the premier undergraduate neuroscience journal...crisp joined as fa for 5 rts, st. olaf college, dr....

Introduction The journal IMPULSE was started by four undergraduate students and one faculty member in the spring of 2003. The first issue was posted in 2004, and a total of nine issues have been archived annually, the tenth is the current, 2013 issue. The journal has evolved from a once-per- year posting reviewed by students at a single institution to rolling review and posting by students worldwide representing nine institutions. The first issue was reviewed by 14 students from three countries and two continents with a single Faculty Advisor and Reviewer Training Site (RTS). The 2012 issue posted with over 100 student reviewers representing 24 institutions in six countries and four continents. There were seven RTSs, each with their own Faculty Advisor, and one of those was in South Africa. An eighth RTS in Spain was added in the spring of 2013. In the summer of 2013 two more were added (Wake Forest U and UCSD). An average of 3.4 papers per year have been published by the journal. Approximately twice as many are submitted each year, with some being reviewed but not returned by the authors and others not reviewed due to inappropriateness of topic. The journal has been presented at 10 SfN meetings, three FENS conferences, and two IBRO meetings, in addition to having two articles published in JUNE on the impact of the journal experience on undergraduate neuroscience teaching. As the first cohort of students has now moved at least 6-8 years into their post- baccalaureate careers, the impact on editors, reviewers, and authors can begin to be assessed. Anecdotal evidence has long supported the positive influence of the experience on career-path choice and success, but a more systematic evaluation of the impact was needed. Methods The names of all previous reviewers, editorial team members, and authors from the previous 10 years of IMPULSE were collected. An attempt to find email contact information for them was undertaken while a survey was created and submitted to ASU’s IRB for approval (Study # 14-0038). The 26-question survey was launched using SurveyMonkey and sent to 152 addresses. Many of the addresses were sent back as invalid, but 45 responses have been received to this point, which is a 29.6% response rate. Response analysis was performed with SurveyMonkey. Results The respondents completed their undergraduate programs in 2005-2013 and reported reviewing 2-4 manuscripts/year, except 2011 (7), 2012 (8), and 2013 (8). They were from 13 universities and there were 20 females and 25 males. Demographically 32 self-described as White/Caucasian, one as African-American, one as Indian, two as US of Indian origin, one from Africa, two Hispanic, and one Greek-Cypriot. Five countries were represented. The majority of respondents were individual reviewers (66.7%), followed by those who also served in some editorial role (44.4%), and RTS team members (28.9%) (note the results exceed 100% as editors were also reviewers at one time). Most experienced reviewer training through a formal course (61.4%), or informal mentoring though an IMPULSE group (54.6%), with others having mentoring through a lab group (9.1%), the online tutorial (9.1%), or none (15.9%). Most reported spending up to 5 hours/month reviewing manuscripts (40.9%), with 31.8% at 5-10 hours/month, 22.7% at 10-15 hours, and one respondent each for 15-20 and over 20 hours/ month. Most served on the journal for two (40.9%) or three (31.8%) years, with 18.2% having one year and 9.1% having four+ years. While 37.2% said they reviewed 5-7 papers total, 23.3% reported reviewing 3-5, and 30.2% said they did 8+ papers. Only 9. 