JUnQ attracts considerable national and international interest and notice
23.01.2012
The 3rd issue of the Journal of Unsolved Questions (JUnQ) is now available online and in print. JUnQ was founded in 2010 by doctoral students of the Graduate School of Excellence "Materials Science in Mainz" (MAINZ) in cooperation with scientists from around Europe. Since then, the journal has generated a great deal of interest. Its goal is to provide a forum through which information can be made available on the kind of excellent but inconclusive scientific projects that established scientific journals tend to ignore.
Thanks in part to last year's lecture series "Publish or Perish" at Mainz University, which was jointly organized by the JUnQ main editorial board and the MAINZ Graduate School, and numerous reviews of JUnQ in different media, this magazine for "inconclusive research" has attracted lots of public attention in its first year of existence.
In fact, a total of 12 articles and essays were published last year. As it is customary for established scientific journals, the scientific articles for JUnQ also undergo the so-called peer review process in which independent experts judge the quality of the submissions. Additionally, essays on unsolved questions and a "Question of the Week" appear regularly in the online edition of the journal.
The concept has also met with positive resonance within the scientific community and was awarded the title "University Pearl of the Month" in April 2011 by the Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany. As of January 9, 2012, JUnQ is also competing for the title "University Pearl of the Year 2011" with the eleven other award-winning projects.
The interest of other partners, some of whom are leading lights in their particular area, has also led to a number of fruitful cooperative projects. For example, JUnQ is now a network partner of the Falling Walls Conference which takes place annually on November 9 in Berlin. Two members of the JUnQ editorial staff were invited to the last conference as press representatives. A more detailed report on these activities as well as additional articles and "Open Questions" relating to various scientific subjects can be found in the current issue. Since July 2011, JUnQ has also been working together with detektor.fm to produce the "Question of the Month" podcast covering unsolved scientific questions. Detektor.fm is a German-language radio channel that is committed to providing sophisticated, independent journalism and alternative pop music.
In September 2011, Leonie Mück and Thomas Jagau also published a feature article on behalf of the entire JUnQ editorial team in "Nachrichten aus der Chemie" (09/2011), the official journal of the German Chemical Society (GDCh). Since late 2011, the journal has also been working together with the Wiley publishing house, which has a great deal of expertise in terms of online publishing. The formation of this newest partnership is an important step in terms of the future development of the journal. In order to provide JUnQ with the necessary legal standing and put in place a basis for the formation of long-term partnerships and sustainable funding, the foundation of the non-profit association JUnQ e.V. was initiated in December 2011.
The online edition of the 3rd issue of JUnQ is available online; a print edition can be obtained through the office of the MAINZ Graduate School of Excellence. The next issue will be released on July 1, 2012. Articles and "Open Questions" can be submitted via e-mail.
The Graduate School of Excellence "Materials Science in Mainz" (MAINZ)
The Graduate School of Excellence "Materials Science in Mainz" (MAINZ) was established under the German Excellence Initiative in 2007 and is currently submitting a follow-up application in the second phase of the competition. MAINZ consists of work groups from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research. The MAINZ Graduate School provides top-notch German and international doctoral students in the natural sciences with an excellent education in the field of materials science.