The status of internet-based research in five leading communication journals, 1994-1999

Journalism and Mass Communication Quaterly

Volumn 78, Issue 4, 2001, Pages 659-674

  Tomasello, Tami K ^a  

^a FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0035650187     PISSN: 10776990     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/107769900107800403     Document Type: Article

References (39)

1. John V. Pavlik, New Media Technology: Cultural and Commercial Perspectives (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1998), 30.
2. Raymond Greenlaw and Ellen Hepp, In-line/On-line: Fundamentals of the Internet and the World Wide Web (Boston: WCB/McGraw-Hill, 1999), 93.
3. Pavlik, New Media Technology, 30.
4. Pavlik, New Media Technology, 38.
5. Greenlaw and Hepp, In-line/On-line, 94.
6. Fred T. Hofstetter, Internet Literacy (NY: McGraw-Hill, 1998), 10-11.
7. Charles P. Cozic, ed., The Future of the Internet (San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1997), 6.
8. Support for this claim can be found in the purpose statements of the journals themselves. For example, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, as reflected in the Spring 2001 issue, aims "to be a premier journal in the field [of communication]" by "challenging] the boundaries of communication research, guiding its readers to new questions, new evidence, and new conclusions." Similarly, Journal of Communication, in the March 2001 issue, strives to publish "a broad range of issues in communication theory and research" by acting as "a general forum for communication scholarship [with a particular interest] in research whose significance crosses disciplinary boundaries, "the goal of which is "to publish the best available scholarship on all aspects of communication."
9. Support for this claim can be found in the purpose statements of the journals themselves. For example, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, as reflected in the Spring 2001 issue, aims "to be a premier journal in the field [of communication]" by "challenging] the boundaries of communication research, guiding its readers to new questions, new evidence, and new conclusions." Similarly, Journal of Communication, in the March 2001 issue, strives to publish "a broad range of issues in communication theory and research" by acting as "a general forum for communication scholarship [with a particular interest] in research whose significance crosses disciplinary boundaries, "the goal of which is "to publish the best available scholarship on all aspects of communication."
10. Mark R. Levy, "Symposium: The Net, "Journal of Communication 46 (winter 1996).
11. John E. Newhagen and Sheizaf Rafaeli, "Why Communication Researchers Should Study the Internet: A Dialogue, "Journal of Communication 46 (winter 1996): 11.
12. Newhagen and Rafaeli, "Why Communication Researchers, "4.
13. Newhagen and Rafaeli, "Why Communication Researchers, "8.
14. Frank Biocca, "Communication within Virtual Reality: Creating a Space for Research, "Journal of Communication 42 (autumn 1992): 9.
15. Frank Biocca, "Communication Research in the Design of Communication Interfaces and Systems, "Journal of Communication 43 (autumn 1993): 59-68.
16. Newhagen and Rafaeli, "Why Communication Researchers, "4-13.
17. John December, "Units of Analysis for Internet Communication, "Journal of Communication 46 (winter 1996): 14-38.
18. December, "Units of Analysis, "24.
19. Merrill Morris and Christine Ogan, "The Internet as Mass Medium, "Journal of Communication 46 (winter 1996): 39-50.
20. Carol J. Pardun, "An Analysis of Qualitative Research in the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 1978-1998, "Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 44 (summer 2000): 529-34.
21. Daniel Riffe and Alan Freitag, "A Content Analysis of Content Analyses: Twenty-five Years of Journalsim Quarterly, "Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 74 (winter 1997): 873-82.
22. Michel Dupagne, W. James Potter, and Roger Cooper, "A Content Analysis of Women's Published Mass Communication Research, 1965-1989, "Journalism Quarterly 70 (winter 1993): 815-23.
23. Dupagne, Potter, and Cooper, "A Content Analysis of Women's Published Research, "816, 821 (see footnote 15).
24. William A. Katz, Introduction to Reference Work, vol. 1, Basic Information Services, 8th ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill): 36, 174-75. Social Sciences Abstracts indexes approximately 550 English-language journals, providing full-text articles for more than 200 of these titles. In contrast, its competitor, EBSCO, indexes approximately 400 titles, providing full-text for almost 40 of these titles.
25. Katz, Introduction to Reference Work, 172. My personal experience as a reference assistant in a large academic research library confirms Katz's claim concerning the reputation and validity of Social Sciences Abstracts as an information resource for disciplines classified under the broader social science heading. It was standard procedure to refer faculty and graduate students to subject specific electronic indexes as their most promising suppliers of information based on their depth of coverage and highly regarded reputations. Additionally, although Communication Abstracts is now available online, it has been my experience that libraries, which must constantly weigh the costs of database subscriptions with the content provided, often subscribe to the more general subject indexes, such Humanities Abstracts and Social Sciences Abstracts, at the expense of discipline-specific electronic indexes, in an effort to obtain the broadest subject coverage for the price.
