Guided by the discussions initiated by Pradeep Sharma, we now evolve these operating notes for the Journal Club. These notes are a work in progress, and will evolve as the iMechanica community and the technology of the Web evolve. Every moderator can edit these notes. You can see the history of these notes. As usual, every registered user is welcome to make suggestions by leaving comments.

Mission. The mission of the Journal Club is to facilitate discussion at the frontier of mechanics and its applications.

Papers. To be eligible as an entry in the Journal Club, a paper should

1. be obtainable by many mechanicians,
2. have a trustworthy timestamp, and
3. is of interest to mechanicians.

The first two requirements are fulfilled, for example, by any paper published in a journal or in a repository like arXiv or iMechanica. To facilitate the discussion on iMechanica, a blog entry or a forum entry for each paper should be created, with a pdf file of the paper attached or a link pointed to the paper posed elsewhere.

Theme of the month. Each month, the Journal Club will focus on a theme at the frontier of mechanics and its applications.

Host. At the beginning of each month, a certain registered user, called the Host, will post an entry in the Journal Club Forum, consisting of a brief introduction of the theme of the month, and links to 3-5 papers. All links should point to the entries in iMechanica. The Host has the full responsibility in articulating the theme, selecting the papers, and motivating the discussion. Each individual can serve no more than 1 month in a year. The Host of the month will be guided by the Host of the last month, and by the Captain.

Captain. A certain registered user will serve a one-year term as the Captain of the Journal Club. The main function of the Captain is to ensure continuity by selecting the hosts, after consultation with past hosts and other active users of iMechanica. The founding Captain is Pradeep Sharma (to be confirmed), whose term starts on 1 January 2007. Captains of future years will be elected by the Hosts of the immediate past year.

Archive. Each new theme of the month posted by the host will be placed as the top entry of iMechanica for the first week of the month. A tab named Journal Club appears on the sidebar of iMechanica, with a list of past themes, as well as themes under development. This archive will be maintained by the Captain.

Journal Club Forum. This forum contains matters concerning the Journal Club. Every registered user can propose a paper (including his own) or a theme of the month for future inclusion in the Journal Club.