Though over thirty undergraduate academic journals compete for student readership, experiencing intervals of success and spells of dormancy, the newly-formed Dartmouth Business Journal prepares to join the ranks of student publications by the end of the Winter term.
Despite obstacles faced by peer journals, organizers of the business journal are approaching the publication of their first issue with optimism and expect that it will be released within the next few weeks.
"There has been lots of interest, no problems selling our idea, and our membership is passing 25," Alexander Martinian '11, the journal's founder, said.
Bryon Alston '11, the chief content editor of the Dartmouth Business Journal, heard about the journal through a Facebook group, he said, and wants to use his time at the publication to educate himself about business.
"All the members of the journal are freshmen, so the journal should grow as we grow here at Dartmouth," he said.
Allston is a member of The Dartmouth staff.
The Dartmouth Business Journal is one of many recently-created campus publications.
"I have definitely seen a lot of new journals popping up in the last year," Alex DiBranco, '09, the publications intern for the Council on Student Organizations, said.
A primary focus of many students involved with academic publications is maintaining the journal's success, according to students interviewed by The Dartmouth.
"Our goal is to get out a regular publication schedule and build up an institutional memory to keep alive in the future," said John Fleisher '08, editor-in-chief of World Outlook, an undergraduate judicial affairs journal. "We don't want to start from scratch every time we print."
While World Outlook has been on campus since the mid 1980s, it deteriorated in recent years and was resuscitated by a member of the Class of 2007.
"There was no institutional history or continuity," Fleisher said.
The D-Plan is partly to blame for the flailing success of many student publications, according to Fleisher.
"The D-Plan is a huge hit. It's really challenging to keep continuity when people are constantly going off-term," Fleisher said.
The D-Plan has adversely affected Aporia, the College's undergraduate philosophy journal, according to editor-in-chief Tatyana Liskovich '08. The 30-year-old publication fell dormant in 2005 and remained so until Liskovich and another member of the Class of 2008 revived the journal.
A shortage of resources plagues journals directly funded by COSO, according to students involved with these publications.
"With a lot of new publications, we are constantly fighting for space," Liskovich said. "Like a traveling band, all we have is this idea that we try to sell to people. Physical location is very important, and the strongest organizations on campus have their own physical plant."
Problems arise because the staffs of 15 publications share four layout computers in the publication suite, according to Liskovich.
"As all of campus is having finals crunch time, all of the publications, especially the ones who publish once a term, are having their own crunch times," DiBranco said. "It's really great that people are interested in expanding offerings of student publications, but they are penalized for motivation, which is unfortunate."
Improved organization and a sign-up sheet for the different computers would alleviate frustrations, DiBranco said.
Undergraduate journals sponsored by different organizations do not face these problems, representatives of such publications said.
"The Dickey Center has been really great as a sponsor," Fleisher said. "We have our own room and no problems in terms of space or money."
Laura Sternick '08, editor-in-chief of the Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science, partially credited the support of advisers and campus leaders with the recent expansion of the journal. The journal has become more interdisciplinary and the staff has begun to add multimedia content to the journal, she said.
The publication will also host several science researchers at a conference later this year.
Aporia also plans to host a symposium in April. It will be one of only two or three undergraduate philosophy conferences in the country, Liskovich said.
