We are cursed with knowledge, and now you can be too!

Barnumbia has a lot of publications, but no easy way to find them. The recruitment blitz that is Club Fair happens, and publications retreat to their corners of campus to work on their content. That need not be the case—so, to that end, we’ve asked as many publications as we could think of to tell us a little about themselves, for posterity. (In the interest of impartiality, you won’t find mention of Bwog below.)

Of the many publications we reached out to, most responded. If there’s a publication we’ve failed to include here, it’s not for lack of effort. (That said, we’re not perfect—so if you do find a publication missing from our list, let us know in the comments or at tips@bwog.com, and we’ll try to get them in this primer.)

Below are the answers we’ve received (that, as mentioned, we’ll update if necessary). We’ve also included the list of participating publications below. Clicking on a publication name will send you to a page with the full, unedited responses of that publication, which we encourage you to read. The full publication interviews include additional information, such as why respondents joined their publications in the first place and submission/application deadlines. (Also, the full interviews better communicate the character of each publication—for example, we’re quite fond of Consilience’s full answer to the “one piece of content” question.)

If you’d like to reuse anything from our full publication interviews, feel free! We’re making them available under CC BY 4.0.

We hope you find this helpful!

Charlotte Slovin, Senior Staff Writer

Jeffrey Ndubisi, Publisher

List of Publications:

The Birch

The Blue and White (B&W)

Columbia Economic Review (CER)

Columbia Journal of History (CJH)

Columbia Journal of Literary Criticism (CJLC)

Columbia Political Review (CPR)

Columbia Science Review (CSR)

Columbia Undergraduate Journal of Art History (CUJAH)

Columbia Undergraduate Law Review (CULR)

Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development

Echoes

The Federalist

The Gadfly

Grey Matters (GM)

Her Campus (HC)

