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.12OpenAlex ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 0%LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 250 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 36 | 36 | 23 |
| 2025 | 36 | 36 | 24 |
| 2024 | 10 | 10 | 15 |
| 2023 | 9 | 9 | 16 |
| 2022 | 12 | 12 | 4 |
| 2021 | 13 | 13 | 12 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 10 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 10 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Double anonymous peer reviewDOAJ
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Diamond open access (no APC)DOAJ
Every article is open access and authors pay no article processing charge.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | No APC | No | CC BY | |
| LetPub | No APC | No | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteLicense & copyright, Peer review
- License & copyright Copyright Notice
Published under CC BY 4.0; authors retain ownership and grant MSURJ rights to copy-edit, reproduce, publish, distribute. Model summary
Information on copyright pertaining to submitted works can be found: - in the Publication Rights Agreement for full article submissions; - in the Abstract Publication Rights Agreement for abstract submissions. In both cases, authors retain the ownership of their work and grant MSURJ the rights, unlimited in time or territory, to copy-edit, reproduce, publish, and distribute the accepted manuscript…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Peer review by two or more professors or graduate students from the relevant field; style and copy-editing by editorial board. Model summary
All articles are peer-reviewed by two or more professors or graduate students from the relevant field
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- McGill University Library
- Country or region
- Canada
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1718-0775
- Electronic ISSN
- 1718-0783
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 21, Issue 1 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal
How long does peer review take at McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal?
Authors report an average review time of about 10 weeks. Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
Which databases index McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal is indexed in DOAJ.
Is McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal open access, and what is the APC?
McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal is a diamond open-access journal (no APC). It charges no article processing charge.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, Publisher website; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-24). Last updated: .