PubHub: A web-based compendium to catalyze undergraduate research publication

Abstract

Research publication and presentation provides undergraduate students with invaluable benefits including career preparation and increased confidence. At the same time, it provides the scientific community with better-prepared professionals while contributing to the larger knowledge base. Since opportunities and resources for undergraduate research are growing, larger numbers of students are now engaged in formal disciplinary research and creative inquiry across disciplines. However, only a few students disseminate their research findings in scholarly forums like refereed journals and conference proceedings. Barriers to undergraduate research publication include lack of faculty time to devote to mentoring students in writing, limited institutional funding for undergraduate research, and student's unfamiliarity with the publication process. This article describes PubHub, an online compendium of 50+ learning modules across five categories to assist students through the publication and presentation processes. A pilot assessment of PubHub amongst students and faculty members indicates its usability. While resources like PubHub cannot increase funding for undergraduate researchers or shorten the timescale of the peer-review process, they can lower barriers and democratize the publication process, while refocusing faculty time on intellectual aspects of research rather than the scholarly writing process by providing students the knowledge and specific insights they need in a just-in-time manner.