3% of respondents did only 1-3 reviews. Review Board Appalachian State University (USA) Elisabeth Artz, Grant Canipe, Casey Carlay, Dana Cobb, Miranda Cook, Alaina Doyle, Ryan Draper, Patrick Downs, Corbin Ester, Zachary Gillespie, Chase Gorowski, Matthew Kelly, Meghan Kusper, J Alison Rossi, Danielle Russell, Timothy Sasser, Lindsay Shapiro, Cole Sloboda, Walker Stevens College of Charleston (USA) Hanna Fields College of Wooster (USA) Rebecca Lang Davidson College (USA) Joel Eisenhofer, , Charles Ford, Malcolm Moses-Hampton, Matthew De Niear, Garrett Smith Drexel University (USA) Sravanthi Koduri Duke University (USA) Jordan Hall Emory University (USA) Jonathan Lin Furman University (USA) John Beasley, Amanda Blau, Simone Dixon, Jane Hartung, Lindsay Haselden, Michael Jiang, Kristen Kerber, Lindsay Meyers, Katrina Morgan, Katie Newsom, Dylan Richards, Emily Sewell, Courtenay Stroud, Kenz Sybert, Kyle Townsend, Ashley Wagoner, Caroline Wallace, Megan Wilner, Sam Wooten, Emily Sewell Madras Medical College (India) Vishala Mishra Middlebury College (USA) Dana Callahan, Chris Chenelle, Sara Dinkin, Joanna Georgakas, Shannon Gair, Patrick Hebble, Noah Silverstein, Leanne Shulman, Kaleigh Spollen Moravian College (USA) Rania Hanna National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan) Victor Daniel Lee Aplicano Nova Southeastern University (USA) Katie Dabrowski Roanoke College (USA) Alex Arey, Paige Arrington, Kelsey Collett, Victoria Godwin, Kati Hurt, Aldijana Mekic, Rebecca Ward Salve Regina University (USA) Wayne Bainter, Raymond Black, Hanna Cote, Kristen Dostie, Justin Gay, Craig Irving, Karl Varkey, Gina Varuzzo, Priscilla Villa Skidmore College (USA) Jennifer Brown St. Olaf College Shane Allen, Patrick Boland, Karly Boll, Gabriela Bosmenier, Sarah Bransford, Zoe Christenson, Samantha Clare, Kelly Culhane, Maia Erickson, Michelle Frank, Lesli Garza, Alexandra Harris, Grant Hertel, Elizabeth Huggins, Emily Karboski, David Kirkoff, Karla Krumenauer, Grace Larson, Rogan Magee, Caryn McKinney, Elena Miller, Jennider Mohn, Elsie Nord, Alicia Ostermann, Melissa Songpitak, Leah Stinson, Betsy Vomacka, Elisabeth Vreede, Jacob Westerberg University of Barcelona (Spain) Albert Barque, Pedro Cuenca, Danilo Moggia, Laura Munoz University of California Los Angeles (USA) Gal Daskal, Brett Neely University of California, San Diego (USA) Sofia Campos, Katelyn Carmichael, Lala Forrest, Mary Graves, Sara Kimmich, Edward Nguyen, Nathan Olesen, Trisha Srivastava, Alan Truong, Tyler Wishard University of Connecticut (USA) Margaret Rowland University of the Free State (South Africa) Natalie Collins, Danri Joubert, Jan Kriel, Alden Geldenhuys, Pieter Willem Kriek, Gerdien Kritzinger, Corli Leonard, Lisa Sibthorpe, Dieter van der Westhuzien University of Georgia (USA) Ayan Hussein University of Kentucky (USA) Allie Lonneman University of South Carolina (USA) Rahoul Ahuja, Nidhi Arashinagundi, Alexis Baker, David Berry, Zachary Blake, Syndey Bromfield, Shravya Budidi, Anna Capps, Celia Biyun Cui, Selina Chang, Pooja R. Choudhari, Purva R. Choudhari, Lauren Cole, Breana Carter, Darien Davda, Julio C. Diaz, Hassieb Din, Andrew Dippre, Sarah Erlandson, Tori Espensen-Sturges, Mohammad Fatani, Humna Fayyaz, April Galloway, Lauren Gee, Alexander Gex, Michael Goyda, Luke Havens, John He, Caroline Hendricks, Molly Higgins, Christine Hsieh, Polina Kopylova, Rachel LeMelfant, Courtney Marsh, Trevor Morris, Anjali Pathak, Kristen Polinski, Marcia Reeves, Tori Seigler, Alex Teshon, Allie Turgeon Wake Forest University (USA) Jordan Hall Editor-in-Chief Associate Editors The Premier Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal Exec. Editor [email protected] u http://impulse.appstate.edu 2005 issue 2006 issue Dana Cobb Publicity Editors 2004 issue Craig Irving 2007 issue Benjamin Mansky Faculty Advisors Juan Abolafia, Ph.D., University of Barcelona (Spain) Kevin Crisp, Ph.D., St. Olaf College (USA) Kim Cronise, Ph.D., Middlebury College (USA) Leslie Sargent