Portales

Quarto

Ratrock

Spectrum

  1. What do you write (about)?
    1. Birch: “Essays, literary criticism, creative writing, and translations related to Slavic, Eastern European, and Eurasian cultures from undergraduate students across the nation… readers can find pieces in Russian and English (among other languages).”
    2. B&W: “Witty commentary on student life, campus culture, city happenings, and more.”
    3. CER: “Essays, opinions and research that promotes economic discourse and research at the intersection of business, politics and society.”
    4. CJH: “Original research by undergraduates on history… with no preference given to submissions written by undergraduates at Columbia University.”
    5. CJLC: “Interdisciplinary forum centered around literature, culture, and politics… [through] creative essays… [and] interviews we conduct with authors and scholars, and original artwork.”
    6. CPR: “Columbia undergraduate work in the political and social sciences… we publish op-eds, features, interviews with experts in the field.”
    7. CSR: “Anything related to STEM.”
    8. CUJAH: “We solicit, select, and obsessively edit four to six pieces of original undergraduate research from a global applicant pool. The topics of the papers we take, like the field of art history, are wide and varied.”
    9. CULR: “Legal scholarship by undergraduate students. We publish research pieces by undergraduate students from around the world in our Print Journal and original pieces by Columbia students in our Online Journal.”
    10. Consilience: “Consilience publishes a range of academic material including scholarly articles, opinion pieces, field notes, and photo essays.”
    11. Echoes: “All types of creative writing and visual art.”
    12. Federalist: “We write about everything and nothing.”
    1. Gadfly: “Written pieces pertaining to philosophical topics…from various universities…[as well as] ​​interviews.”
    2. GM: “We write about neuroscience with an emphasis on two things: accessibility and interdisciplinary thinking.”
    3. HC: “Politics to pop culture to style and wellness.”
    4. Portales: “Academic and creative work that fosters interest in Latin American and Iberian cultures, while celebrating undergraduate research… We publish writings in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and English.”
    5. Quarto: “Fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and artwork.”
    6. Ratrock: “Features of student artists in long-form interviews.”
    7. Spectrum: “​​​​Service journalism… What we write is tailored to our audience’s interests and needs.”
  1. How are you structured?
    1. Birch: “Editor-in-Chief… Secretary, and Treasurer… Each section of our journal has a lead editor—a creative writing editor, translation editor, literary criticism editor, politics editor, etc.”
    2. B&W: “Editor-in-Chief, then Managing Editor. On our editorial board, we have an Illustrations Editor, two Literary Editors, a Podcast Editor, a Layout Editor, a Publisher, an Assistant Publisher, and a team of Senior Editors. On staff, we have a team of staff writers and a team of staff illustrators.”
    3. CER: “[The] President and Editor-In-Chief oversee the print journal run by the managing editor, the online journal run by the executive editor and the operations team run by the head of operations… senior and junior editors… [and] a technical director.”
    4. CJH: “Two editors in chief… 3–6 managing editors… the remaining 20 editors report to the managing editors in smaller editorial groups.”
    5. CJLC: “2–3 editors-in-chief…managing editors…arts editor…interviews editor, a reviews editor, a design editor, and a marketing manager.”
    6. CPR: “Staff Writers, Junior Editors, Senior Editors, Managing Editors, and the Editorial Board, [are] led by the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. We additionally have a tech and layout team.”
    7. CSR: “​​An editorial board and an executive board. Executive board works on projects and on creating events…​​[there are] writers, editors, illustrators, and layout editors – and the editor in chief, managing editor, chief illustrator, and chief design officer oversee their respective groups.”
    8. CUJAH: “​​​​​​​​Two Co-EICs, a Publisher, then Lead editors and Staff editors.”
    9. CULR: “Two Co-Editors-in-Chief who head the publication and our three divisions: the Online Journal, Print Journal, and Business Team. Our Online Journal is led by two Executive Editors and an Online Initiatives Director… Two Executive Editors run our Print Journal… Our Business Director and Business Team manage our budget… Our Director of Communications manages all internal and external communications… The Publisher oversees our website.”
    10. Consilience: “The Editor-in-Chief oversees the whole journal. Within our three branches, the Academic Journal is comprised of its director and staff editors. The Briefings team is comprised of its director, staff writers, and staff editors. The Managing Board is comprised of its director and staff.”
    11. Echoes: “Our e-board collects submissions… and lays out and prints the magazine; our reading and arts panelists review and select work for the next issue.”
    12. Federalist: “An editorial board, a larger general board, staff, and then the general body.”
    13. Gadfly: “Under the Editor-in-Chief…one Chief Article Editor and one Chief Interview Editor…two Managing Editors…​​Chief Digital and Design Editor deals with magazine layout…​​Discussion Coordinator…Article Editors, Interview Editors, Social Media Managers, and Staff Writers.”
