3

I’m a fourth year undergrad majoring in math at a university in the US. I’ve been working independently on an elementary graph theory problem for a while and I’ve found some nice results. It’s not revolutionary, but based on some research I don’t think anyone has looked at this problem before and it seems interesting. I intend to apply for PhD programs in Theoretical Computer Science. While I do have some research experience with a couple of professors (that should hopefully lead to decent recommendation letters) and a strong academic record in math and computer science, I don’t have any publications. Would I benefit from publishing my graph theory work in an undergraduate research journal, or do only regular journals count? I appreciate any comments, thank you!

2
  • "Would I benefit from publishing my graph theory work in an undergraduate research journal, or do only regular journals count?" Are you choosing between an UG journal and a regular journal? Jul 28, 2021 at 23:22
  • Nope, while I feel my result is interesting, I don’t think it’s deep enough to get accepted to a regular journal.
    – user143288
    Jul 29, 2021 at 0:32

2 Answers 2

6

As someone who has sat on multiple admissions committees at the PhD level, any sort of peer-reviewed publication is viewed highly positively in the decision-making process. That said, undergraduate-focused journals are viewed as having a lower barrier to entry relative to regular (non-UG focused) journals, which is a proxy for the strength of the findings presented in the publication. Depending on your timeline, you could try a regular journal first and if it gets rejected, then try a UG-focused one. If your timeline is tighter for the applications, I would go straight to the UG-focused one.

3

In the US, everything counts. So, yes, it would be a positive thing to do this and list it on your CV if accepted.

Graduate admissions (doctoral) is very broad based and takes in to account many things. What a committee is looking for is clear evidence of the high likelihood of success of admitted students. Doing undergraduate research is a definite plus and having a publication to show for it is even better.

Doctoral admissions can be very competitive and few undergraduates have very much if any research experience. Fewer can show a publication.

Also, get a letter of recommendation from whoever advises/guides you on the project. Letters are also very important. As Azor Ahai suggests (I think), a regular journal would be better if you can get accepted. Talk to your advisor about tradeoffs here, including likely time to publication.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .