We are working to change the way in which knowledge is valued. We measure quality by a criterion-based peer-review process, assessing the intellectual excellence and accessibility of the work against clearly articulated disciplinary standards.
Our approach to peer review seeks to be inclusive, and at the same time as it is based on the most rigorous and merit-based anonymous peer review processes. What makes us different is that those who write for The Journal of Communication and Media Studies and present at the International Conference on Communication and Media Studies also serve as peer reviewers, creating a sustainable cycle of high-quality feedback. Reviewers are assigned on the basis of subject matter and disciplinary expertise. Ranking is based on clearly articulated criteria. The result is a peer-review process that is scrupulously fair in its assessments and at the same time offers a carefully structured and constructive contribution to the shape of the published article.
The result of our anonymous peer review is a publishing process which is without prejudice to institutional affiliation, stage in career, national origins or disciplinary perspective. If the paper is excellent, and has been systematically and independently assessed as such, it will be published. This is why The Journal of Communication and Media Studies is filled with exciting new material. While many articles originate from well-known research institutions, a considerable amount of brilliantly insightful and innovative material is contributed by academics in lesser known institutions in the developing world, emerging researchers, people working in hard-to-classify interdisciplinary spaces and researchers in liberal arts colleges and teaching universities. Each year a top ranked article from The Journal of Communication and Media Studies receives the International Award for Excellence.
We believe there are limitations both in high-cost commercial publishing and open access publishing models without professional publishing support infrastructure. At Common Ground, we are working to develop a low-cost commercial approach to academic publishing that supports a professional publishing staff. Our desire is to find a practical middle ground between the idealism of open access and the inefficiencies and high-cost of the big journal publishers. This is the basis of our Hybrid Open Access initiative. Meanwhile, we ensure subscriber content remains highly accessible through modest subscription charges for libraries and a small per-article charge for electronic access by non-subscribers. We also make all of our journals available in both print and electronic formats, and make new content available online as soon as it is ready for publication.
Please connect to the pages below for information about our peer review policies, our publication ethics and malpractice statement, and the informed consent for human and animal rights.