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Communication Journals

As the repositories for new information in the field, journals serve as a central and highly regarded written forum through which scholars of communication studies can share their research findings with one another. Academicians publish their work in journals not only as part of their responsibility to share research findings with the public, but also for personal career development (i.e., to achieve tenure and promotion). As they provide a forum through which scholars can discover, critique, and build upon each other’s work, communication journals play a central role in the vitality and development of the field of communication studies. This entry provides an overview of the characteristics that are shared among the journals published in communication studies, followed by a discussion of the features that make each unique.

Common Characteristics of Communication Journals

Although communication journals vary considerably, they tend to share in common their publishing process, the use of peer review, and the publication and retrieval process.

Publishing Process and Peer Review

Scholarly journal articles are primary sources of information, meaning that they have not been previously published elsewhere, they contribute to the general knowledge in a given subject area, and they have been reviewed by a panel of peers in the field. The process of “peer review” ensures that the individual contributions of researchers in the field of communication studies are representative and consistent with the standards of the field as a whole. The editor of a journal is a respected expert in the field who is responsible for the overall quality, content, and rigor of the journal. Journal editors look for articles that are consistent with the mission of the journal, contribute significantly to the field, are written clearly and concisely, and are written in accordance with current style guidelines.

When an article is submitted to a journal, the editor sends the manuscript to members of the editorial board, who evaluate it for criteria such as the appropriateness of the methodology and the study’s overall contribution to the journal and to the field. The members of the editorial board help the editor to decide if the manuscript should be accepted, rejected, or given an invitation to revise and resubmit. Some journals implement a “double blind review,” in which the author(s) and reviewer identities are concealed throughout the entire review process. The review process varies in length, but typically takes one to three months. The editor has the final authority on the decisions made regarding journal articles, and may choose to “desk reject” an article, or reject it without review, if he or she feels it is appropriate. An editor is also responsible for selecting the number of articles (and which articles) to be placed in each issue of a journal, the amount of which published per year will vary by journal.

Publication and Retrieval

Communication journals may be published in printed copies, online, or both. These journals are indexed in subscription-based databases purchased by university libraries. There are certain databases that focus on the social sciences and communication studies (e.g., Communication and Mass Media Complete). If your university does not have access to a particular journal, there is a university library lending system through which you can place a request to receive a copy of the journal you would like to read. If you are not affiliated with a university, you have the option of purchasing journal subscriptions or individual articles. If you are looking at the library card catalog, or its main reference system for where books and journals are stored, the Library of Congress classification for “Speech Communication” is PN. Using this method, you might find the hard copy journal articles by researching where the call number is for the journal you are researching and find a physical copy of it in your library. The availability of hard copy journals varies by institution. Starting in 2004, journal articles in the field of communication studies were also indexed by their digital object identifier (DOI), or an alphanumeric string that serves to not only identify content but also to provide a persistent link to it on the Internet.

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