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Communicatio Socialis

Communicatio Socialis

Journal on Media Ethics and Communication in Religion and Society

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About

Communicatio Socialis — Journal on Media Ethics and Communication in Religion and Society examines trends and problems in societal communication facilitated by the media from the perspective of media ethics.

In doing so, it focuses on digitilisation and its consequences for the public domain and the common good. In this way, it accompanies the academic endeavours of the field of media ethics, which is becoming increasingly important. In addition to focusing on thematic areas in the field of media ethics, it also addresses the relationship between the media and religion in the field of communication in religion and society.

Above all as a result of the mediatisation and digitalisation of societal communication, the opportunities offered by big data and the role of the Internet, the importance of critical and ethical reflection by these fields is growing. Therefore, Communicatio Socialis’ fundamental focus is issues in media ethics that have become pressing concerns as a result of the increasing social significance of communication and the media.

Communication Socialis is an interdisciplinary journal which places particular emphasis on the following points:

  • Firstly, communication and media ethics conducts theoretical and empirical research into all facets of our media world, also with regard to the question of how it can improve, predominantly using methods from the social sciences. Its non-normative research also provides important knowledge and impetus for the field of media ethics rather than being at odds with media ethics issues.
  • Secondly, philosophical ethics clarifies the potential and limits of normative argumentation in ethics in general and attempts to make relevant suggestions in the field of media ethics which can be applied in practice.
  • And thirdly, media literacy poses the question of how people can become or remain able and empowered to act in a world that is being increasingly influenced by the media (or digital media).
  • In addition, issues relating to media ethics and research into that field extend into many other disciplines, such as psychology, politics or theology. Communicatio Socialis openly accepts such interrelatedness.

Promoting humaneness as an ‘ideological standpoint’

We see ourselves as publishers of an ethical journal whose underlying ethos is not a form of exclusionary Christian (or even Catholic) ethics but is inclusive. Both Christian and secular ethics promote humaneness, and that is our ‘ideological standpoint’. Moreover, a Christian perspective has an additional productive and also a critical function.

We cannot and do not want to pursue media ethics purely within the parameters of Catholicism or even only within a Christian context, but rely on many contributors with diverse interests and backgrounds. Therefore, when we are choosing which authors’ works to publish in the journal, we do not take their religion or denomination into account, which is reflected in the broad range of the journal’s content.

Communicatio Socialis publishes articles in several sections:

  • Main thematic focuses
    Each issue focuses on a specific aspect of media ethics determined by the editors and publishers. Usually, three topics will be announced in advance in the journal’s print and online editions and on our website, which authors are invited to write a contribution on, which could be an academic paper, a report, an essay, an expert insight or an interview. At the same time, the editors are willing to include relevant topical subjects in the journal.
  • ‘zuRechtgerückt’ (series)
    The January 2017 issue of Communicatio Socialis included the section ‘zuRechtgerückt’ for the first time, which addresses both current rule violations, predominantly in German-speaking countries, that are being discussed in the media’s self-regulatory bodies, and legal regulations in the context of freedom of information, and places them in a general context.
  • Basic terms in communication and media ethics (series)
    Since the journal’s March 2015 edition, different authors from the field of media and communication studies and its related disciplines have presented and explained relevant terms used in media ethics in each issue. This series, which offers both definitions and discussion, is intended to provide students and practitioners of media and communication a basic guide to the terminology used in their field.
  • Essay
    Current academic research findings from communication studies which relate to each issue’s main subject area are published in this section of the journal.
  • Communication in religion and society
    In addition to including contributions on communication in the Church and religion, this section regularly contains articles from the field of mediatisation and religion.
  • Reviews
    The books chosen for review in this section of the journal relate to each issue’s specific focus, with the result that those works concentrate on the fields of communication and media ethics and media, religion and communication. Furthermore, fundamental works on communication theory and practice are discussed in this section.

Supporters

Communicatio Socialis is published in zem::dg – Zentrum für Ethik der Medien und der digitalen Gesellschaft.

Communicatio Socialis is a member of Netzwerk Medienethik.

Editors

Address of the editors

Editorial Office

Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
Studiengang Journalistik
Redaktion Communicatio Socialis
Ostenstraße 25
85072 Eichstätt
Germany

Phone: +49 (0)8421/93-21554
E-mail to the editorial office: communicatio@nomos-journals.de

Editorial Office Reviews

Call for Papers

You want to write for Communicatio Socialis?

We look forward to your contribution.

Please send manuscripts and suggestions for texts to the editorial office.

Please consider the following information for authors.

Information for Authors

Information for authors

Publishing Open Access

Communicatio Socialis is not an open access journal. However, it is possible to publish individual articles in the journal open access by making the digital version freely available under a Creative Commons license chosen by the respective author(s). The publisher requires a fee to cover the publication costs (Article Processing Charge – APC) in the amount of 1,990.00 EUR (plus VAT). Many scientific institutions and science funding bodies provide corresponding funds for the publication of research results.

Are you interested in this option? Talk to your editorial office or contact open-access@nomos.de!

Review process

PEER REVIEW BY REQUEST PROCEDURE

Communicatio Socialis offers authors the opportunity to publish their work in a peer review process with external reviewers. Articles from the ‘Essays’ section as well as selected texts from the respective main topics are eligible for our peer review procedure.

What is peer review by request?

Since December 2018, the journal Communicatio Socialis has offered authors the option of publishing their contributions within the framework of a peer review process. Unlike comparable journals, Communicatio Socialis does not review all articles blindly and externally, but only those that the author requests be reviewed.

Why peer review by request?

The thematic issues of Communicatio Socialis are planned up to one year in advance. In order to be able to guarantee the comprehensive compilation of topics, the editors ask accomplished authors for contributions. A review process with external experts is difficult to reconcile with the organisation of such a process. Due to the comprehensive editorial support for the authors and the quality assurance of the contributions, it is usually not even necessary. Intensive reviewing by a highly competent editorial team is standard in our journal.

Since some authors are dependent on peer-reviewed publications in their academic work—for example, in the context of cumulative doctoral or appointment procedures — Communicatio Socialis offers the option of a peer review by request procedure. The background to the decision for a peer review by request procedure is explained in detail in the editorial to our issue 4/2018.

How does peer review by request work?

Authors whose contributions are to be peer-reviewed must submit their typescript both once with all their author details and once anonymously, specifying three keywords. All contributions submitted will be reviewed by two independent and competent reviewers from the disciplines of media and communication studies and media ethics according to specific criteria (see below). Both the authors and the reviewers remain anonymous to each other.

The reviewers can vote as follows:

  • (1) The contribution is rejected;
  • (2) The article may be resubmitted after extensive revision and will be reviewed by the editors;
  • (3) The article can be submitted after minor revisions and will be reviewed by the editorial office;
  • (4) The article may be edited and printed.

If there are different votes, a third review will be conducted.

As a result of the internal and external votes, the editorial board will decide whether to publish the work in question and, if so, when to publish it.

Our criteria:

  • The research questions should be formulated in an understandable way.
  • An appropriate research approach has been chosen to answer the questions posed.
  • The methodology should be comprehensible and the research results reproducible.
  • The integration of theory must make sense.
  • Reference should be made in a contribution to current topics and discussions in the field of media ethics or media and communication science and their relevance should be explained.
  • The contribution should be original and novel.
  • The structure of the article should be logical and the conclusions comprehensible.
  • The article must comply with the usual formal requirements for academic articles and be easy to read and understand.

Abstracting & Indexing

Copyright

Copyright

Media Kit

Media Kit