April 2010

 

UCORP-Authored Paper Published in PLoS Biology

 

A manuscript collectively authored by the 2008-09 membership of the University Committee on Research Policy (UCORP) was published in PLoS Biology’s community page in January 2010. The manuscript, University of California Research Seminar Network: A Prospectus, reflects the work of the entire committee and postulates improvements in the delivery of departmental seminars via web-casting and electronic archiving.

 

This accomplishment represents the first time that an Academic Senate paper, including authors from all 10 campuses and the Office of the President, has been published in a top-flight peer-reviewed journal. The effort was led by 2008-09 UCORP Chair James Carey (UCD, Entomology) and includes the perspectives of faculty in departments ranging from dance to medicine, the committee’s undergraduate and graduate student representatives, and staff representatives from both the systemwide Senate office and information technology units at the Office of the President and some of the campuses.

 

Before the manuscript was submitted to PLoS Biology for peer review and publication, it was subjected to normal systemwide Senate review leading to the Academic Council’s imprimatur. The idea sprang from the committee’s investigation of potential methods to increase synergy across the system, during which it became clear that disparate local efforts needed unification to allow real-time participation in seminars held at a distant campus or even across a single campus.

 

In addition to the manuscript’s pending publication, a pilot project based on the ideas in the prospectus is being developed.