A journal club is similar to a book club, but instead of reading a book, the group reads an academic article. The main benefits of attending journal club are to meet with people that have a common interest and to exchange ideas about those common interests with people you may not otherwise interact with. Like book clubs, journal clubs are an important social opportunity.

Despite their clear benefits, journal clubs are notoriously difficult to sustain, often due to lack of consistent and reliable attendance and buy-in from students and faculty. My first journal club experience was during my Honours and although it lasted a few years, the group of regular attendees had little common academic interest and there were no PhD students, post-docs, or professors who attended – an important staple for the long-term sustainability of a successful journal club.

Before starting my PhD at MUN in 2016, I was told there was a Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology (CABE) journal club (CABE is the program I’m enrolled in). I assumed it would be similar to my past experience and I decided I would just see how it went. Shortly after starting, I was asked if I would be interested in organizing the biweekly journal club meetings. Initially, I was skeptical because I knew journal clubs often have low attendance and limited interest. Little did I know at the time, it has been an extremely rewarding, exciting, and successful bi-weekly meeting.

Unlike the namesake of the spoofed photo included above, I’m allowed to share the rules of CABE journal club. We meet bi-weekly during the autumn and winter semesters to discuss an academic article, blog, or a general idea that has been selected by a student or professor. People usually receive the article, or materials, at least 2 or 3 days before our scheduled meeting time and we meet for an hour to dissect the article (pros and cons), discuss an idea, or talk about classic or contemporary ideas in behavioural ecology.

Here are three things I think are important for a successful journal club based on why I think the CABE journal club works:

  1. We have a single, specific topic: behavioural ecology. This is key. All of the students and professors who attend regularly or semi-regularly are all generally interested in behavioural ecology and I assume most of us consider ourselves behavioural ecologists. Regardless of the theme, having a united topic is really important. It doesn’t matter what article we discuss in a given week the majority of attendees will be interested because it is within their general area of interest and expertise.
  2. Diverse attendees. Attendance at any given journal club meeting ranges from a minimum of 10 people to upwards of 25. People who regularly attend include professors, PhD students, and MSc students in CABE, biology, and psychology departments. I think this is really important for two reasons. First, once a group like this reaches a critical mass, it doesn’t matter if a few people are unable to attend in a given week. For a small group with few regular attendees, the absence of two or three people might mean the meeting is cancelled. Second, in a general sense, students will often attend events if their and senior lab-mates attend. CABE journal club has a strong culture of attendance among professors as well as senior PhD students, which makes a huge difference. If MSc and PhD students regularly attend and participate I expect the culture of participation would be transmitted to the next generation of students in the program, a process which is key for the long-term sustainability of a journal club (or any group, for that matter).
  3. Stimulating discussion. I think this final point is a direct by-product of my first two points. It is almost guaranteed that a room full of people with a specific common interest are going to stimulate an interesting and exciting discussion among all attendees. Although this is ideal, it doesn’t always happen. One thing we have done to stimulate discussion within the group is for person to provide a brief opinion or commentary of the article. This is a great way to ensure all attendees are able to participate and contribute to the discussion.

These points are non-mutually exclusive, and this list is by no means exhaustive. There are plenty of other ways a journal club can work, these are just some of the things that I think help make CABE journal club work.

If you have thought about starting a journal club in your department or research group, the time is now! The best time to start is the beginning of the fall semester (which is just 1 month away!), since everyone will be back from field work, holidays, or their summer lull with extra enthusiasm and motivation for a new project or commitment! If you can gather a committed group of interested peers, there’s no reason not to at least try! https://www.zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-in-america.php