Instructions for Authors

Eligibility
STREAMS accepts original research and meta-studies of any discipline from undergraduate students of FSU. If you are a former student of the university, you may also submit papers that were fully written during your undergraduate studies. All authors must meet the undergraduate criteria.

Formatting

Please submit manuscripts in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format. If a PDF is submitted, an editable version should be available upon request. Manuscripts should follow these formatting guidelines:

  • One-inch page margins
  • 12-point Times New Roman Font, double spaced
  • 20-page maximum for all papers
  • Any citation style is acceptable, if it is consistent
  • Include an abstract of no greater than 200 words
  • Include an acknowledgements section recognizing any guidance received, particularly faculty mentors and principal investigators.

If you include images in your manuscript, make note of the following:

  • All charts and graphs should have titles, and all axes should have labels.
  • Every independent image must have an accompanying caption.
  • You must have full permission to use all images that are included in your paper.
  • During the editing process, we will ask for individual attachments of the images in your manuscript. Because print quality requires a high resolution, you must provide a large source image, or your graphics will appear very small in print.

Selection Criteria

The journal aims to feature articles that are rigorous in their academic standards. There are four primary criteria used for selection: Composition - The manuscript should be well-written in terms of organization of ideas, sentence construction, and general writing mechanics. Papers that contain excessive grammatical mistakes or are confusingly organized will not be selected. Originality - The manuscript should present original ideas. Depending on the discipline, for example, this could be fulfilled by conducting original research, synthesizing sources in a novel way, or providing new insight on a topic through primary sources. The author should offer a perspective or interpretation that represents an original contribution to academic research. Significance - Papers connect the subject under discussion to larger trends within their relevant discipline and show how the research represents a contribution to their field. Audience - Articles are expected to be comprehensible to undergraduates in all disciplines. Well-written papers are succinct and communicate complex topics clearly.

Article Review & Publication Process

The Process

The journal is published in an online form. Papers are submitted electronically and then reviewed by the editorial board, which then works with each author as well as a faculty review board to edit, make any necessary changes and get the submission ready for publication. Initial Selection - URJ Editors review manuscripts and make initial selections for papers that warrant faculty review. Faculty Review - All articles that meet a baseline standard are reviewed by faculty members of the University. Each article will be reviewed by a faculty expert that is familiar with the subject matter at hand. Final Selection - Editors make the decision to accept papers for publication, based on the reviews from University faculty. All authors will receive copies of feedback from faculty, regardless of acceptance status. Revision and Layout - Authors work closely with editors on several rounds of revisions to the accepted articles, reflecting the comments of the faculty reviewer. Authors should provide additional information and high-quality images as requested at this stage. Printing and Distribution - Every issue is published online prior to the beginning of each Fall semester. A print version will be distributed as soon as possible, which varies based on publisher delay.

Copyright Notice
The work of our published authors is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.  To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/   or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.

You are free to: Share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms if you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms:

i. Attribution - You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. 

ii.  NonCommercial - You may not use the material for commercial purposes. A commercial use is one primarily intended for commercial advantage or monetary compensation. 

iii.  NoDerivatives - If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material. No additional restrictions - You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.