what to submit
The original purpose of the Web Journal of Mass Communication Research was to expand publication opportunities for scholars in our field. Beginning in 2007, we have refined our focus to include Web/Internet related communication, to take into account the growing importance of the Internet in the field of mass communication. As has always been the case, we seek reports of original investigations, but only insofar as those reports examine the cross section of the Web and mass communication. And, as before, the central purpose of the research we publish should attempt to discover or develop new information about mass communication, again, as it intersects with the Web.
The researcher’s method is important only with regard to its suitability for the study he or she undertakes. The diversity of our field should mean that we will accept studies using a wide variety of methods.
The journal is a refereed publication. Members of the editorial board will review manuscripts and advise the co-editors. The reviewer does not know the identity of the author. The result of the review may be acceptance, acceptance contingent on revision, or rejection.
We accept a manuscript for publication with the understanding that we have exclusive publication rights, which means that the manuscript has not been accepted for publication or published elsewhere. We will inform you of our decision in not more than 90 days. We publish on a rolling basis, but we number each published article in a standard quarterly sequence. For example, in volume 8 there will be four articles, numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4, and published in that order. Beginning with Volume 9, we use a modified journal numbering system, which will include a Volume number and month/year of publication (i.e., posting to the site).
manuscript preparation/organization
Either electronic submission (to stempel@ohio.edu) or four hard copies of the article must be submitted. Hard copy submissioni should be sent to:
Web Journal of Mass Communication ResearchE.W. Scripps School of Journalism
Ohio University
Athens, OH 45701
Upon acceptance of the manuscript, the author will need to provide a copy of all files associated with the manuscript on disk in Word, or send the files as attachments to stewartr@ohio.edu.
Authors should use a title page, followed by an abstract, text, notes, table(s) and graph(s). The author should provide material for an identifying note. This note may include acknowledgments for financial assistance, advice, access to special materials, etc., and indicate whether the article is based on a dissertation or thesis or has been presented orally.
The text should begin with a clear statement of the problem followed by the statement of hypothesis or research questions. Methods of collecting information or data should be explained next, to the extent that the particular study requires. If the method is obvious, as is usually the case in historical or legal studies, no elaboration is called for. The author should provide enough detail about method that the person who wants to replicate the study can do so.
The results or findings section should come next. It is important that the results or findings be explained in terms of the hypotheses or research questions. Interpretation of the results or findings should be reserved for the discussion or conclusion section, which comes next. A summary or summary and conclusions comes last. The basic structure should be followed whether the study is quantitative, qualitative, historical or legal.
We use notes, not references. We are using the Journalism Quarterly note style. Examples are included below:
- Wayne Wanta, The Public and the National Agenda (Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1997), 17.
- Paul S. Voakes, “Public Perception of Journalists’ Ethical Motivations,” Journalism Quarterly 74 (Spring 1997):23-38.
- Maxwell McCombs, Donald L. Shaw and David Weaver, eds., Communication and Democracy (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1997).
- Edward Caudill, “An Agenda-Setting Perspective on Historical Public Opinion,” in Communication and Democracy, eds. Maxwell McCombs, Donald L. Shaw and David Weaver (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1997), 1982.
- John Sullivan, “Celebrity Pulls Advertising,” Editor & Publisher 19 July 1997, 14, 65.
- “Thomson Focuses on Readership,” Editor & Publisher 19 July 1997, 25.
- Carolyn Garret Cline and Wendy Jo Maynard, “Teaching Online Technology in Public Relations,” (paper presented at the annual meeting of AEJMC, Atlanta, 1994).
- Debra Mason, “God in the News Ghetto: A Study of Religion News from 1984 to 1989” (Ph.D. diss., Ohio University, 1995).
- New York Times v. U.S., 403 US 713 (1971).
We are using a formatting innovation that allows the reader to see notes as “footnotes” but allows the author to prepare notes as “endnotes.”