Publication Policies & Practices

Updated January 2020

1. Editorial Arrangements

a)    The Political Economy of Communication Journal operates under the auspices of the Political Economy section of the International Association for Media and Communication Research.

b)    The editorial board is responsible for approving editorial and board appointments and for the strategic academic governance of the journal.

c)    The editors are responsible for the on-going management of the journal, including arranging reviews, corresponding with authors and reviewers. The editors have the final decision on the acceptance of all articles for publication.

d)    With the agreement of the editors, editorial responsibilities of special themed issues or sections of the journal may be seconded to a designated third party who will be responsible for arranging the review process and related activities.

e)    The editors are responsible for maintaining the arrangements for the online website hosting the journal and its archives.

2. Author Responsibilities

a)    The Author(s) of articles submitted to the journal should follow the publication guidelines as far as possible. If a submission is of an atypical size/scope then the editors should be consulted before submission.

b)    The authors must provide the names and any relevant affiliations of all substantial contributors (naturally this information will not be disclosed to blind reviewers).

c)    The work submitted must be the original work of the author(s) (excepting duly cited/quoted material and a full list of references in line with the guidelines). Copyright clearance for the publication of third party material (e.g. photographs or diagrams) is the responsibility of the author. Work containing third party material submitted without confirmation of copyright clearance cannot be accepted.

d)    The work submitted must not have been published in or be currently under review/editorial consideration by another publication/publisher.

e)    By submitting their work to the Political Economy of Communication, the author(s) agree to the peer review process and to make a sincere effort to respond to the feedback.

f)     By submitting their work to the Political Economy of Communication, the author(s) retain their standard intellectual property rights but confer upon an journal the exclusive and permanent right to publish the work. Republication of parts or whole of a published article requires the written agreement of the editors and must include a full citation of the original publication.

g)    In the event that there is a significant delay in the review process (>20 weeks), the author(s) have the right to notify the editors that they intend to withdraw the submission. This terminates any commitment to the journal.

h)    In the event that the author(s) are unable to respond to reviewer feedback and editorial requirements, they have the right to notify the editors that they intend to withdraw the submission. This terminates any commitment to the journal.

i)      The author(s) confer upon the editors the right to make minor typological, formatting and stylistic changes to the work prior to publication.

j)      In the event that the need for substantive post-publication corrections/ retractions becomes apparent, the editors must be notified as soon as possible. If the editors become aware of the need for corrections/retractions and the authors are unable to respond, the editors reserve the right to a) make identified amendments on the author(s)’ behalf or b) remove the article from the website until such time as the amendments can be made.

k)    The Political Economy of Communication is a non-profit open access journal. authors are not liable for any fees either for reviewing or publication expenses. Authors who wish to contribute to the costs of running the journal may contact the editors for options.

3. Peer-review Process

a)    The Political Economy of Communication publishes quality-assured academic research articles, academic review essays, book reviews, and commentaries on topical issues salient to the political economy of communication.

b)    All academic research articles are subject to double-blind peer-review from established researchers. Reviewers are asked to evaluate articles on the basis of; i) relevance/contribution to the field (including recognition of salient literature) , ii) theoretical/analytic rigour, iii) methodological/procedural validity, iv) quality of expression, and v) originality.

c)    The editors are responsible for identifying and liaising with prospective reviewers to ensure salient subject expertise nut the board may be consulted where necessary.

d)    A minimum of two reviews will normally be sought for research articles, although the editors reserve the right to seek additional reviews where specialist knowledge is needed. Given the specialist nature of the journal, in some instances (e.g. a reviewer with the most relevant specialist knowledge is likely to identify the author) one of the reviews may be conducted on a single-blind or- with the reviewer’s consent- open review basis (the others will remain double-blind).

e)    Review Essays are also peer-reviewed through a single-blind or open review process.

f)     Book reviews, Commentaries and Editorials are subject to editorial review to ensure coherence and quality but are not normally blind-reviewed.

g)    Unless a reviewer has agreed to be identified, feedback to authors will remain anonymous. Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of any reviewed submission and notify the editors if they become aware of any potential conflict of interest. The basic review flow-chart is available here.

h)    The editors are the final arbiters of whether or not an article is published. In the event that reviewer feedback makes different recommendations for publication or divergent suggestions for revisions, the editors may arbitrate or seek an additional review. Articles resubmitted after incorporating feedback for minor revisions will be reviewed by the editors. Articles resubmitted after incorporating feedback for major revisions will be subject to at least one additional blind review (from the previous reviewers where possible).

4. Publication Ethics

a)    The Political Economy of Communication is committed to upholding the academic integrity of its published work. Work submitted may be subject to checks for originality.

b)    In the event that the editors are made aware of errors, omissions, discrepancies or misattributions in a published article, the editors will seek to correct the article as soon as possible. A note indicating that there has been a correction/amendment will be published.

c)    In the event that there is evidence of authorial malpractice (e.g. misrepresentation of findings or plagiarism of other works) then the article will be removed from the website and a notice of the decision published.

6. Ownership/Publication/Archiving

a)    The Political Economy of Communication is an online open-access journal published under the auspices of the IAMCR Political Economy Section. It is managed by the editors with the assistance of an editorial board and currently publishes one volume (comprising two issues per year).

b)    The archive of past issues is available here. In the event that the journal ceases publication, the editorial board, in conjunction with the IAMCR Political Economy Section will determine whether to maintain the online archive. If this is discontinued then an announcement will be made via the IAMCR membership list.

Copyright

The Political Economy of Communication is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public Licencehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

Contributing authors retain copyright of their work but grant the journal the right of first publication. Published material is simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons License. Third parties are permitted to share the work on condition that they acknowledge the work's authorship and provide a citation of the original publication in this journal. The work may not be used for commercial purposes. The work may not be modified, expanded or otherwise appropriated.

Authors are permitted to enter into separate agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (i.e. inclusion in an institutional repository or publication in an edited book) on condition that its original publication in this journal is acknowledged and duly cited.

For any other uses or republication requests please contact the Political Economy of Communication journal editors.

Ethics Statement

The Political Economy of Communication Journal is committed to promoting economic and social justice in respect to gender, race and culture. It upholds the right of all members of our academic community to live and work in an environment that respects dignity and is free of oppression or harassment. All colleagues associated with the Journal are expected to uphold these principles.