Mass Communication Research and the Invisible College Revisited: The Changing Landscape and Emerging Fronts in Journalism-Related Studies

Abstract

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to chart the changing landscape of mass communication research in journalism-related studies over the past two decades and, second, to determine the contemporary form and content of the invisible college in the field through its intellectual configuration and structural interaction. A simple citation count is inadequate; the analysis of co-citation networks should be a better indication of the field's effort to build on its theoretical foundation. The findings suggest that there is some sort of theoretical and methodological convergence in contemporary journalism-related studies.