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Can undergraduates publish notes (or articles) in journals such as Mathematics Magazine, or does one need a PhD? Will the paper be rejected? I could not find any information about this online.

Edit: How long does the referring process take? When will I heard from the journal?

glebovg
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  • Not a direct answer to your question, but I think presenting a poster at a conference is much more common for undergrads than publishing. – manthanomen Apr 05 '13 at 19:01
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    The refereeing process looks at the paper, not (in general) the author. Some journals use double-blind refereeing, so that the referee doesn’t even know who the author is. Do make sure, though, to follow the submission guidelines, and expect to have to make at least one set of revisions. – Brian M. Scott Apr 05 '13 at 19:04
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    The refereeing process can take years, literally. To get an idea, rummage through journals in your area and look for "Submitted" and "Accepted" dates. Or look at their websites, they might tell. – vonbrand Apr 05 '13 at 19:13
  • See http://www.maa.org/columns/resources/resources_08_08.html – lhf Apr 05 '13 at 19:14
  • Have you discussed your work with any of your professors? Perhaps they could recommend a suitable place to publish (and whether or not your work is suitable for publishing). – manthanomen Apr 05 '13 at 19:15
  • @user67750 I have, but they never published as undergrads so they did not know. – glebovg Apr 05 '13 at 19:17
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    I would tend to think that any journal that would have that (rejecting non-PhDs) as a policy (implicit or explicit), would not be worth the paper it's printed on. – Řídící Apr 05 '13 at 19:46
  • @Gugg I think you are right. – glebovg Apr 05 '13 at 21:58
  • @Gugg Sometimes referees can be less receptive to content they know has been generated by an undergraduate, not as a matter of policy but of personal attitude. – Alexander Gruber Apr 06 '13 at 04:40

2 Answers2

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Absolutely anyone can have work published. I published my first article as a PhD student, so I didn't have a PhD at the time.

Once submitted, the work will go to an editor who passes it on to a referee (or referees) that s/he thinks are suitable to review the article. This process is called "peer review". The referee (or referees) will decide if they feel the article is of sufficient quality and originality to be published. The referee will then pass his suggestion on to the editor who takes the final decision.

Of course, the required standard varies between journals.

Fly by Night
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  • So once I submit a note (or an article) the editor will not reply saying that I should get a PhD and try again? – glebovg Apr 05 '13 at 19:02
  • I expect that most editors will reject some papers without using a referee if they judge the quality as clearly of too low quality. – Harald Hanche-Olsen Apr 05 '13 at 19:02
  • No, I can't imagine an editor saying such a thing. But see my previous comment. – Harald Hanche-Olsen Apr 05 '13 at 19:03
  • @HaraldHanche-Olsen What exactly do you mean by low quality? – glebovg Apr 05 '13 at 19:03
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    So you were a graduate student. That's fairly common. But rare are the undergraduate students who manage to reach the standards of usual journals. – Julien Apr 05 '13 at 19:03
  • @julien I agree. – glebovg Apr 05 '13 at 19:04
  • Low quality: Clearly not adhering to a reasonable standard of rigour, or results too trivial to bother with, for example. The point being that there are limits to what you want to bother referees with. Don't let this dissuade you from trying, though. But it is good to get advice from someone before trying to send in your first paper. – Harald Hanche-Olsen Apr 05 '13 at 19:05
  • @HaraldHanche-Olsen It is not my first paper, but it is the first time I am considering submitting a note to a journal such as Mathematics Magazine. – glebovg Apr 05 '13 at 19:09
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I think Involve specifically welcomes articles by undergraduates.

Here is a link to a list of such journals provided by Alex J Best.

Of course, you can submit your work to any journal. I am sure there are examples of undergraduate students who published in Annals of Maths. Well, actually, I'd like to see a concrete example.

But it takes very talented undergraduate students to publish in standard peer-reviewed journals publishing original research. It is more likely that undergraduate work finds its place in journals which are oriented towards unergraduate work.

Julien
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