NMC, Australian academics join forces

The Micronesian Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of the Northern Marianas College has joined forces with Charles Sturt University in Australia to allow for more intellectual input on the journal and enable it to be archived at the university’s digital library.

Dr. Dirk HR Spennemann, a professor for Historic Preservation at the university, explained that with this collaboration, NMC and the Charles Sturt University will be contributing to the professional publishing technology.

“The journal is also archived in perpetuity by the National Library of Australia, an acknowledged leader in the field of digital libraries. What that means, is that even if the journal were to be discontinued, say in 20 or 30 years’ time, it will still remain available for future scholars,” he said.

NMC founded the Micronesian Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences in 2002. Its aim was to publish academic papers in fields such as archaeology, anthropology, historic preservation, history, linguistics, and allied humanities subjects.

“There was a dearth of publication opportunities on Micronesian culture and social issues,” Sam McPhetres of the NMC said. “We decided to do something about that.”

And what they did was cutting edge: the journal was published in electronic form on the Internet. This meant that the journal could save the expensive costs of printing paper copies and allowed the journal to have a worldwide reach.

“The journal has attracted much attention,” McPhetres said, “but required technological commitment from academics and the institution, which was not central to the NMC’s mission.”

The journal is being edited by the NMC’s McPhetres and Spennemann of Charles Sturt University. The editorial advisory board includes well known Micronesian scholars Professors Dirk Ballendorf and Donald Rubinstein from the Micronesian Area Research Center, University of Guam; Faustina K. Rehuher , Director of the National Museum of Belau; Francis X. Hezel of the Micronesian Seminar in Pohnpei; Scott Russell from the Northern Mariana Islands Council for the Humanities; David W. Look from the U.S. National Park Service; San Francisco; and NMC’s academics Dr Debra T Cabrera and James M. Vincent

Spennemann is excited about the new opportunities. “There is an urgent need for an outlet of high-quality information on humanities and social science research in Micronesia. We would like to develop this journal into a flagship publication, that journal where you read the best research on the region.”

“And read it for free,” Spennemann adds, “which in this day and age is not common. But if we wish to advance Micronesian issues, then free public information of a high quality is essential. Charles Sturt University is committed to this, as are the academic staff at the NMC.”

The journal can be visited at http://marshall.csu.edu.au/MJHSS.