26. Communication journals indexed in Social Sciences Abstracts include Communication Quarterly, Communication Research, Critical Studies in Mass/Media Communication, Human Communication Research, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Journal of Communication, Political Communication, and Public Opinion Quarterly. See "Methods" section for more detail on the journal selection process.
27. Communication journals indexed in Social Sciences Abstracts include Communication Quarterly, Communication Research, Critical Studies in Mass/Media Communication, Human Communication Research, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Journal of Communication, Political Communication, and Public Opinion Quarterly. See "Methods" section for more detail on the journal selection process.
28. Out of the original eight titles, JMCQ was selected from the four journals not indexed by Social Sciences Abstracts because it seemed the one most likely to contain the highest number of Internet-based articles needed for pilot testing the codebook.
29. The journals and their respective affiliations are: Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (AEJMC), Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media (BEA), Communication Research (ECA), Human Communication Research and Journal of Communication (ICA).
30. Four issues in 1999 were unavailable for analysis because they were either at the bindery, missing from the collection, or had not yet been received. However, a post-study examination of these issues revealed that only two additional articles, both published in JOBEM, would have been added to the total number of Internet-based articles reported in this study - a number not likely to markedly affect the results.
31. Joe Flower, The Future of the Internet, ed. Charles P. Cozic (San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1997), 11.
32. Dennis K. Davis, "Editor's Annual Report, "Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 39 (fall 1995): 576.
33. Morris and Ogan, "The Internet as Mass Medium, "39.
34. Ellen Wartella and Byron Reeves, "Historical Trends in Research on Children and the Media: 1900-1960, "Journal of Communication 35 (spring 1985): 25.
35. This tendency to keep pace with new developments in the field is most easily demonstrated by title changes. For example, Journal of Broadcasting changed its title to include & Electronic Media to reflect the emergence of new technologies such as cable and the VCR. Likewise, Critical Studies in Mass Communication recently amended its title by replacing Mass with Media most likely in response to the blurring of traditional communication boundaries brought on by digital technologies such as the Internet.
36. This tendency to keep pace with new developments in the field is most easily demonstrated by title changes. For example, Journal of Broadcasting changed its title to include & Electronic Media to reflect the emergence of new technologies such as cable and the VCR. Likewise, Critical Studies in Mass Communication recently amended its title by replacing Mass with Media most likely in response to the blurring of traditional communication boundaries brought on by digital technologies such as the Internet.
37. This tendency to keep pace with new developments in the field is most easily demonstrated by title changes. For example, Journal of Broadcasting changed its title to include & Electronic Media to reflect the emergence of new technologies such as cable and the VCR. Likewise, Critical Studies in Mass Communication recently amended its title by replacing Mass with Media most likely in response to the blurring of traditional communication boundaries brought on by digital technologies such as the Internet.
38. This tendency to keep pace with new developments in the field is most easily demonstrated by title changes. For example, Journal of Broadcasting changed its title to include & Electronic Media to reflect the emergence of new technologies such as cable and the VCR. Likewise, Critical Studies in Mass Communication recently amended its title by replacing Mass with Media most likely in response to the blurring of traditional communication boundaries brought on by digital technologies such as the Internet.
39. This tendency to keep pace with new developments in the field is most easily demonstrated by title changes. For example, Journal of Broadcasting changed its title to include & Electronic Media to reflect the emergence of new technologies such as cable and the VCR. Likewise, Critical Studies in Mass Communication recently amended its title by replacing Mass with Media most likely in response to the blurring of traditional communication boundaries brought on by digital technologies such as the Internet.