Jones, Ph.D., Appalachian State University (USA) David Nichols, Ph.D., Roanoke College (USA) Jaime Pineda, Ph.D., University of California San Diego, (USA) Stephanie Smith, M.B.Ch.B., University of the Free State (South Africa) Deanna Smith, Ph.D., University of South Carolina (USA) Wayne Silver, Ph.D., Wake Forest University (USA) Steven Symington, Ph.D., Salve Regina University (USA) Victoria Turgeon, Ph.D., Furman University (USA) Mng. Editor Corbin Ester Alison Rossi A Decade of the Journal IMPULSE: International Growth and Impact Jones LS 1 , Cobb D 1 , Eubanks S 1 , Ester C 1 ,Hoffman D 1 , Hurless N 2 , Krueger H 1 , Johnson H 1 , Moore EJ 1 , Rossi A 1 , Russell D 1 , Sasser K 1 , Sledge R 1 1 The Honors College, Appalachian State Univ., Boone, NC; 2 Roanoke College, Roanoke, VA 2008 issue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issue !"#$%&'#(')*#+, .((/ 0/1$%( .22%3#/$+ !"#$%&2 4/5&/ .11+( 6/&/* 7/&&+8 9+((#,+& !5:/(;2 )*/2+ <&/(3#2 =/>#?/ 4++ =/@+ A3)1+11/( .2*1+? A#11+& !&#( 4%B+ C#3;+&? D/E 0++" !F+35@G+ !"#$%& H/$/2*/ 95(+I/ A/(/J#(J !"#$%& .("? D/$+1 D5:1#3#$? !"#$%&2 6/(/ =*/1#K .>;/ H/>#& L%:+&$ ?%5(J Danilo Moggia Geetanjali Pathak Michelle Frank Simone Dixon Danri Joubert Miranda Cook Supported by The Honors College at Appalachian State Univ., The Dept of Psychology at Middlebury College, the South Carolina Honors College at Univ of South Carolina, the Dept of Biology at Salve Regina Univ, the Dept of Biology at Furman Univ, the Dept of Biology at St. Olaf College, the Dept of Basic Medical Sciences at the Univ of the Free State, the Dept of Psychology at Univ of Barcelona, the Dept of Biology at Wake Forest Univ, The Dept of Cognitive Science at UC San Diego. 2010 issue History of IMPULSE 2011 issue Danielle Russell Dawn Woodard IMPULSE Reviewer Training Sites: Nicole Hurless Exec. Assoc. Ed. Kyle Sasser Casey Carlay Jacob Westerberg Sara Kimmich Faten Ragaban Annalyn Welp Site hosted at The Honors College, Appalachian State University 2003: M. Wilkinson, A. Autry, L. Helmick, and S. Roudsari founded new journal with Dr. L.S. Jones; IMPULSE at 1 st SYNAPSE meeting and SfN (Soc. Neur. Abs . 29 :25.3). 2004: First issue posted online. IMPULSE at SfN (Soc. Neur. Abs . 30 :28.6). 2005: C. Warren became 2 nd EiC. 2 nd issue at SfN (Soc. Neur. Abs . 31 :20.19). 2006: Moved to rolling publication; IMPULSE at 2 nd SYNAPSE and SfN (Soc. Neur. Abs .); Publicity Editors created; ISSN # assigned. 2007: IMPULSE at 3 rd SYNAPSE, 7 th IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience in Melbourne, Australia, and SfN (Soc. Neur. Abs. 33 :26.4). B. Goodlett became 3 rd EiC. IMPULSE joins Directory of Open Access Journals; 2 nd RTS at Middlebury College with Dr. K. Cronise. 2008: IMPULSE at 4 th SYNAPSE, 6 th FENS Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, and SfN (Soc. Neur. Abs . 34 :224.5). A. Walton became 4 th EiC. 3 rd RTS opened at Appalachian State Univ. Honors College (L.S. Jones moved). 2009: IMPULSE at 5 th SYNAPSE and SfN (Soc. Neur. Abs . 35:23.9) . Dr. S. Sweitzer (U. South Carolina) stepped in as 3 rd FA; Dr. S. Symington joined as FA for 4 th RTS at Salve Regina Univ. Website moved to Appstate hosting: http:// impulse.appstate.edu . 2010: IMPULSE presented at 6 th SYNAPSE, 7 th FENS Forum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and SfN (Soc. Neur. Abs . 36:24.7) . K. McClellan became 5 th EiC. Dr. K. Crisp joined as FA for 5 th RTS, St. Olaf College, Dr. V. Turgeon as FA at 6 th RTS, Furman Univ., Dr. Stephanie Smith as FA at 7 th RTS, Univ of the Free State (South Africa). 2011: IMPULSE presented at 6 th SYNAPSE and 5 th FENS Forum in Florence, Italy, and SfN 37:25.15S; Kate Davison is 6 th EiC. Social media Publicity Editor created. 2012: IMPULSE presented at 7 th SYNAPSE and 8 th FENS (Barcelona) and 8 th RTS established at Roanoke College. 