PKP showcases Canada Student Journal Forum participants and recaps the February 20 – 22 2024 event.
Student publishing, libraries, infrastructure, and community are at the heart of a unique and vibrant scholarly publishing ecosystem. This year marked the 9th annual Canada Student Journal Forum, bringing together students and library experts across Canada.
Hear from SJF Committee Members, journey through the journal showcases, access resources, and learn about special support for Student Journal professional development in this post.
Words from SJF Committee Members
The SJF had its humble beginnings in 2015, aimed at bringing together Librarians, Student Editors, and publishing supports. Growing community enthusiasm and the COVID-19 pandemic propelled the event to a nation-wide virtual gathering.
This year, 11 student journal groups, 9 organizing universities, libraries, and organizations, as well as 3 sponsoring organizations worked together to make this event possible. Here’s what some of the SJF Committee Members had to say about the event:
So many students are facing the same challenges and working through the same issues in their publications, but they’re doing so alone. A space like the Forum, that brings together editors and team members of student journals, provides a space to talk about these issues and challenges together. We’ve seen, through this year’s Forum, that new ideas and perspectives come to light when we talk about and work through them together. I’m so glad that the Forum could provide a space to do so.
– Emily Carlisle-Johnston, SJF 2024 Committee, Research and Scholarly Communication Librarian, University of Western Ontario
My expectations for the Student Journal Forum were once again exceeded. It is a unique event where students can showcase their work, have conversations, and potentially form collaborative partnerships. The forum brings together the best of what academia can be, through student writing, publishing, and open dialogue, hopefully instilling these possibilities in the participants for their academic careers and beyond. Each year, the journals seem to become more impressive through interdisciplinary efforts, and pushing the medium in new directions. I am excited to see what happens next year!
– Alisdair MacRae, SJF 2024 Committee, Scholarly Communications and Copyright Technician, Carleton University
In my experience, most student journals are very independent and don’t have much connection to other student journals even on their own campus. The Student Journal Forum gives them a chance to share their work with peers from across Canada, in a way that both highlights the impressive work that they’re doing and gives them new perspectives on scholarly publishing.
– Kristin Hoffmann, SJF 2024 Committee, Research & Scholarly Communication Librarian, University of Western Ontario
Student Journal Forum Showcases
Of the 11 student groups, 10 represented journals (8 on PKP’s Open Journal Systems or OJS), and 1 represented a student journal caucus.
First up, Zack Ferns and Erin Van Dyke from Western University at Nota Bene: Canadian Undergraduate Journal of Musicology (via OJS) presented “Behind-the-Scenes Manuals, Documents, and Policies for Maintaining Journal Consistency.” Since OJS is flexible and has many features, one recommendation was tailoring an OJS manual for the specific needs of a given journal. Another point of high emphasis was to work with university librarians.
“Every journal is unique… Teams should carefully consider the needs of their operation, and develop manuals and policy documents according to those needs.”
Journal website: https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/notabene
Next up was “More than a Makeover: Reviving ELIP Journal as a completely student-run journal” with Yeliz Baloglu Cengay, Vicky Chung, and Sarah Sharpe.
The group is with Emerging Library and Information Perspectives Journal (ELIP via OJS) at Western University. Part of their revival included following criteria in-line with the Database of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
“ELIP’s revival story illustrate(s) that the healthy and sustainable revival of a journal goes beyond a simple editorial masthead makeover…”
Journal website: https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/elip/index
The 3rd presentation of Day 1 was titled “D^3: Defining, Dissecting, and Developing Legacy Documentation” by Peter Heft with the journal Chiasma: A Site for Thought (via OJS) at the University of Western Ontario.
“Legacy documentation… ensure(s) the highest likelihood of success for future editors… its success (can be) empirically verified by the longevity and consistency of the publication…”
Journal website: https://chiasma-journal.com/
The final Student Journal presentation of Day 1 was “Breaking Barriers: Championing Equity in Undergraduate Publishing” by Mayank Bansal and Caitlyn Dignard of Qapsule journal (via OJS) at Queen’s University.
“As a student-led, open-access journal, Qapsule stands at the forefront of addressing the underrepresentation and disparities in academic publishing.”
Journal website: www.queensqapsule.ca/
To start off Day 2 student presentations, Laura Reumont, David Derish, and Benjamin Levesque-Kinder from the McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal (via OJS) presented “Discoverability Boosters 101.” Suggestions included acquisition of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) as well as indexing tools like Crossref and DOAJ.
“We are delighted to share all our tips and tricks along with the challenges we faced on the way, so that other journals will feel more prepared.”
