10 research outputs found
O18 | History and evolution of a journal club specialized in veterinary pharmacology: An opportunity to learn and grow in a virtual and stimulating community
The requirement to be constantly updated about the most important scientific innovations in veterinary pharmacology is normally perceived by those involved in research. In response to this need, a small group of veterinary pharmacologists funded a Journal Club (JC) in 2012. This JC was designed to give the opportunity of regularly discussing current and emerging topics in veterinary pharmacology. At first, JCs were “live” session and then they became virtual weekly meeting held via Skype. Additional members have been enrolled along the following 10 years reaching a global distribution. In 2020, a
paper has been published to report our experience (1). Currently the group consists of 30 participants The participation in the meetings is not mandatory and only limited by other commitments of the members or problems related to time
zone differences. Meetings are scheduled weekly, based on a rotation system. In order to state the current situation of JC and to better understand its quality and further improvements, a survey was submitted to all JC members. Questions dealt with professional features of participants and were oriented to collect suggestions and comments about JC. The most represented nationality is Italian (21.7%), followed by Croatian (13%), Bulgarian (8.7%), Polish (8.7%), Dutch (8.7%), South Korean, Australian, Latvian, Swiss, Nigerian, South African, Ethiopian, Iranian and Lebanese (4%/each). The majority of participants are doctors in veterinary medicine (73.9%), while 13.1% are pharmacists, 8.7% are pharmaceutical chemists and
4.4% are biologists. Participants believe that JC can help to (1) improve the knowledge about veterinary pharmacology and toxicology for teaching (52.2%), experimental and research purposes (56.5%), (2) create a network, enabling members to share and exchange ideas, information, professional materials (65.2%), (3) promote professional growth of young researchers and (4) help cooperation among Departments and universities (47.8%). JC appears to be a strategic
tool for the majority of participants (82.6%) that do not have other possibilities in their own Departments to join similar forms of scientific discussion. In the Authors' opinion this is a very simple tool that can help create a strong scientific community, where professional and human relationships are established through knowledge sharing