This Volume of Carpe Diem strikes a balance between postgraduate and undergraduate work, featuring an even mix of postgraduate and undergraduate articles.
In the last Volume the bulk of the work featured was postgraduate, featuring work from the University of Sydney, Monash University, the University of New South Wales, Southern Cross University, Australian Catholic University (ACU National) and Wollongong University.
The earlier Volumes had featured more work from undergraduate students.
In this latest Volume we feature undergraduate work from the University of New South Wales, Monash University and the Australian Catholic University (ACU National). The postgraduate work featured is from Southern Cross University (two papers) and Chifley/La Trobe University.
As a journal featuring work across the business disciplines, in this Volume we have published work in the following areas: Finance, Human Resources, Marketing, Structural Equation Modeling, and Housing Affordability. Essays, papers and business analyses that use either quantitative or qualitative methodologies are featured.
All these papers have been blind refereed by academics in the above disciplines and fields, and like other academic journals not all submissions survived the process!
A number of submissions that were accepted with revisions went back to the submitting authors a number of times, while others were rejected by the reviewers as not of sufficient standard at either the undergraduate or the postgraduate level. The process can be long and arduous, just as the process can be for us as academics getting acceptance into peer reviewed journals.
There is a learning curve in this for our students, and I was surprised recently by one of our undergraduate authors in this Volume, who commented that they had learnt so much from the reviewer’s comments, and how they felt this would help them in future university work. Deeply painful as the process can be, this of course mirrors the experience of many academics – it helps us hone our craft essentially.
For other students who have been accepted for publication in Carpe Diem, the experience may be less about a learning curve involving academic improvement, and more about the inspiration and recognition of having achieved excellence.
In tangible terms this may provide a basis on which undergraduates think seriously about enrolling in an Honours program or a Masters program. It also provides a ‘saleable’ item on their curriculum vitae. For postgraduate students contemplating a career in academia, publication in Carpe Diem may provide them with their first fully refereed publication, or a stamp of credibility about their intellect, drive and focus.
With this in mind I invite you to read through this Volume of Carpe Diem, and to consider that what we hold dear as academics – intellectual curiosity, the search for knowledge and understanding of the world, and for excellence in publication, precisely the qualities that we are seeking to engender in our undergraduate and postgraduate students whose work appears in this Volume.
Al Marshall
Acting Editor
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