A first for firsts

Dr Celia Knight (University of Leeds) has established ‘Biolog-e’ – a web-based journal which publishes first class biology research projects. And the students love it! “They can show their friends, families and future-employers evidence of skills in science research and communication”, says Dr Knight who will be presenting the project at the Society for Experimental Biology Main Meeting in Canterbury (Tuesday 4 April).

A web template for the e-journal is now well established and interested stakeholders, including the universities of Nottingham and Reading and Oxford University Press, are keen to use the system. Discussions are now underway to establish the first national undergraduate biology journal to showcase the very best of UK undergraduate research. Before this can go ahead Knight is keen to gauge the level of interest in the scheme. “Is there a need for this e-journal? What are people’s concerns? Will people use it?” Of particular concern are reservations about issues of copyright, but there are ways around this. And although the student’s papers will not be ‘peer-reviewed’ in the classic sense, they have been assessed by academics within their departments and there is the scope for incorporating on-line review into the procedure.