Journal website: https://msurjonline.mcgill.ca/
Following MSURJ was John Mũkonzi Mũsyoki of the journal Intonations (via OJS) at the University of Alberta presenting on Publishing a #Covid Issue: Scope, Collaboration, Invitations, and Limitations.
“… we pondered the ramifications of publishing about Covid 19… This was and continues to be a time of transformation marked by existential threats not only permeating our lives but also the strength and future of our disciplinary practices.”
Journal website: https://intonationsjournal.ca/index.php/intonations
For the 3rd student presentation of the day, the audience welcomed Kaylee Dunn with “Managing Transitions to #OJS and Journal Growth” at Tulips: The Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Undergraduate Journal (via OJS) at Western University.
“Adaptation for ‘Tulips’ meant publishing through OJS, creating new roles within the publication team, and a more rigorous submissions vetting process…”
Journal website: https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/tulips/about
For the final student presentation of Day 2, Audrey Dong, Florence Deng, and Elaine Wang at the Meducator: McMaster Undergraduate Health Sciences Journal joined in with “Student Engagement through Visual Accompaniment and Writing Mentorship Programs.”
“Disseminating the progress of our journal and its unique initiatives to other journals will contribute to an increasingly diverse and intersectional student journal space.”
Journal website: https://www.themeducator.org/
Welcoming everyone back to Day 3, Kai Siallagan of the Queen’s Journal of Ethnic and Racial Studies and Asbah Ahmad of the Queen’s Journal represented the Student Publishing Caucus of Queen’s University with their talk on “The Value of Centralised Forums to Promote Undergraduate Publishing.”
“(We are) a student-organized body that offers a centralised forum for communication and collaboration among undergraduate student publications… founded to address the disjointed culture of student publishing at Queen’s.”
Visit the SPCQU website including the Caucus and collective of Queen’s journals.
Next up, Zohreh Shahbazi and Olivia-Autumn Rennie of University of Toronto Scarborough at U(t)-Mathazine presented “Nurturing Mathematical Creativity at UTSC – A Journey of U(t)-Mathazine Since 2015.”
“The goal is to enhance understanding and inspire exploration… we intend to share our experiences in running this publication since 2015, providing insights from both student and faculty perspectives.”
Journal website: https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/ctl/ut-mathazine
For the final Student Journal presentation of SJF 2024, the Forum welcomed Divine Angubua and Whitney Buluma of the journal With Caffeine and Careful Thought (via OJS) at University of Toronto Mississauga, who presented “For the Love of Literature: Creative Partnership to Produce a Literary Journal.”
“We sought to create a theme centering language and the beauty of literature; why we need it in the world, and why it’s important. This way, we meet the needs of both our audiences.”
Journal website: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/wcct/issue/archive
Skills Sessions
Day 1 participants welcomed Katie Cuyler, Open Publishing and Government Information Librarian at the University of ALberta Library, who spoke about creating a Student Journal from the library publishing perspective. Access the slides and the recording.
Continuing to share knowledge with students, Day 2 participants learned from Mariya Maistrovskaya’s wealth of digital publishing and OJS knowledge as she presented “Unlock the Power of OJS: Pro Tips & Tricks to Elevate your Editorial Game.”
Access the handout full of useful resources, and the recording of Mariya’s OJS demonstration.
Coalition Publica announces Student Journal Grants
Coalition Publica, of which PKP and Érudit are a part, made the announcement that they are supporting Canadian Student Journal publishing:
Are you part of the editorial team of an undergraduate or graduate student-run journal interested in developing new skills and developing capacity? Are you planning a specific project—for example, applying to the Directory of Open Access Journals, developing an equity, diversity, and inclusion policy, or implementing accessibility standards on your website—that could benefit from some funding? Consider applying for a Coalition Publica Student Journal Grant!
Thank you to the organizers and sponsors!
This year’s Canada Student Journal Forum Organizing Committee:
- Emily Carlisle-Johnston, Research and Scholarly Communications Librarian, University of Western Ontario
- Alisdair MacRae, Scholarly Communications and Copyright Technician, Carleton University
- Kristin Hoffmann, Research & Scholarly Communication Librarian, University of Western Ontario
- Alejandra Casas Niño de Rivera, Communications Coordinator, PKP
- Famira Racy, Communications Specialist, PKP
- Richard Hayman, Associate Professor and Digital Initiatives Librarian, Mount Royal University
- Deepashika Senaratne, Student, University of Windsor
- Sarah Forbes, Research and Scholarly Communications Librarian, University of Toronto
- Emily Wilson, Student, University of Toronto
- Tracy Spurway, University Librarian, Algoma University
- Victoria Eke, Scholarly Communications Librarian, Concordia University Edmonton
This year’s sponsors: University of Toronto Libraries, Public Knowledge Project, and Coalition Publica
