•  
  •  
 

Submission Guidelines and Policies

Contents

Who Should Submit?

Anyone may submit an original article to be considered for publication in the Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal provided that all authors of the article were undergraduates or high school students when the work described in the article was completed. Faculty coauthors are not permitted; however, faculty may be listed as a sponsor of the paper. The article may be submitted after one or more authors has obtained an undergraduate degree as long as the mathematics described in the paper was completed prior to graduation. The authors must also own the copyright to the work being submitted or be authorized by the copyright owner or owners to submit the article. Authors are the initial owners of the copyrights to their works.

Topics for papers may come from many sources. For example, REU programs generate interesting, and often original, work. Many departments of mathematics require senior projects or papers. Presentations at undergraduate mathematics conferences could be expanded and made suitable for publication. Work from summer internships requiring mathematical tools also might be appropriate for publication.

Although the paper need not contain original research in mathematics, it must be interesting, well-written, and at a level that is clearly beyond a typical homework assignment. Readers of the journal should expect to see new results, new and interesting proofs of old results, historical developments of a theorem or area of mathematics, or interesting applications of mathematics.

{ top }

Submission Deadlines

The journal publishes articles on a rolling basis. This means that articles are published online as soon as they are ready for publication. There are no relevant submission deadlines.

{ top }

What To Include With Your Submission

In order to begin the review process of your paper, we must receive the following:

  • Cover Letter
  • Abstract
  • Paper
  • Sponsor's Letter
  • Biographical Sketch

Cover Letter

The cover letter should include the following:

  • A statement requesting that your paper be published in the Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal.
  • The place and dates the work was completed.
  • The name and contact information of the mathematician(s) who will be acting as your sponsor.
  • Any additional instructions concerning the paper and its contents.

{ top }

Abstract

Readers will be able to access the abstract separately from the paper, therefore your abstract should be concise, thorough, and informative.

{ top }

Paper

Your submission should:

  • be written in English using some form of TeX (preferred) or Microsoft Word;
  • be written in the style of a professional mathematical paper: first person, plural, present tense, active voice; articles that originated as class projects or theses may require significant rewriting;
  • be well-written, interesting to a wide range of readers, and have a level of mathematical maturity that is clearly beyond a typical homework assignment. You can expect that your typical reader will be an advanced undergraduate mathematics student; the exposition should be aimed accordingly;
  • have an extremely good introduction, including background information on the topic, motivation for the results in the paper, and examples if appropriate. Keep in mind that readers of the journal will generally not have any expertise in the topic of your paper, so the introduction must provide enough general information to encourage the reader to continue reading;
  • contain many examples and figures (as appropriate) to help the reader understand your work;
  • contain appropriate references.

{ top }

Sponsor's Letter

You are responsible for requesting that a letter be sent to mathjournal@rose-hulman.edu by a mathematician familiar with your work and circumstances. We will not request a letter on your behalf. When you talk to your sponsor, please direct that person to the sponsor guidelines link found on the journal's homepage.

Biographical Sketch

When you submit your manuscript you will be prompted to include a short biographical sketch. Please include a sentence giving the circumstances in which the work was completed; we welcome you to add information about your hobbies, future plans, etc. This information will appear online separately from your paper.

{ 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 Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal, 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 Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal. If you have concerns about the submission terms for the Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal, please contact the editors.

{ top }

Formatting Requirements

Please see the formatting requirements page.

{ top }

Rights for Authors and Rose-Hulman Scholar

As further described in our submission agreement (the Submission Agreement), in consideration for publication of the article, the authors assign to Rose-Hulman Scholar 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 Rose-Hulman Scholar, requires credit to Rose-Hulman Scholar as copyright holder (e.g., Rose-Hulman Scholar © 2024).

Personal-use Exceptions

The following uses are always permitted to the author(s) and do not require further permission from Rose-Hulman Scholar 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, wax cylinders, 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 editors.

{ top }

General Terms and Conditions of Use

Users of the Rose-Hulman Scholar website and/or software agree not to misuse the Rose-Hulman Scholar service or software in any way.

The failure of Rose-Hulman Scholar 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 Rose-Hulman Scholar and the Author(s) regarding submission of the Article.

{ top }