2013: A DECADE of IMPULSE! M. Cook installed as 7 th EiC. The 9 th RTS, and first in Europe, established at University of Barcelona, Spain (Dr. Juan Abolafia). The 10 th (UC San Diego, Dr. Jaime Pineda) and 11 th (Wake Forest Univ., Dr. Wayne Silver) RTSs come online. 2012 issue QR codes for website and facebook Most Strongly Agreed that it improved their ability to read scientific papers and that they would recommend the experience to others; they also indicated that they list it on their current résumé (Figures below). The pie chart illustrates what these IMPULSE alumni are currently doing, with the largest number pursuing Ph.D.s (26.19%), followed by currently working then pursuing M.D.s Only five respondents were authors, with four reporting receiving an “appropriate” level of input for their manuscript and one indicating they had no input. However, 42.9% presented on their work with IMPULSE (either on the journal or work that was later published) at a conference. In response to questions on whether IMPULSE was a positive influence on writing skills, literature research, ability to read papers, or selection of career choice the majority marked Agree to Strongly Agree (see Figures right). However, most were Neutral or only Agreed that it had a positive influence on their lab research skills or that it raised their awareness of career options. Similarly, responses were spread on whether IMPULSE helped with their post-baccalaureate program or on professional performance, though the largest responses were Strongly Agree and Agree combined (52.4% and 73.8% respectively). Discussion While the first caveat to such a study is only those that are happiest (or unhappiest) typically respond to this type of survey, it is noteworthy that the response rate was relatively high, (41/152 emails) and that the overwhelming majority of those responding rated the IMPULSE experience as generally very positive both in terms of the learning at the time and its application in the their post-collegiate, professional path. The free-response comments that many respondents added in at the end of the survey also indicated that they found the experienced rewarding and useful. Benefits they volunteered included comments that related to questions in the survey like, “I learned about scientific papers- how to read them, edit them, improve them. I used to be lost just looking at them, now in my post-grad schooling I can read them quickly and extract the important points,” but also comments that addressed some issues not assessed, such as managing a review team, “I believe I learned the most during the year I was an associate editor because I also had to be able to efficiently handle my team and be able to get reviews from them,” and reading other types of literature “While I'm better at reviewing scientific papers, my skills at reviewing non-scientific papers have improved at least as much, probably because they're far easier to review in comparison.” The conclusion to be drawn from this small, first study after a decade is that working on IMPULSE is seen as a useful teaching tool by the “alumni” who worked on it during their undergraduate years. It is an option for students who do not have the time or opportunity to do laboratory research and may serve as a means for faculty to provide some level of authentic research experience, at least on the publication side of science. What is your primary professional activity currently? I would recommend the IMPULSE experience to undergraduates It had a positive influence on my ability to read scientific papers. It had a positive influence on my professional writing skills. It had a positive influence on my literature research skills 2013 issue

the premier undergraduate neuroscience journal...crisp joined as fa for 5 rts, st. olaf college, dr....

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