About This Journal | The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research | Purdue University Press Open Access Journals (original) (raw)

Educational research suggests that undergraduate and professional student research is one of the practices that contributes to student retention and engagement, a proven and powerful practice for enhancing educational outcomes and expanding frontiers of knowledge. There is a vibrant culture of undergraduate and professional student research at Purdue with almost 2,000 research projects completed every year. An emphasis on experiential learning and the real-world application of knowledge are two distinguishing characteristics of the Purdue student experience.

The aim of establishing JPUR is to further encourage the development of undergraduate research at Purdue by showcasing the best work in a tangible, centralized, and public way. JPUR will be of benefit to students, faculty, and administration:

• Student authors will benefit from experiencing the scholarly publishing process; from submission, through review and development, to formal publication. They will learn valuable lessons in scientific writing and publication ethics. Published articles will be tangible evidence of achievement, valuable for their future careers. Student editors will learn about the publishing process from behind the scenes, better preparing them to be the academic authors of the future.
• Faculty will be encouraged by the richness of undergraduate research activity in the University, and motivated to act as mentors. Working toward an end goal of publication, whether it is in JPUR or the journal of a disciplinary society, provides teaching moments to develop information literacy knowledge.
• For University Administration, the journal will provide an undergraduate recruiting and retention device, K-12 outreach material, and a fund raising tool. JPUR will advertise Purdue as a place where undergraduates are involved with innovative research early and often. The professional electronic edition of the journal will reach global audiences (this impact will be tracked using usage analysis tools), strengthening Purdue's ability to attract outstanding international students.
• There are two options for submissions to the annual volume: The first deadline is November 15; the second deadline is February 15 of each year.
• The ISSNs for this journal are 2158-4044 (Print) and 2158-4052 (Online).