Helping Students Navigate the Publishing World

Megan Sawicki works on “Researching Latin American Art through RTTP” during Summer Research.

Holy Cross students have a lot to say about their research. From the College Honors Program to the Weiss Summer Research Program to advanced seminars, students are doing important research that contributes to bigger scholarly conversations. Many of them publish their ideas in journals, ensuring that their ideas have a reach beyond campus.

But the world of publishing can be mystifying. How do journals decide what to publish? Who participates in peer review? And what journals accept submissions from undergraduates?

To aid students in understanding the process of publication, the J.D. Power Center, in collaboration with CrossWorks—the Holy Cross Libraries’ publishing service—have launched a Student Publishing website. The site links to a number of journals that feature undergraduate research, as well as a range of journals published on campus. It also features a resource guide (created by Lisa Villa, the College’s Digital Scholarship Librarian) designed to help students navigate the tricky process of evaluating journal quality and understand how to protect their rights as authors.

The site integrates with CrossWorks to maintain a current list of Holy Cross student publications, providing examples of successful publications—and allowing students to share their work with others on campus. And it includes a form through which students can report their successful publications, and begin the process of publishing to CrossWorks.

The site will expand as students submit more publications, allowing the list of undergraduate journals and examples of student scholarship to grow.

For more information on CrossWorks, go to https://crossworks.holycross.edu/.

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