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Constitution

Article I: The Organization of the Journal

1. The Columbia Undergraduate Journal of History is a publication of the Columbia Undergraduate
History Council.
2. All accounts, funding, and financial resources shall be kept through the Undergraduate History
Council and the Columbia University History Department.
3. The Journal shall be published twice annually.
4. The Columbia Undergraduate History Council is responsible for guaranteeing the financial security,
viability and growth of the Columbia Undergraduate Journal of History.
5. All decisions on matters of editorial policy and leadership shall be internal to the Editorial Board of
the Columbia Undergraduate Journal of History, and the Undergraduate History Council will
recognize and preserve the autonomy and integrity of the Editorial Board and the decisions of the
editors.
6. All amendments and changes to this constitution must be proposed in writing and approved by a
2/3 vote of the Editorial Board.

Article II: Structure of the Editorial Board

Section 1: The Executive Committee and the Editorial Board
1. The Columbia Undergraduate Journal of History will constitute itself through an Editorial Board
every semester.
2. The leadership of the Journal shall be an Executive Committee composed of one Chair and three
Senior Editors.
3. The Chair of the Journal shall be elected for one year, with elections in December.
4. The Chair shall call meetings and set the agenda so that the Journal completes all necessary tasks
during the publication cycle.
5. The Chair is responsible for appointing Editorial Committees and assigning tasks to editors.
6. Members of the Editorial Board shall elect their officers; candidates for positions must declare their
interest, and their candidacy announced, at least one week before the election.
7. A candidate for the Executive Committee of the Journal must have been an editor with the Journal
for at least one semester.
8. The Senior Editors shall be elected for one year, with elections in December; if a candidate for the
position of Senior Editor can only serve for one semester, he or she must declare this to the
Editorial Board before the election.
9. A member of the Editorial Board may run for both the position of Chair and Senior Editor in the
same election, but the positions cannot be held at the same time.
10. One Senior Editor will serve as Treasurer of the Journal each semester; the Treasurer is responsible
for keeping financial accounts with the History Department and coordinating fund raising efforts
11. One member of the Editorial Board will serve as the Secretary of the Journal each semester; the
 Secretary shall take meeting notes that will be sent to the Editorial Board within twenty-four hours
after each meeting.

Section 2: Composition of the Editorial Board

1. Any undergraduate student at Columbia University may apply to join the Editorial Board;
preference will be given to history majors and those with a background in historical studies.
2. Applicants to Editorial Board must submit an application containing a summary of history courses
taken, a writing sample of seven to ten pages on a historical topic; a complete list of other
commitments and estimate of availability.
3. The Executive Committee shall determine which applicants will be offered editorial positions,
including a list of alternates in case an editor must resign from the Journal mid-semester.
4. The size of the Editorial Board is determined by the Executive Committee; in addition to the four
member Executive Committee, there shall be no fewer than twelve and no more than twenty
regular editors.
5. All editors, including members of the Executive Committee, who fail to fulfill the responsibilities
of the Journal can be removed from the Journal by a three quarters vote of the Editorial Board
6. Grounds for removal from the Editorial Board include: (1) absences from meetings; (2) failure to
respond to group emails; (3) inability to contribute to decision making at Editorial Committee
meetings due to incomplete or superficial review of the required material; (4) failing to carry out
special tasks specifically assigned to an editor; (5) failure to fulfill the responsibilities of their office
in the Journal; (6) any reason which indicates that an editor's participation hinders the effective
work of the Journal.
7. A review of an editor's performance can begin with either the complaint of an editor or on the
initiative of the Executive Committee; the Executive Committee must inform the editor of the
complaint and offer a chance for explanation; the removal of an editor must be placed on the
agenda of the Journal at least a week in advance, and the questioned editor may be present to
explain his or her situation and performance; the vote to keep or remove an editor must be
anonymous and not held in the presence of the editor whose position is being considered.
8. In cases where a member of the Executive Committee fails to fulfill the responsibilities of the
Journal, that member may be either demoted to the status of editor, or removed from the Editorial
Board entirely.
9. Vacancies on the Executive Committee, due to either resignation or removal, must be filled within
two weeks; candidates to fill the vacancy must declare their interest at least one week prior to the
election.
Section 3: Decision Making
1. All major decisions of the Journal shall be made by an open vote of the members of the Editorial
Board; two-thirds of editors must be present for a quorum.
2. In cases of urgency or expediency, the Executive Committee may make decisions on behalf of the
Journal; if there is disagreement within the Executive Committee, the issue should be addressed to
the Editorial Board at large; the Editorial Board may rescind a decision of the Executive
Committee by a two-thirds vote; all decisions of the Executive Committee must be promptly
reported to the Editorial Board as a whole.

Article III: Editorial Process

Section 1: Nominations
1. All articles considered for publication in the Journal must be nominated as “outstanding
undergraduate scholarship in the field of history” by a professor or lecturer; teaching assistants may
also nominate articles to the Journal but should do so in consultation with the course professor.
2. Nominated articles may be of any length, but if the author wishes to be considered for publication,
submitted articles must conform to the publication guidelines of the Journal.
3. Submitted articles should be no more the forty double-spaced pages, in twelve point Times New
Roman font; articles must include both footnotes and a bibliography that conform to the Turabian
or Chicago style guides.
4. When nominated authors submit their articles to the Journal, the last line of their email must read:
“I [nominated author] certify that this article is my own work, with all sources properly documented in accordance
with the standards of academic integrity. I understand that if the editors of the Journal suspect plagiarism, the
Journal may contact both the professor who nominated my work and my university with their concerns.
5. The Journal considers all properly submitted nominated articles for publication; no preference shall
be given to articles written by undergraduates at Columbia University.
Section 2: Selection Process
1. The Chair shall form Editorial Committees of between four and six editors; before submissions are
read, a complete process assigning specific Editorial Committees to specific submitted articles
should be completed and presented to the group and approved by the Editorial Board; Editorial
Committees should be arranged so that during successive rounds, papers are considered by
different editors than those who passed the papers on in earlier rounds of elimination.
2. At Editorial Committee meetings, each author must arrive with a written ranking of the papers
being considered during that session; editors must not discuss the considered papers with each
other until they have submitted their rankings at the Editorial Committee meeting.
3. In cases where there is disagreement among members of an Editorial Committee concerning the
strength of a paper, that paper should be passed on to be read by another Editorial Committee
during the next round of the selection process.
Section 3: Publication and Prizes
1. If an editor for the Journal has also been nominated for publication in the Journal, the nominated
editor's paper will be held and will not be considered until she is no longer a member of the
Editorial Board.
2. Of the published articles, no more than three will be selected for the Herbert Aptheker
Undergraduate History Prize and invited to the Herbert Aptheker Undergraduate History
Conference.
3. Any author selected for publication may be invited to participate in the Herbert Aptheker
Undergraduate History Conference at the discretion of the Editorial Board
4. Participants in the Herbert Aptheker Undergraduate History Conference shall be awarded an
honorarium.
5. To the greatest extent possible, the Journal will reimburse travel expenses for conference
participants; special consideration for reimbursement will be given to conference participants who
request assistance based on their financial need.