Abstract:
Background: Undergraduate research journals are a popular mechanism for inducting students into research, communication, and publication facets of academia. A thematic review of 17 review papers found little evidence for journal impact. Methods: A scoping review identified 91 journals. A systematic search identified whether the journal web site, its International Standard Serial Number (if any), its citation rate in Google Scholar, its start year, and end year (if applicable). Results: 75 journals had both a Google Scholar h-index and a discoverable start year. 68 had been cited 1 or more times. The median h-index was 2, mode was h=1, and the average h-index=4.38. Correlation with start year was not statistically significant, neither was content field of journals. Conclusions: Surprisingly, almost all currently published journals have been cited at least once, showing that undergraduate research journals have some impact on the scholarly world. Further analyses are suggested to examine career impact of publication on students and faculty.
