I've heard that it can be beneficial in applying for a PhD to have published a paper as an undergraduate - is this possible, and of so, how? I have a few ideas that I could expand into theoretical papers...any thoughts?

Well, the usual way that you get published as an undergrad is on your final year project. If you score fairly well (Usually 80%+) the university will usually put your paper forward to be published. I tried, unfortunately my results weren't good enough. Alternatively, you could write a review article and submit it yourself. The best place to do that is with the royal society. go to their home pae and they explain how to prepare it and submit.

Many thanks for the info - but what exactly is a review article?

A review article is like a literature review i.e. it pulls together the published research evidence on a particular topic. Not so sure that it's that easy to get one published though, they tend to be requested by journal editors to specific authors, rather than being published after spontaneous submission. Why not discuss your ideas with one of your tutors?

What subject area are we talking about here? As a chemist, I thought publishing as an undergraduate was EXTREMELY rare - I scored 80% on my undergrad. project and there is no way I could have published it. Secondly, all of the review articles I've seen are by people who have had at least twenty years experience in their field!

something else - my experience has also been that PhD students are lucky to have published more than one paper at the time of writing their thesis. Like I said, maybe it's just the subject area...

It is possible to have some of your undergraduate work published. If your supervisor might want to write it in to one of their publications -if the data is very good. It is highly unlikely to publish it as a first author yourself. So i would check with your undergrad supervisor first.

theres nothing to stop you publishing a theoretial paper as an undergraduate, if you come up with something original which is well written. it is just very unlikely that as an undergraduate you will have the necessary expertise and breadth and depth of knowledge to be able to contribute to the literature. but if you come up with something, you can in principle submit it.

It is possible to have ur paper at undergrad level published. I got it done, i was first author and 3 others contributed - I presented at a conferece and stuff. I got 88% in my project. The paper wasn't amazing when I look back but it was really difficult to do as well as my actual dissertation. I would say go for it and get your supervisor involved. Good Luck