    14. GM: “Grey Matters is made up of two groups: the executive board and the contributing general body… Our contributors consist of Writers, Illustrators, Scientific Review Editors, Generative Editors, and Revision Editors.”
    15. HC: “Her Campus is a national organization of chapters… [with an] Editor-in-Chief… Secretary… two Senior Editors… [and] a social media team who manages our platforms.”
    16. Portales: “An EIC who oversees our editorial board… Board members are also in charge of editing and publishing approved pieces alongside the writers… [We] work with the amazing Eunice Rodriguez Ferguson, our Editorial Advisor.”
    17. Quarto: “Two editors-in-chief…[an] editorial team, a design team, and staff editors… [an] administrative editor, copy editor, events editors, managing editors, social media editor, and web editor.”
    18. Ratrock: “Several teams that all work together to create the publication – the writing team, photography team, web team, events team, and outreach team. Each team has a team leader, [each of whom] come together to create the Board.”
    19. Spectrum: “​​Managing editor, several deputy editors, and staff writers… ​​[a] new cycle of trainees who eventually become writers… [the] corporate board at Spectator also works closely with Spectrum.”
  1. How often do you publish?
    1. Birch: “One journal per academic year.”
    2. B&W: “Three times per semester.”
    3. CER: “A print journal at the end of each semester.”
    4. CJH: “Biannually… following the end of a given semester.”
    5. CJLC: “Annually… [in the] spring term.”
    6. CPR: “New content nearly every day. We additionally publish a print magazine twice a semester.”
    7. CSR: “Fall and spring edition of our magazine…[and] a blog which we update with articles every month.”
    8. CUJAH: “[Once] every semester.”
    9. CULR: “We publish our Print Journal at the end of the fall, spring, and summer. Our Online Journal is constantly publishing new pieces.”
    10. Consilience: “We publish Academic Journal and Briefings articles every semester.”
    11. Echoes: “Twice a year, at the end of each semester.”
    12. Federalist: “Print newspaper once a month, and articles a few times a week. Tiktoks, instagrams, beeps, tweets, etc. also get posted all the time.”
    13. Gadfly: “​​​​Print publication twice a year…[as well as] ongoing submissions to our online publication.”
    14. GM: “Once per semester.”
    15. HC: “Minimum 5 articles a week.”
    16. Portales: “One issue a semester.”
    17. Quarto: “We publish written and visual submissions every week on our website. Once a year, we also publish a Spring Print edition and a writer’s Chapbook. Finally, we publish students’ work through our annual Thunderdome writing competition.”
    18. Ratrock: “Each featured artist is photographed by a student photographer. We also host gallery shows for our artists and other events for the arts community on campus.” (The gallery shows include “Call to Artist” shows, which happen semesterly.)
    19. Spectrum: “We send out a weekly newsletter with 4–6 articles published that week.”
  1. Do you do anything other than writing?
    1. Birch: “Film screenings, guest lectures, and cultural heritage events.”
    2. B&W: “We have beautiful illustrations, a podcast, crosswords, and a multimedia section.”
    3. CER: “An annual economic competition… We also host Days of Econ.”
    4. CJH: “History events for our members.”
    5. CJLC: “Panel discussions with academics and writers”
    6. CPR: “A podcast (“The Columbia Political Review Podcast”), a newsletter (“The Conversation”), and an annual high school essay contest.”
    7. CSR: “Illustrators, layout designers… events… [and a] media team.”
    8. CULR: “Events with legal scholars… [and] our podcast and video-education initiative.”
    9. Consilience: “Speaker events.”
    10. Echoes: “We’re hoping for some workshops, roundtables, and mixers now that we’re back in person!” (Echoes also host launch parties for each issue.)
    11. Federalist: “Match-making programs… like NemesisMatch and RoommateMatch. We make videos, quizzes, TikToks, etc… graphics and original drawings… [and] are known to have a little get together from time to time.”
    12. Gadfly: “Weekly public discussions on philosophical topics.” (Currently in the works: “an international pre-college philosophical essay competition.”)
    13. GM: “Illustrations to accompany each article… [and] a podcast version of each issue so that individuals can listen to our articles.”
    14. HC: “Social media… [and] events.”
    15. Portales: “Illustrations & photography… We also host launch events for every issue we publish.”
    16. Quarto: “Open-mic nights, themed writing workshops, panels with writers, taking trips to literary events in the city, as well as bonding events for the staff.”
    17. Ratrock: “Each featured artist is photographed by a student photographer. We also host gallery shows for our artists and other events for the arts community on campus.”
    18. Spectrum: (Spectrum hosts “Seniors Explain” nights where a panel of seniors answer questions younger students may have, as well as creating video content like Guide to “X” vlogs.)
  1. If you went up in flames today, what’s the one piece of content you’d save from the ashes?
    1. Birch: “Our spring 2020 issue is the most recent and best representation of our work.”
