SCM – Studies in Communication and Media

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About

SCM is the Open Access Journal of the German Communication Association (DGPuK) and Affiliate Journal of the International Communication Association (ICA).

The journal represents all areas of communication studies and the entire spectrum of theoretical and methodological approaches. The journal is published four times a year at the end of each quarter.

All articles are reviewed anonymously before publication.

Manuscripts can be submitted in the personal area („dashboard“) at our manuscript management website.

SCM accepts the formats „Research-in-brief,“ „Full Paper,“ and „Extended Paper.“

SCM is indexed in DOAJ.

ISSN Online 2192-4007
Published quarterly

Editors

Prof. Dr. Marko Bachl
Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Prof. Dr. Christine Lohmeier
Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg, Austria
Prof. Dr. Helena Stehle
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany
Asst. Prof. Dr. Anna Wagner
Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Editorial Board

Internationaler Editorial Board

Prof. Dr. Jan van den Bulck
University of Michigan, USA
Prof. Dr. Leopoldina Fortunati
Faculty of Education of the University of Udine, Italy
Prof. Dr. Beate Josephi
Edith Cowan University, Australia
Prof. Dr. Robin Mansell
London School of Economics and Political Sciene, UK
Prof. Dr. Dietram A. Scheufele
Department of Life Sciences Communication und College of Agricultural & Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin, USA
Prof. Dr. Peter J. Schulz
Director, Institute of Communication and Health, University of Lugano, Schwitzerland
Prof. Dr. David Tewksbury
Department of Communication, University of Illinois at Urabana-Champaign, USA
Prof. Dr. Katerina Tsetsura
Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma, USA
Prof. em. Dr. Gabriel Weimann
Department of Communication, University of Haifa, Israel

DGPuK Editorial Board

Prof. Dr. Britta Gossel
FG Medienökonomie
Dr. Katharina Christ
FG Mediensprache – Mediendiskurse
Dr. Esther Greussing
FG Digitale Kommunikation
Dr. Anne Grüne
FG Internationale und Interkulturelle Kommunikation
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Vera Katzenberger
FG Journalistik/Journalismusforschung
Dr. Erik Koenen
FG Kommunikationsgeschichte
Jessica Kühn, M.A.
FG Medienpädagogik
Dr. Niels G. Mede
FG Wissenschaftskommunikation
Dr. Philipp Müller
FG Kommunikation und Politik
Mag. Dr. Ariadne Neureiter
FG Werbekommunikation
Dr. Julia Niemann-Lenz
FG Methoden der Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft
Dr. Alexander Ort
FG Gesundheitskommunikation
Prof. Dr. Lars Rademacher
FG Kommunikations- und Medienethik
Dr. Philip Sinner
FG Mediensport und Sportkommunikation
Dr. Seraina Tarnutzer
FG Visuelle Kommunikation
Dr. Franziska Thiele
FG Soziologie der Medienkommunikation
Dr. Benno Viererbl
FG PR- und Organisationskommunikation
Dr. Charmaine Voigt
FG Medien, Öffentlichkeit und Geschlecht
Prof. Dr. Lara Nikola Wolfers
FG Rezeptions- und Wirkungsforschung

Editorial Office

Ruth Kasdorf, M.A.

Editorial address

Hochschule Wismar
University of Applied Sciences
Technology, Business and Design
Fakultät Gestaltung
Philipp-Müller-Straße 14
23966 Wismar
Germany

E-Mail: scm@nomos-journals.de

Publication Alert (TOC-Alert)

Register now for the free SCM Publication Alert (TOC-Alert) and never miss an issue again! Simply register with Inlibra. Then click on “Alert Settings” in your profile and select SCM under 4 Journals (TOC-Alert).

Special Editions

Ready or not, here I come. How synthetic media challenge epistemic institutions

This special issue of SCM explores the ways in which synthetic media and deepfakes influence and pose challenges to epistemic institutions. Against this background, the contributions investigate political campaigns, editorial processes, cognitive patterns of audience reception, and verification strategies across a range of national contexts. The special issue was guest-edited by Alexander Godulla and Christian Pieter Hoffmann.

