Special issue of Mediterranean Journal of Communication (January 2021)

Deadline: September 1, 2020

Submission: http://goo.gl/99Xtg1

Coordinated by Dr. Miguel Vicente-Mariño (University of Valladolid, Spain) and Dr. Ilija Tomanič Trivundža (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Europe is one of the two key cultural actors and geopolitical areas to understand the historical evolution and current status of scientific knowledge in the Social Sciences. Communication Research is a scientific field and/or discipline experiencing an undeniable expansion since the 1990s, grounding part of its growth on works arising from the Old Continent, where big changes –ranging from the collapse of the geopolitical East-West division to the long-standing institutional efforts to build up a strong European Union- stand behind the rapid growth and consolidation of a European community of Communication Research scholars.

The constitution of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), as a merging initiative between the European Consortium of Communication Research (ECCR) and the European Communication Association (ECA) in 2005 appears as an enriching initiative opening a forum for discussion and mutual recognition between and within a growing community of researchers facing similar challenges, topics of study, theoretical anchorages and methodological resources.

This special issue of Revista Mediterránea de Communication/Mediterranean Journal of Communication aims to reflect on the origins, the processes and the outcomes of Communication Research on and from Europe. Therefore, Europe is considered here both as topic of study (Communication Research on Europe) and as a territory generating scientific evidence (Communication Research from Europe). Departing from a comparative perspective, these contents aspire to turn into a useful discussion platform about how European researchers have developed Communication Research during the last century, identifying the main findings achieved and posing open questions towards a near future.

Research projects and scientific networks proving to be able to transcend borders and dealing with the challenges of identifying common or divergent patterns across Europe are also invited to present here their main arrival points, as this special issue expects to elaborate and deepen in the roots and horizons of Media Studies and Communication Research in Europe.

An initial list of topics, open to any other suggestion coming from the readership, could be as follows:

• History of European Communication Research;
• European Media Audiences;
• Media industries in Europe;
• Journalism Studies on Europe;
• Comparative Media Studies at a European scale;
• European Social Movements and Activism;
• European Public Opinion and the emergence of a common continental public sphere;
• Academic Labour Conditions in European institutions devoted to Communication Research;
• The role played by ECREA, and other scientific associations with a European scope, in shaping a research community at the continental level;
• The role played by the European Communication Conference (ECC) as a meeting point for European Communication researchers;
• The role played by European and national institutions active in the field of Social Sciences.

Consequently, all ECREA sections, working groups and networks are especially addressed by this call, as the experience accumulated during the last fifteen years is a valuable resource to elaborate on the role played by Communication Research and Education in shaping up a common and updated notion of Europe. But this call is not limited to these actors, but open to any research project including the European territory and culture as a priority.

This special issue will be co-edited Miguel Vicente-Mariño, University of Valladolid and Ilija Tomanič Trivundža, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Anyone willing to receive additional information about this call or to address any question about potential participation, can directly contact the invited editors at miguel.vicente@uva.es.