Myths and Truths About Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly

Abstract

As I write this essay, I am celebrating my first-year anniversary as the editor of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (JMCQ). After talking to many people and reading the feedback from last year's JMCQ readership survey, I found there are many incorrect perceptions about the Quarterly. Many are long-standing myths, which are incorrect. Some are true but need more clarifications. I think it is time to dispel the myths.Myth 1: JMCQ Publishes Only Quantitative StudiesIncorrect. As much as 22% of the accepted articles under my editorship so far are qualitative studies using historical method, legal method, discourse and textual analysis, case study, and in-depth interviews. Significance of the topic, contribution to the theory and methodology in journalism and mass communication, and quality of the manuscript are the most important criteria for acceptance, not whether it is quantitative or qualitative in the methodological approach. In fact, qualitative manuscripts so far have higher odds of being accepted than quantitative manuscripts because of the large number of quantitative approach submissions (85%) and the high quality of the qualitative submissions we receive. In all our calls for papers, including special issues, we welcome both approaches. Among the manuscripts that were accepted for publication since I took on the editorship, 9 are qualitative manuscripts while 32 are quantitative manuscripts.Myth 2: JMCQ Prefers Manuscripts on Journalism Topics AloneIncorrect. This perception may be due to the former name of the journal which was Journalism Quarterly. But the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) changed the name of the association from Association of Education in Journalism (AEJ) to AEJMC in 1982, and the flagship journal also changed its name to reflect the broadened scope of the association and the many fields and specializations that it represents. It has been more than three decades since Quarterly acquired its new name, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly.Indeed, an overwhelming majority of our published articles are related to news. This is more due to the topics of the submissions rather than our preference. I would like to remind our readers and the public that the second part of our journal name is about Mass Communication. We definitely welcome manuscripts that study different types of news or the journalism profession, but we are not limited to news or only favor news as a content genre. There are many divisions and interest groups of AEJMC, not all of them are news, such as Advertising, Communication Theory and Methodology, Communication Technology, Critical and Cultural Studies, Entertainment Studies, and so on. Some of the media content topics that we accepted for publication include social media postings, video games, and mobile applications. News is not the only media content genre that is covered in our journal. Any media content topics that affect society at large is of interest to our journal. There are also several journals specializing in journalism only. So, JMCQ is not an exclusive journalism journal, but a journal that brings journalism to the larger field of mass communication and media scholars to broaden the impact of journalism studies. We welcome and publish the best manuscripts on both Journalism and Mass Communication (media) topics.Myth 3: JMCQ Only Welcomes U.S. AuthorsIncorrect. JMCQ certainly welcomes U.S. authors as many media scholars are from the United States. But we do not only welcome submissions of U.S. authors. We pride ourselves in attracting 43% of our submissions from outside the United States. See Table 1 below for authors' nationalities and affiliation in 2014. The desk rejection rate of non-U.S. authors is higher than U.S. authors. It is not because of where they are from but because many of them do not conform to the academic standards of the journal. I always encourage new non-U. …