Call for papers

Critical Studies in Media Communication (CSMC) welcomes submissions for upcoming general issues under the editorship of Leland G. Spencer. The journal publishes theoretically sophisticated and critically rigorous scholarship that critiques the operation of power in the media, with a commitment to centering marginalized voices, including women, Black, Indigenous, and people of color, queer and trans people, and people with disabilities.

Objectives

• Publish research advancing critical approaches to communication and media studies.
• Highlight diverse perspectives, centering marginalized communities as both interlocutors and subjects of study.
• Encourage methodological pluralism across rhetorical, theoretical, critical, interpretive, ethnographic, poetic, creative, empirical, and mixed-method approaches.
• Support scholarship that interrogates systemic inequalities and the role of media in shaping civic life.

Topics of Interest

• Media’s role in social movements.
• Critical analyses of media texts, genres, and narratives.
• Theory development in communication and media studies.
• Media and civic/public affairs.
• Political economy of media systems.
• Global media structures and industry studies.
• Power, representation, and identity in media.

Eligibility Criteria

• Open to scholars, students, activists, and practitioners at all career stages.
• Manuscripts must be original, unpublished work.
• Submissions undergo a rigorous, mentorship-centered peer review process.

Deadline: End of 2025

For more information and to apply, please click here.