This session presents an innovative model that bridges undergraduate research mentorship with formal scholarly publishing training through the strategic convergence of two complementary initiatives: an in-house undergraduate scholarly journal and a credit-bearing summer course on the publication journey. Our undergraduate journal was established to provide students with authentic experience in scholarly communication, from manuscript development with faculty mentors through peer review and publication. Recognizing the need for more structured pedagogical support around this process, we developed a companion summer course that demystifies the research-to-publication pipeline. Co-taught by an instruction and outreach librarian and a writing faculty who happen to be our Associate Dean for Community Excellence, the course guides students through identifying research questions, understanding disciplinary conventions, navigating peer review, and engaging with publishing ethics, skills traditionally learned implicitly during graduate education. The convergence of these initiatives creates a comprehensive ecosystem for undergraduate scholarly development. Students in the course produce work suitable for journal submission, while journal contributors benefit from course resources and workshops. This integration aims to yield measurable outcomes: increase submission quality, higher acceptance rates, reduce revision cycles, and greater student confidence in scholarly communication. Operating at an American branch campus in Qatar with over 70 nationalities represented, our program inherently incorporates diverse epistemological frameworks and research traditions. Students bring varied perspectives on citation practices, authorship conventions, and knowledge dissemination, enriching peer review discussions and editorial decisions. This session will share our implementation timeline, budget considerations, metrics for success, and lessons learned. Attendees will receive practical resources including course syllabi, journal submission guidelines adapted for undergraduate writers, peer reviewer training materials, and assessment rubrics. We will discuss how this scalable model can be adapted across institutional contexts while maintaining responsiveness to local student populations and disciplinary needs.
