Postgraduate course: Journal Club in Reproduction (1.0 ECTS)

The course is in the form of a “journal club”. Meetings will be held approximately once every month and are open to all persons interested in the field of reproduction. Before each meeting one to two selected papers should be distributed to all interested at least two weeks before the meeting. This or these papers should be read in advance of the meeting. The paper(s) will then be discussed during the two hours meeting. At each session, one of the participants will act as a moderator presenting the paper(s) and leading the discussion. All participants shall do their best to critically read and discuss the paper(s). The papers shall be dealing with matters within the subject “Reproduction”.

Objectives

• To improve the participants´ ability to read and critically evaluate scientific papers within the field of reproduction.
• To improve the participants´ knowledge of current reproduction literature.
• To improve the participants´ knowledge of study design and statistical methods and ability to apply this knowledge to the assessment of experimental studies.
• To improve the young researchers ability to facilitate the learning of other reproduction professionals inside and outside the division. 

Registration

Deadline for registration is 2027-01-10.

Register here: PVG0013 Journal Club in Reproduction, 1.0 credits

If the page is not working, please try another web browser, or send an email to cru@slu.se.

Examination

Attendance to at least 5 occasions and presentation of one paper and moderating the following discussion.

Prerequisites

The course is intended for research students and master students. No special prerequisites are needed to attend the course.

Additional information

• Language: English
• Subject: Veterinary Medicine (biology)
• Syllabus Approved: 14 April 2010 (PVG0013)
• Education cycle: Third
• Number of credits: 1.0 ECTS
• Marking scale: Passed/failed

The maximum number of participants is ten (10) on first come first serve basis. Research students and residents from SLU and Uppsala University are prioritised until the application deadline closes (January 10, 2027). 

All meetings are held digitally with Zoom as the platform.

Practical information

At least three weeks before each session the participant with moderating position sends three good articles (that should not have too in depth- focus but be of interest and readability by all participants even if they are not in the exactly same field) to the course organizers.

The subject of Reproduction is interpreted in its widest sense. The course organizers select the most appropriate article (in specific cases it could be two articles, but this will be exceptions), this selected article is then distributed to all participants at least two weeks in advance of the session.

The moderating participant selects a senior researcher with good knowledge in the area to participate in the meeting as a support for the discussion (the course organizers can help with this if needed). All participants in the course is given a task for each session: usually to describe and explain specific part of the article (a section, a figure or table in the selected article). As a help for the assessment of the article all participants may fill in a template on critical assessment (“FormJCR” distributed to all participants at the onset of the course) and bring to the session.

The moderator is responsible for giving an overview of the paper and to lead the discussion. If the group is over 7 persons, subgroups will be formed where the participants go through their individual tasks before returning to the whole group for a systematic review of the article piece by piece (led by the moderator). Finally, all participants will judge all information brought up and individually answer the question if this paper should have been accepted in its current form or not and why. 

Preliminary schedule

• Session 1: 08 February 10:00-12:00 (Ylva and Susanne)
• Session 2: 01 March 10:00-12:00 (Ylva or Susanne)
• Session 3: 06 April 10:00-12:00 (Ylva or Susanne)
• Session 4: 05 May 13:00-15:00 (Ylva or Susanne)
• Session 5: 03 June 10:00-12:00 (Ylva)

Remaining and definitive times for the meetings will be set in agreement with the participants.

Course Organiser

Centre for Reproductive biology in Uppsala, CRU, and Department of Clinical Sciences.

• Course leader: Ylva Sjunnesson (ylva.sjunnesson@slu.se)
• Co-organiser: Susanne Lager (susanne.lager@uu.se)