A Change in Time: American Journalism’s 2013 Transition to a Commercial Publisher

Abstract

Change is never easy, especially for historians who have their feet firmly planted in the past. So, in 2013, when American Journalism editor Barbara G. Friedman and associate editor Kathy Roberts Forde proposed moving from independent university presses to a commercial academic publisher, there was apprehension. But theirs was a utilitarian goal: creating a solid path for journalism and mass communication scholars to achieve tenure and promotion at their universities in an age when metrics matter and expanding the journal’s reach. In this reflection, part of American Journalism’s fortieth anniversary essay series, the former editors explain how the transition from independent to commercial publishing enabled a “gem of a journal” to achieve—and exceed—those initial goals. The authors also offer some considerations for the future.

Notes

1 See American Journalism, American Journalism Historians Association, https://www.american-journalism.org/ (accessed June 11, 2023).

2 See, for example, Ira J. Winn, “Turning the Screw: Higher Education in the 1980s and 1990s,” Phi Delta Kappan 61, no. 10 (1980): 686–9.

3 Jim Martin, Editor’s Note, American Journalism 23, no. 3 (2006): 5. To mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of AJHA, Martin solicited brief recollections of American Journalism from editors Gary Whitby, David Sloan, Wally Eberhard, and Shirley Biagi. Whitby wrote that the journal was born of “mutual whining about how hard (seemingly impossible) it was to get published in the big boy/girl journals of the day.”

4 Christopher L. Tomlins, “Wave of the Present: The Scholarly Journal on the Edge of the Internet,” American Council of Learned Societies Occasional Paper No. 43 (1998), http://archives.acls.org/op/43_wave_of_the_present.htm (accessed June 11, 2023).

5 Barbara Friedman, Editor’s Note, American Journalism 30, no. 1 (2013): 1.

6 See the journal’s website at https://www.american-journalism.org/.

7 See the journal’s metrics at Taylor & Francis Online https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=journalMetrics&journalCode=uamj20.

8 To learn more about these metrics, see “Understanding Journal Metrics,” Author Services, Taylor & Francis, https://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/publishing-your-research/choosing-a-journal/journal-metrics (accessed June 19, 2023)

9 “Statement on Productivity (2012), American Historical Association, https://www.historians.org/jobs-and-professional-development/statements-standards-and-guidelines-of-the-discipline/statement-on-productivity (accessed June 19, 2023).

10 Mike Conway, “President’s Message: Membership and Convention Fees Changes,” Intelligencer Blog, American Journalism Historians Association (AJHA), https://ajha.wildapricot.org/Intelligencer/13202772 (accessed June 19, 2023).

11 “Aims and Scope,” American Journalism, Taylor & Francis Online, https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=uamj20 (accessed June 19, 2023).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Barbara G. Friedman

Barbara G. Friedman is an Associate Professor in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina. Her research focuses on media constructions of gender, race, and class. She is director of The Irina Project (TIP), which monitors and analyzes media representations of sex trafficking, and advocates through research and engagement the responsible and accurate reporting of the issue.

Kathy Roberts Forde

Kathy Roberts Forde is a Professor in the Journalism Department and Associate Dean of Equity & Inclusion in the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research interests focus on democracy and the public sphere, the Black freedom struggle and the press, the First Amendment, literary journalism, and the history of the book and print culture.