Submissions for the jps 27th edition will open november 2024.
The submissions process
Undergraduate students, or alumni of the University of British Columbia (no more than two years graduated), are eligible to submit up to two papers until the edition’s due date. Submissions must be the original, previously-unpublished work of the author.
Paper specifications
Published papers are maximum of 5000 words in length.
Each student can submit a maximum of two papers (one submission form submission per paper).
To be competitive, papers should have received grades of 80% or higher in an undergraduate course (courses must be 2nd-year level or higher).
The paper must have been written throughout the duration of the candidate’s UBC undergraduate studies (e.g. if you are recently graduated alumni, your submission must have been written while you were at UBC during your undergraduate degree). This promotes fairness amongst applications and ensures that our journal only showcases undergraduate work — as is its intention.
The paper must be in doc format. Additionally, it must have a title, the author's name, and the course name for which the paper was written.
We most definitely do accept papers written for courses outside of Political Science, as well as papers that were not written for course credit, as long as they are sufficiently relevant to political studies.
For a sense of the quality and diversity of papers that we publish, please peruse our Past Editions.
how to submit
The submission date has now passed for the 26th Edition. Check back in November 2024 for more information on submitting to the 27th Edition.
Inquiries and concerns can be directed to the Editors-in-Chief, at editor.ubcpssa@gmail.com.
Author Expectations
All identifying information (name, student number, department, etc) will be removed from the submission prior to being distributed to the Editorial Board in order to begin our blind review process.
Only short-listed applicants will be notified. Applicants are welcome to inquire regarding the status of their submissions.
If short-listed, authors should expect to communicate with assigned Editors to make substantive and stylistic edits to their submission in preparation for publication. Authors receive further feedback from an anonymous Faculty reviewer, which is also incorporated into their final submission. Short-listed authors will only be known to the Editors-in-Chief, Managing Editor, and their assigned Editors.
A note to busy students
When in doubt, submit! If your paper meets the basic criteria, it has a good chance of being competitive in the peer- and faculty-review process. Papers can also be modified within reason through edits to adhere to the criteria. While we recommend incorporating comments and criticism offered during the grading process prior to submission, this is not at all necessary. The JPS editors work closely with authors to polish their arguments and writing before publication.