No attempt has been made to read across the full range of issues or even a representative sample of the Irish University Review, which has stood at the core of Irish literary studies since its foundation at UCD (when the older University Review was renamed to reflect its wider importance. Simultaneously, in fact, it became part of the membership bundle of IASAIL (now IASIL) - the International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures.

Such a survey would involve a team of researchers with the appropriate reading and recording skills, appointed at a stage in their careers when the task of continuous readership in a single journal-source might serve as a rapid and effective way of deepening their knowledge of the subject without seriously distracting them from any degree-oriented process such as an MA or a PhD. Spelt out in project terms, this translates into employment contracts for those selected for the task. Alternately, the survey could be ‘tacked on’ as an ancillary requirement of degree-work just and unforced agreement between the host university and the student. In either case, copyright agreements with the owners of the journal would be necessary as distinct from the form of private readership which accounts for the contents of RICORSO to date.

Unfortunately neither the project team nor the necessary funding were available during the hey-day of RICORSO - and, while passages from IUR articles by sundry ccritics appear in many places in RICORSO, the only issue which was treated in the way intended was the Special Poetry issue of Sept. 1990. Even here, the result is less a summary with quotation than a copy of the original articles captured through a secondary internet source identified in the links - viz., The Free Library - online [accessed 07.07.2011]. For access to the articles in their original format with pagination as per publication, the researcher is advised to visit IUR in JSTOR which can be effected with the necessary password supplied by participating institutions. (A two-year ‘moving wall’ is applied to all such publications ensuring that current issues are only accessible as hard-copy to protect the sale and circulation of the journals.)