    2. B&W: “We recently published a collection of outstanding pieces from the last year.”
    3. CJH: “The Columbia University and Slavery Project. The Journal played an important part in unveiling and publicizing new information on… Columbia’s difficult legacy as a segregated, and then activist campus.”
    4. CJLC: “‘My Body Knows Unheard-of Songs’ by Alice Donnellan… elucidates the intimate world of mother-child relationship and features the author’s own translations of French poetry.”
    5. CPR: “It’s genuinely impossible to choose just one. We encourage you to take a look at our content at cpreview.org to decide for yourself.”
    6. CSR: “COVID-19 print issue…our team was able to work together to create multiple articles detailing much of the forefront of COVID-19 knowledge at the time.”
    7. CUJAH: “Zoë Hopkins’ Cyborg Assemblage: Wangechi Mutu and the Politics of Hybridity… In it, Hopkins beautifully frames her visual analysis of a Wangechi Mutu collage… to understand how Mutu complicates representations of the Black body.”
    8. CULR: “Two pieces… The first is by Olivia Choi (CC’23), Implications of Jones v DeSantis and the Modern-Day Poll Tax. The second is by Taylor Ormasen (CC’24), State Limitations on Secular School Curriculum: How the Lemon Test Models Scrutiny Over State Discretion.”
    9. Consilience: “Jeffrey Sachs on COVID-19 and Multilateralism.”
    10. Echoes: “Our unusual combined fall/spring 2020 issue. Sharing work from across the world saved us from the loneliness of remote learning”.
    11. Federalist: “Damn: Super Bats are Back in the Columbia Tunnels, and This Time, They Are Horny”
    12. Gadfly: “[Our] interview with David Chalmers, because name-recognition like that would allow any publication to easily rebuild itself from the ashes.”
    13. GM: “‘Integrating Medicine and Minds’ by Atara Schulhof… the article explores reasons why allopathic medicine prevails in the West and makes a robust case for the incorporation of integrative medicine into Western healthcare.”
    14. HC: “‘​​What Criticisms Of Meghan Markle’s Interview Tell Us About How Much Further Conversations On Mental Health Need To Go‘, ‘Gaylor’ Swift?‘, [and] ‘Vaccines, Mutations, And Inequality: the Newest COVID-19 Updates.’”
    15. Portales: “‘Resisting Modernism: Favela Culture, Heterogeneity, and National Identity in Brazil’, written by Simon Yang, CC ‘24, and featured in last year’s issue, is a great sample of the sort of work that excites us as a publication.”
    16. Quarto: (Each editor-in-chief provided their own answer.) 
      1. “‘Upstairs Neighbor’ by Alena Zhang… This piece is so creative and innovative, yet also deeply personal and intimate. It embodied a lot of what we as a team tend to look for in a work.”
      2. “‘Reaching Detention Camp #59’ by Lida Ehteshami… Everytime Lida’s poem is read, it’s almost like reading a new poem.”
    17. Ratrock: “One of our annual Yearbooks! They’re our print publication and are a great summary of all the work we do throughout the year.”
    18. Spectrum: “Required Reading newsletter for the incoming first-years at Columbia and Barnard… where new students receive a weekly email with articles targeted towards introducing them to the University.”
  1. How can readers/potential writers contact you?
    1. Birch: thebirchjournal@gmail.com, Facebook
    2. B&W: bweditors@columbia.edu, Facebook, Instagram (@theblueandwhitemag), Twitter (@blueandwhitemag)
    3. CER: econreview@columbia.edu 
    4. CJH: contact@columbiahistoryjournal.com
    5. CJLC: submittocjlc@gmail.com
    6. CPR: cupoliticalreview@gmail.com, Contact Form
    7. CSR: csr.spreadscience@gmail.com, Website, Facebook, Instagram (@columbia.science.review)
    8. CUJAH: nrp2134@columbia.edu, Website
    9. CULR: culreboard@columbia.edu, Facebook, Instagram (@culr1754)
    10. Consilience: consiliencejournal@gmail.com, Facebook, Instagram (@consiliencecu)
    11. Echoes: barnardechoes@gmail.com, Submissions Form
    12. Federalist: chief@columbiafederalist.com, Facebook, Instagram (@columbia_federalist)
    13. Gadfly: gadflyinquiry@gmail.com, Submissions Form
    14. GM: greymatterscu@gmail.com 
    15. HC: On Instagram (@hccolumbiabarnard)
    16. Portales: On Instagram (@portales.columbia)
    17. Quarto: columbiaquarto@gmail.com, Facebook, Instagram (@columbiaquarto), and Twitter (@columbiaquarto)
    18. Ratrock: ratrockmagazine@gmail.com 
    19. Spectrum: “All members of Spectator have their own email in this format: ariana.novo@columbiaspectator.com.” (Ariana Novo is the current managing editor of Spectrum.)
  1. Where can we read you at?
    1. Birch: Issuu, “​​Pretty print issues can be found floating around the Slavic department on the far, far away seventh floor of Hamilton.”
    2. B&W: Website, Newsletter, Print Delivery
    3. CER: Website
    4. CJH: Website
    5. CJLC: Website
    6. CPR: Website
    7. CSR: Website
    8. CUJAH: Website
    9. CULR: Website
    10. Consilience: Website, Newsletter
    11. Echoes: Website, Digital Print Versions
    12. Federalist: Website, TikTok
    13. Gadfly: Website, Listserv
    14. GM: Website
    15. HC: Website
    16. Portales: Website
    17. Quarto: Website
    18. Ratrock: Website
    19. Spectrum: Website, ​Newsletter

The lifespan of publications on this campus range in length, but we’d like to do our best to keep these thriving! We hope that through this article you, too, find your journalistic niche and keep the writerly spirits of Barnumbia alive!

Feature Image via Bwog Staff