•  
  •  
 
The Graduate Review

Guidelines & Policies

The Graduate Review is an annual journal of research and creative scholarship by Bridgewater State University (BSU) graduate students.

Guidelines At-a-Glance:

  • Each journal submission should have a faculty sponsor/mentor.
  • The journal submission should be directly connected to a course.
  • The faculty sponsor/mentor will decide if the work should be submitted to the journal.
  • There is a double-blind review process for all journal submissions.
  • Each author or group of authors will be eligible to submit only two works to the journal.
  • For each journal submission, one student needs to be a matriculated graduate student.
  • Scholarly work will constitute journal submissions. The academic discipline will guide the type of submission from the discipline.
  • An abstract will be part of the journal submission. This abstract will help procure relevant reviewers for the submission.
  • Along with the submission should be a statement regarding pertinent information about the author(s). A black and white photograph of each author should be submitted along with the work.
  • The journal’s Advisory Board will decide on the number of submissions for each Journal edition.

Guidelines in Detail

Who Can Submit?

Projects eligible for publication include any research project, paper, or creative work written or created by a Bridgewater State University graduate student and mentored by a faculty member.

The submitted work will be reviewed and approved by the faculty sponsor. Each Journal submission will be reviewed by members of the Advisory Board of The Graduate Review. Faculty members, who are of the particular academic discipline of the submission, will review the piece through a double-blind review process. Students will be notified whether or not their work is accepted for publication.

{ top }

General Submission Rules

Submitted articles cannot have been previously published, nor be forthcoming in an archival journal or book (print or electronic). In addition, by submitting material to The Graduate Review, the author is stipulating that the material is not currently under review at another journal (electronic or print), and that he or she will not submit the material to another journal (electronic or print) until the completion of the editorial decision process at The Graduate Review. If you have concerns about the submission terms for The Graduate Review, please contact the editor.

Manuscripts and visual art to be considered for the volume VIII of The Graduate Review should be submitted through an online form by 3/17/2025. Please complete the submission form in its entirety and then attach the manuscript as a Microsoft Word document; submissions of visual art can be attached as JPEG files. Also attach, if applicable, images, graphs, formulae, etc., that should accompany the manuscript.

Notice of Original Work, Use of Copyright Protected Materials, & Research with Human Subjects: If your work includes images, videos, music, data sets, or other accompanying material that is not original work by you, you must obtain permission from the original content provider in order to have that material published in The Graduate Review. If your work includes interviews, you must obtain signed statements from all interviewees that you have permission to make their interviews public. Additionally, whenever your work includes research with human or animal subjects, you must complete Institutional Review Board (IRB) forms.

Please consult the Submission Checklist to make sure your manuscript is complete and correctly formatted. Manuscripts are “blind reviewed." Please ensure that your name does not appear anywhere in the attached documents (including headers and footers) or their filenames.

{ top }

Formatting Requirements

Manuscripts

  • Editable (as opposed to “read-only”) Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx).
  • Double-spaced, 12-point, Times New Roman font.
  • Page Length:
    • Research Papers (not exceeding 20 pages)
    • Creative Essays (not exceeding 20 pages)
    • Photography and Other Visual Art (not exceeding 10 images)
    • Commentaries (2-4 pages)
    • Book Reviews (2-4 pages)
    • Research Briefs (2-4 pages)
    • Other Work Specific to an Academic Department
  • Bold and italics where appropriate, but no other formatting, please.
  • No headers or footers.
  • Endnotes rather than footnotes, if applicable.
  • Bibliography at the end, in the citation format required by your faculty mentor and/or discipline (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.).

Figures (Charts, Graphs, Tables):

  • Up to six figures (charts, graphs, tables) can be included in a manuscript.
  • Figures created and saved in Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Microsoft Word, or MATH-Type work well. Contact Principal Dr. Michele Wakin at mwakin@bridgew.edu with questions about figures created with other software.
  • Because The Graduate Review is printed in black & white and grayscale, charts and graphs should not be color dependent.

Photos, Images, and Graphics:

  • Up to six photos, images, or graphic designs can be included in a written manuscript.
  • A submission of a visual art project, however, may include up to 10 photos, images, and/or graphic designs.
  • Photos should be in digital format saved as JPEG files.
  • Photos and graphics should be high-resolution (at least 300 dpi) so they reproduce at a high quality. (Images from the Internet are not acceptable for publication due to their low resolution.)
  • The Graduate Review will convert color images to black & white, or grayscale.

{ top }

Manuscript Review Policy

The Graduate Review uses a double-blind faculty review process, which means that the author’s name is not shared with the faculty reviewer, and the reviewer’s name is not shared with the authors. The journal editor will contact the author(s) with its decision, along with any request for revisions.

{ top }

Rights for Authors and Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University

As further described in our submission agreement (the Submission Agreement), in consideration for publication of the article, the authors assign to Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University all copyright in the article, subject to the expansive personal-use exceptions described below.

Attribution and Usage Policies

Reproduction, posting, transmission or other distribution or use of the article or any material therein, in any medium as permitted by a personal-use exemption or by written agreement of Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University, requires credit to Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University as copyright holder (e.g., Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University © 2024).

Personal-use Exceptions

The following uses are always permitted to the author(s) and do not require further permission from Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University provided the author does not alter the format or content of the articles, including the copyright notification:

  • Storage and back-up of the article on the author's computer(s) and digital media (e.g., diskettes, back-up servers, Zip disks, etc.), provided that the article stored on these computers and media is not readily accessible by persons other than the author(s);
  • Posting of the article on the author(s) personal website, provided that the website is non-commercial;
  • Posting of the article on the internet as part of a non-commercial open access institutional repository or other non-commercial open access publication site affiliated with the author(s)'s place of employment (e.g., a Phrenology professor at the University of Southern North Dakota can have her article appear in the University of Southern North Dakota's Department of Phrenology online publication series); and
  • Posting of the article on a non-commercial course website for a course being taught by the author at the university or college employing the author.

People seeking an exception, or who have questions about use, should contact the editor.

{ top }

General Terms and Conditions of Use

Users of the Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University website and/or software agree not to misuse the Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University service or software in any way.

The failure of Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University to exercise or enforce any right or provision in the policies or the Submission Agreement does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any term of the Submission Agreement or these policies is found to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Submission Agreement and these policies remain in full force and effect. These policies and the Submission Agreement constitute the entire agreement between Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University and the Author(s) regarding submission of the Article.

{ top }

Submission Checklist

Manuscripts and visual art to be considered for the volume VIII of The Graduate Review should be submitted through an online form by 3/17/25. Before submitting a manuscript for review, please ensure:

  1. Your name or other personally identifying information does not appear in your manuscript (including headers and footers) and is not part of the filename.
  2. The title of the paper appears on the first page.
  3. Names of any co-authors appear on the first page and on the submission form. (Note: Papers coauthored by a faculty mentor or professor are not eligible for The Graduate Review.)
  4. A short biographical statement (50-100 words) is ready to be pasted in to the submission form.
  5. A high-resolution profile photo of you (JPEG format) is ready to be attached to the submission form.
  6. Your manuscript (.doc or .docx) and any additional files (accompanying charts, graphs, photos) are ready to be attached to the submission form.

To submit your manuscript, use the online submission form. Acknowledgment of receipt of your submission will be sent by email.

{ top }