Welcome to Mass Communication and Society’s first issue in 2017. Starting this year, the journal has a new editorial team, whose transition has been under way for a few months. I am honored to have been chosen as the new editor. I would like to thank my predecessor, Ran Wei, for his tireless work on behalf of the journal as its editor for the past 3 years. Under his editorship, the journal has continued to grow in quality and reputation. Its submission numbers remain high, and its impact continues to rise. International reach has also expanded. The transition to a new editorial team involved many details and countless hours of work. It would not have been accomplished so well without the outstanding work of our editorial assistants: Jane O’Boyle (University of South Carolina) and Lewen Wei (Pennsylvania State University).
Our new editorial team includes five associate editors and one book review editor. The new associate editors are Francesca Dillman Carpentier (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Seungahn Nah (University of Kentucky), and Michael Schmierbach (Pennsylvania State University). Jack Glascock (Illinois State University) and Francis L. F. Lee (Chinese University of Hong Kong) have agreed to continue their service as associate editors. Also, Michael McCluskey (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) has joined us as our new book review editor. I would like to thank our past associate editors, Cory Armstrong (University of Alabama), Shahira Fahmy (University of Arizona), and H. Denis Wu (Boston University), and book review editor John C. Pollock (The College of New Jersey), for their outstanding service to the journal in the past few years.
For nearly two decades, Mass Communication and Society has been the premier platform for mass media research and scholarship. We hope to continue this excellent tradition of publishing high-quality research on mass media’s role in society and their influences on individuals. The journal publishes both original research and review articles. In addition to publishing the Deutschmann Scholar Essays and Scholarly Milestone Essays, I encourage the submission of review articles including literature reviews, meta-reviews, and meta-analyses in the future. Manuscripts using either qualitative or quantitative research methods are welcome.
I intend to work with our editorial team in maintaining the efficiency and high quality of the peer review process. Whether it is a new submission or a “revise and resubmit,” we would like to complete the review process within a reasonable amount of time (i.e., an average of 60 days). It is critically important that we provide authors helpful and constructive feedback on their manuscripts in a timely manner. I thank the editorial board members and our reviewers for their continual support.
There have been some incremental changes in the journal’s submission policies. Our goal is to provide greater clarity in the author instructions and to develop policies that promote openness and transparency in research. We now require all submitting authors to prepare a title page that includes each author’s full name, affiliation, and contact information, to be made available to the editorial office. We have worked with the publisher to implement this change. We also require authors to be transparent about the design, measurements, and analytical procedures of their research. Authors are required to provide sufficient details about their methodology and study materials so that others can replicate their work. Openness and transparency are at the core of public trust in scientific research. I believe they will raise the quality of scholarly work in our discipline. Please share your thoughts and ideas with us as we continue to look for ways to improve the quality of the journal.