Quinnipiac’s Honors Program may be adding a new venture to its resume.

Junior Brendan Cline plans to start the publication of an academic journal, in an effort to improve the school’s reputation among academics. The release is tentatively planned for late spring, but his idea has yet to be authorized. He anticipates that the approval process will occur within two weeks.

Cline, a member of Quinnipiac’s Honors Program and the Honors’ Leadership Board, came up with the idea of an academic journal to offer more opportunities for students to experience academic research and showcase their work.

“A lot of undergraduate schools of prestige come together where either the whole school or specific academic fields put out a journal,” Cline said.

Cline ultimately aspires to “get Quinnipiac’s name out among other schools, help the Honors Program build community within itself and encourage students at Quinnipiac to revise and submit papers.”

In addition to fostering a good name for Quinnipiac, Cline’s idea of an academic publication was inspired by his desire to get people practicing all those skills such as Internet publication, editing and peer reviewing.

He hopes interdisciplinary aspects of the journal will encourage conversations across academic departments.

It will start off as an interdisciplinary journal, publishing submittals from any academic department. So far, between 15 and 18 people have expressed interest in contributing. If interest increases, some academic fields may be able to break off and publish their own specified journal.

Sophomore Erin Baier, also on the leadership Honors Program, is one of the students who has expressed interest to edit, peer review and submit papers for the journal.

“Most universities taken seriously have these; this will help boost our image and caliber. When we have one, hopefully we’ll be taken more seriously,” Baier said.

She also expects it to broaden the exchange of ideas with other schools.

“Obviously it is always a good thing for students who want careers in their academic fields to be published, and it will add to their repertoire,” said Baier.

For the journal to become authorized, a proposal must be submitted to the advisors of the Honors Program. If passed, the proposal then must be given to the administration for approval.

Cline expects this semester to involve a lot of planning and waiting for approval. Based on the rate of submittal and interest, the journal could be published annually or biannually, Cline said.