Media representations in an era of pornification

This Special Issue of SCM deals with different aspects of pornification, intending to contribute to a better understanding of sexually explicit media representations. The Special Issue was guest-edited by Nicola Döring, Nicole Krämer, Dan J. Miller, Thorsten Quandt, and Gerhard Vowe.

“(Re)Establishing quality criteria for content analysis: A critical perspective on the field’s core method “

This Special Issue of SCM is dedicated to the challenges the genuinely communication-scientific method of content analysis currently faces – not least due to the establishment of computational methods. The discussion includes both the extent to which traditional quality criteria such as validity and reliability require reinterpretation and which additional (such as ethical) quality criteria prove to be necessary. The guest editors for this issue are Mario Haim, Valerie Hase, Johanna Schindler, Marko Bachl, and Emese Domahidi.

„Communicating COVID-19”

This Special Issue of SCM deals with the societal conditions, problems, and consequences of communication about the pandemic. It is the product of a joint initiative of the then three ICA Affiliate Journals „Studies in Communication and Media“ (Germany), „Communication & Society“ (Hong Kong), and „Revue Française des Sciences de l‘Information et de la Communication” (France). After publication, the equivalent issues of the latter will be available on their respective websites, as well.

„Criticism of, in and through Communication and Media Studies”

This Special Issue of SCM deals with „Criticism of, in and through Communication and Media Studies”. The special issue was guest-edited by Peter Gentzel, Sigrid Kannengießer, Cornelia Wallner, Jeffrey Wimmer and contains contributions by Marian Adolf, Silke Fürst, Friedrich Krotz, Sigrid Kannengießer & Johanna E. Möller as well as Klaus-Dieter Altmeppen.

Call for Papers

Call for Proposals – Special Issue 2027
Submission Deadline: September 30, 2026

Directions for Authors

Author Guidelines and Checklist
Directions for Preregistration
Special Issue Guidelines
Manuscript Mentoring

Publication Ethics

Please submit your article via OJS.

Ethics Guidelines

Open Access Policy

SCM is an open access journal. In accordance with the editors’ intention, open access publishing permits free access to academic publications. All articles in SCM are published under a CC-BY licence. The full text is thus accessible for everyone while, at the same time, the authors’ rights are respected. Authors may archive the publisher version or their article (author’s personal website or institutional repository) under the conditions that a CC BY license is applied and the published source (Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG) is acknowledged. The quality of the articles continues to be ensured through our peer review process and editorial control.

As long as nothing else is stated in the bibliographic notes, the Creative Commons Licence BY applies to this content, i.e. it may be downloaded, filed and printed.

If such content is forwarded to anyone, it must include a full citation and particularly the following information:

names of all authors
the publication of record
book title or journal
the ‘DOI-link’ by which the contribution can be cited and looked up on the internet permanently.

The journal does not levy any article processing or submission charges. The German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) is funding publication of SCM.

More information on the general open access policy of Nomos Publishing can be found here.

Authors publishing in this journal retain the copyright and full publishing rights without restrictions.

Peer Review Process

Quality-Control Measures

Every paper published in the Journal is run through a double-blind expertise process prior to publication. All those selected as reviewers will be knowledgeable in the subject of the work they have to assess in both a German-speaking and an international context, and their own publications will have proved them to be experts in their respective field or the methodology employed in the work to be reviewed. The minimum requirement for someone to be considered as a reviewer is a doctoral degree; however, renowned holders of university chairs are approached to be reviewers first.

Reviewers are selected according to the subject of the work submitted to be assessed. Once a publication has been checked, the editors and publishers will draw up a list of potential reviewers who will then be approached.

The reviewer reports are made anonymous before being handed back to the authors. Additionally, the authors can be provided with references from the editorial office and board.

Authors must adhere to the rules of good academic practice. Plagiarised submissions are inadmissible and will not be published.

We endeavour to preclude bias and other conflicts of interest by choosing each reviewer according to their expertise and by providing them with clear guidelines on how to conduct the review procedure.