Points of View: Should Students Be Encouraged To Publish Their Research in Student-Run Publications? A Case Against Undergraduate-only Journal Publications

WHILE there may be several positive arguments for undergraduate research journals, I think that the negatives far outweigh the values they may have. My first argument is that a journal geared toward the publication of undergraduate research would significantly “up the ante” and increase the pressures on students. Right now, my undergraduates do not need a published paper to get into an excellent graduate school or medical school or to be competitive for a fellowship. What they need is a letter of recommendation, wherein I write that the student has drive, persistence, intellectual curiosity, and that she or he knows how to plan experiments with the appropriate controls. The fact that the student's research has not yet reached the publication stage is not considered a disadvantage. If there were an undergraduate research journal, such a publication might become an expected“ credential.” The second argument against an undergraduate research journal is that it would significantly increase the stress on faculty. One of the joys of pursuing research at a primarily undergraduate institution (at least, after one has tenure) has been the ability to do the research without having to have a program with a 100% chance of success. Moreover, I can work on topics that might take years to accomplish (and which would never be assigned to a graduate student). The research that I have done on turtle shell development investigates an organism that has a breeding season of 3 months each year. By the time we know what to look for, we have to wait 9 months for the next experiment. When we publish a paper, there may be 3 years worth of students on it. It takes time to make such a paper, and I would not want to publish pieces of it so that each undergraduate could have a paper published by the time she or he applies for fellowships or graduate degree programs. Another stress on faculty members may involve competition between those who publish in such journals and those who don't. Would such papers in undergraduate journals count toward tenure and promotion? Are they“ real” papers? Should someone who builds a story over a number of years be penalized for not publishing it bit-by-bit and accruing numerous“ publications”? The third argument against a journal specifically for undergraduate research is that it could easily become a journal of not-ready-for-prime-time studies. If the research is good enough, it should be published in a“ real” journal. I agree that the standards set by journals are making it progressively more difficult to publish in the mainstream journals. However, many journals have “rapid” publication sections or portions that are designed specifically for small projects such as gene expression patterns. A quick look at Google located undergraduate research journals at Caltech, University of Florida, University of California-Irvine, Stanford, and Berkeley. There is even a U.S. Government-sponsored Journal of Undergraduate Research, published by the Department of Energy. It would be interesting to know if any article in these journals has been cited by anyone outside its home institution or whether any of the journals is indexed in searchable databases such as PubMed. In other words, the journals risk being little more than “vanity journals.” I also see two other problems concerning the quality of such papers. First, if the journal were run solely by undergraduates— including the reviewing process—there might be a question of quality control that might worry others about citing the article or using the data in their own research. Are undergraduates prepared to review articles written by their peers and to comment on them in a constructive way? Do undergraduates have enough time during their undergraduate careers to respond to reviewer criticisms of their own papers? While many undergraduate students become competent at critically discussing the literature, they may not have the perspective and knowledge required to review articles in a way that their judgment is required before publication. Second, once published in a journal of this type, the data would be precluded from publication in another journal. One cannot always have the foresight of knowing what research and information may be interesting at some later date. The fourth argument against an undergraduate research journal concerns for whom the journal exists. I don't think the student will gain much from having a paper published in a journal for undergraduate research. As mentioned above, the undergraduate gains from a good letter of recommendation. However, I can see reasons why faculty members might want such a journal. It would allow the publication of small research papers so that the faculty member might not get scooped by other laboratories. (This would be possible only if the journal were recognized by a number of indexers so the article could be found and cited by others in the field.) While there may be some merit to this, I don't see this as benefiting our students. My fifth argument concerns the reason for doing research in the first place. If you work at a research institution, publishing in a journal of undergraduate research is not going to garner you many laurels. If you work at a primarily undergraduate school, then such a journal might undermine the major reason for doing research there. Namely, research is the best way of teaching our best students. Research with undergraduates is done in the context of teaching, not publication. I am very happy with this model, because it makes working with students more important than publishing with students. I am concerned that a journal of undergraduate research, if successful, would undermine this important principle of liberal arts science education. I think that t he future of research at primarily undergraduate institutions is through collaboration with larger laboratories. This has many benefits, including access to new techniques and concepts, the introduction of undergraduates to the joys and frustrations of high-power research, and the possibility for undergraduates to participate in studies that are published in mainstream journals. If I have my own project, I can often bring it into a larger laboratory and work with students there in the summer. And if our goal is to train undergraduates to understand what research science is all about, they should have realistic expectations for publication and authorship and the scientific review process. They should also realize that not all work leads to publication. Thus, I do not think that an undergraduate research journal provides benefits for the undergraduates that outweigh the costs of time and other resources. I also doubt that such a journal would have articles of significant benefit to science or the scientific community. Moreover, I believe that such a journal would only put more publication pressure on faculty members and weaken one of the fundamental reasons for pursuing research with undergraduates. The risks of publishing an undergraduate research journal outweigh any possible benefit such a journal might have. I think that there are other, more important places where we can put our limited funds and time.