An idea for a new college academic journal took shape in class when Alexa McCarus ‘27, Reese Dawson ‘27 and Nick Zarbin ‘26 realized that Lafayette College lacked a space for students to publish their academic writing.
That spontaneous conversation quickly evolved into a year-long project of research, organization and persistence to create the college’s first student-run academic journal — Lafayette Global Review — designed to showcase undergraduate research across the humanities and social sciences.
“Learning about how academic journals function, and how we could mold that into an actually functional model on Lafayette’s campus was challenging, and that literally took a year,” said Zarbin, the editor-in-chief of the journal, which was approved as a club by Student Government at the end of the 2024-25 academic year.
Dawson, a managing editor for the journal alongside fellow managing editor McCarus, said that the group did not want to replace Lafayette’s existing research programs, but instead hoped to broaden access.
“That’s not to say that Lafayette doesn’t have fantastic research opportunities,” Dawson said. “We wanted to open something up to students who might not be involved in those specific research opportunities that allow you to publish.”
McCarcus agreed, pointing out that research programs like EXCEL Scholars can be difficult to access without existing faculty connections.
“If you already don’t know the professor on a personal level, it can be hard to get your foot in the door,” she said. “This is a great way for the folks who can’t do that to still have something.”
The team designed a professor-nomination system to ensure academic rigor while minimizing faculty involvement and work. McCarus said that the process is organized so professors “have the least amount of responsibility possible.”
Once the editors receive a paper to edit, they read it “double-blind” without knowing the student’s identity; the managing editors are the only ones who interact with the student. Other members of the journal’s editorial board include associate editors Nate Glauber ‘27, Luca Ferrucci ‘27 and Emma Greenberg ‘28.
“I think it shows a real sincere interest in academic writing and research,” said Brett Hendrickson, the head of the religious studies department. “It also shows that students at Lafayette — which is something I think professors have always known — have the capacity to publish their work.”
Hendrickson has not nominated any student work to the journal yet, but he worked with the managing editors as they proposed the club last semester. He said he was keeping an eye out for papers with a strong thesis and “some relatively new findings.”
International affairs professor Caleb Gallemore, Lafayette Global Review’s faculty advisor, said publishing work is “a good training ground for folks to try to really kind of understand just how complex it is to produce high-quality material and high-quality research.”
“The real challenge, I think, is making sure that you’ve got a procedure that’s transparent, that’s rigorous and then it’s clear to everybody,” Gallemore said.
“We’re getting that assurance that this professor, this expert in their field, approves the paper and thinks it’s valid to publish,” McCarus said. “Then we take the editing side from there.”
The board opened submissions for papers starting in late September, according to an Instagram post, and its website contains links for students to submit work. The editorial board hopes to start reviewing papers in the coming weeks, and wants to publish a print edition in the spring semester.
“We see this as an institution that will live well past us, a real contribution to the research climate and community here at Lafayette,” Zarbin said.
Andreas Pelekis ’26 contributed reporting.
Disclaimer: Lead Strategist Luca Ferrucci ‘27 did not contribute writing or reporting.