Abstract
The year 2022 marks the publication of the seventh volume of Communication and the Public (CAP). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the context for our reflections on communication has become more sophisticated and contradictory than ever. Over the past 2 years, we have had to understand anew the importance of communication as a fundamental social process and its institutional significance in coordinating social relations. In the face of such ongoing change, our academic journal will continue to enrich communication scholarship with meaningful research. This is made possible by the contributions and support of our authors, reviewers, editorial members, and readers, to whom we would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation.
In this editorial, we first introduce our new editorial leadership team, whose appointment marks a new start for CAP. Second, we provide an overview of the journal statistics for the past journal year (April 2020–March 2021). Third, we introduce the new journal initiatives, Academic Dialogue and Call for Special Issue Proposals. Finally, we summarize the articles published in the current issue.
Introduction of the new editorial leadership team
Our editorial leadership team has undergone some transitions in the past year. Our heartfelt gratitude is extended to our outgoing editors, Prof. Guobin Yang and Prof. Zhongdang Pan, without whom CAP’s accomplishments would not have been possible. We would also like to take this opportunity to introduce our new editorial leadership team.
Editors
Prof. Yi-Hui Christine Huang, Chair Professor, City University of Hong Kong, China
Prof. Yu Hong, Professor, Zhejiang University, China
Associate editors
Dr. Fen Lin, Associate Professor, City University of Hong Kong, China
Dr. Zhao Alexandre Huang, Associate Professor, Université Paris Nanterre, France
Dr. Jian Lin, Associate Professor, Zhejiang University, China
An overview of the journal statistics for the past year
We are very pleased to share with our readers the most significant of our achievements in 2020–2021. The statistics show that our hard work has paid off.
CAP is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes both theoretical and empirical research articles on the intersections of communication and the public broadly defined. It welcomes research from any part of the world, especially where local experiences have been little considered by sociocultural theories or communication studies. The journal aims to improve its professional and academic standards to reach new highs in the academic field of communication.
Although the journal is still young, it has already been listed in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI; Journal Citation Indicator 2020 = 0.4, Q3) and Scopus (CiteScore 2020 = 1.2, Q2). Moreover, our Web of Science Journal Citation Indicator (JCI) has increased annually, reaching 0.4 in 2020. Our ranking among communication journals also improved to 130th place out of 208 in 2020.
The number of original submissions we received in 2021 was the highest on record at 90, representing an increase of 42.9% from 2020.
We attracted authors from more than 30 countries worldwide in 2020–2021.
We are grateful for the efforts made by our reviewers to complete reviews in a timely manner despite the pandemic. The average interval between submission and first decision is currently 71 days. We shall try our best to speed up the review process and provide detailed feedback for each submission.
New sections of the journal: Academic Dialogue and Call for Special Issue Proposals
We have initiated new sections to enrich the diversity of our publications.
First, we wish to address digitalization, which has become a core concern during this global health crisis. In 2021, as the next stage of development in the processes of digital transformation and platformization, the internet giant Facebook announced the establishment of its metaverse to integrate social networks encompassing all aspects of human life and work. Their goal is to overcome physical limitations and enhance continuity between human-to-human and human–machine interactions. Promising but challenging developments such as the metaverse have triggered new thinking about communicating with publics. To address this new thinking, CAP will include an
The second new section is
Summaries of the articles in this issue
We are honored to have Professor Rhonda S. Zaharna, a leading scholar in international communication and public diplomacy, as the interviewee for our first
Using qualitative content analysis, Joshua P. P. Ewalt explored the way media mapped power geometries in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The author identified three mapping techniques:
(a) oscillate between spatial scales, thereby managing a tension between framing place as unique and common to a broader geography; (b) articulate regions so as to locate the power dynamics of the nation; and (c) connect the place to a power geometry of resistance.
This research vividly demonstrated how place-based conversations happen, especially in the context of social movements, and suggested how the public may be segmented in terms of power geometries.
We applaud the authors of this article, Koichi Iwabuchi and Satofumi Kawamura, for their rigorous reasoning and theory construction process. The authors introduced the history of nationalism in Japan, and then discussed the relationship between neo-nationalism, jingoism, and populism. Further, the authors took into account social media and discussed the conditions giving rise to neo-nationalist subjects in affect-driven digital media environments.
This important study by Jiyoun Suk, David Coppini, Carlos Muñiz, and Hernando Rojas surveyed the relationships between affective polarization, media exposure, political talk, and political knowledge. The authors conducted cross-country comparative surveys in Mexico and the United States. Their results showed that when people possess more political knowledge, they favor a certain political party less. Media use and the nature of political talk (i.e. homogeneous and heterogeneous) also play important roles in the polarization process. The relationships between the variables considered vary by country. For example, political knowledge was found to function as a mediator between media exposure and affective polarization in the United States, but not in Mexico. These findings should encourage continued research in the area of political polarization.