Will encourage more research at Avondale
Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
Avondale College has published a new academic journal and launched a website to provide free access to it and other institutional research.
The International Journal of New Perspectives on Christianity. Credit: Jessie Tapara.
The first issue of The International Journal of New Perspectives on Christianity includes some of the papers presented at the first New Perspectives on Christianity Conference held at Avondale in January 2009. Vice-president (administration and research) Dr Vivienne Watts organised and presented a paper at the conference and edited the journal.
The aims of the conference and the journal are to: enable conversation between Christianity and contemporary Australian society; contribute to research in Australia; and provide a model for young Christians as they engage with social issues. “Young adults are sick of ideas being recycled,” says Vivienne. “They’re looking for relevance. It’s one of the key aspects in their search for meaning.”
The journal is now part of Avondale’s new institutional repository ResearchOnline@Avondale. The website, built using a software program called Digital Commons, means Avondale now provides free, full-text access to the research literature produced by its staff members and postgraduate students. It will also:
- Reduce the time between producing and publishing research
- Increase the speed of distributing published research
- Encourage the reading of published research—users can search ResearchOnline@Avondale using Google Scholar and other Internet search engines, or they can search the website itself by author, faculty and research centre, journal or thesis
- Provide through Google Analytics more information about how many people are reading published research
- Increase the number of citations an author will receive—ResearchOnline@Avondale includes recommended citations for each paper
- Provide long-term preservation of published research
“ResearchOnline@Avondale will help build community by encouraging research collaboration,” says head librarian Marilyn Gane. Librarian (electronic resources) Lisa Brereton notes the website is not competing with journals and other publishers of research but “enhancing access to research.”
“As our staff members and students begin using the website for research, they’ll be inspired to have their own work included,” says Vivienne.
Avondale will host the second New Perspectives on Christianity Conference in January 2011.