The Journal of Human Communication Studies in the Caribbean (JHCSC)

 

At the inaugural Human Communication Studies Conference in September 2013, the Business Meeting took the decision to establish an association of Caribbean Human Communication Studies, publish a journal based on submissions received by October 31 2013 and to hold the next conference in September 2015.

 

Journal Aim and Scope

 

JHCSC aims to promote the study, teaching and research of human communication studies in the Caribbean and beyond by publishing peer-reviewed original research articles on subjects and themes related to human communication studies. The journal invites scholars and other contributors with an interest in human communication studies in the Caribbean to submit original academic research papers. The initial issue(s) will present research from the inaugural conference in 2013 based on the submission requirements of the Call for Papers on the theme: Celebrating the Caribbean in Communication, Culture and Community. Please see the 2013 submission requirements. As the focus and content of the journal evolves, in addition to the call for academic original research articles, proposals for shorter and alternative, imaginative pieces such as Research Articles, Reader Responses, Book Reviews, Interviews, Research in Progress, and Concept Papers will be invited by the Editorial Board.

 

Editorial Board

 

An Editorial Board will be established from among the founding members. The Board will be an advisory sub-committee of the Executive Board and will report to the Executive Board periodically as determined by the Executive Board. With the approval of the Executive Board, the Editorial Board will develop the association’s journal, issue calls for papers, solicit research articles and other content contributions, appoint peer review panels and select articles and other content for publication, solicit funding and advertising, recruit and appoint editorial staff, and report to the Executive Board. The Editorial Board will consist of the Editor, two Associate Editors, nominated and appointed Board members such as peer reviewers and other persons appointed by the Editor in consultation with the Associate Editors. The Executive Board will serve initially for three years from March 2014 until the next conference after the first term of three and half years (i.e. September 2017) and will be installed at the relevant Business Meeting every three years thereafter after being elected.

 

JHCSC Call for Papers

 

Interested authors should submit original research papers on human communication studies in the Caribbean for double-blind international peer review. Human communication studies research in the Caribbean has evolved from the pioneering work in mass communication by CARIMAC and media and communication, and communication for social and behavioural change at UWI, Mona, Jamaica; subsequent developments in communication studies at UWI, St. Augustine, Trinidad between 1999 and the present, and human communication studies at UWI St. Augustine since 2009; the introduction of a minor in Communication Studies at UWI Cave Hill in 2011. These developments in the Caribbean reflect, in part, the international and national trends in the burgeoning discipline of human communication which is home to more than two dozen sub-fields.

 

Human communication studies developments in the Caribbean have also been accompanied by the design and delivery and growth of successful undergraduate and graduate programmes and research days and seminars. This period of development in Caribbean human communication studies has also witnessed the initiation and growth of faculty research in communication and interdisciplinary research collaboration in areas and subthemes such as communication studies education; communication, culture and gender; communication, culture and conflict; health communication; intercultural and/or multilingual communication; media, culture and society; organizational and corporate communications/business communication; performance, popular culture and critical theory; newer media and digital technology; telecommunications policy, information use and technology convergence. Manuscripts which address these areas of academic (faculty) research in the Caribbean and beyond in human communication studies or related fields may be submitted for consideration.

 

Manuscripts should not exceed 25 double-spaced pages, excluding tables and references in WORD. Include DOIs in all items in the references.

 

Manuscripts should be blind electronic files that contain no information in the file or in the properties of the file that can identify the author(s), a separate abstract not to exceed 200 words, and a list of five suggested keywords. They must conform to the conventions of the 6th edition (or latest) of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association; otherwise, they will not be reviewed.

 

Research involving human participants or subjects must be approved by an institutional review board in order to be published. Manuscripts must not be under consideration in other outlets or have appeared in any other published form at the time of submission. Authors will be responsible for securing permission to use copyrighted material and must provide evidence of such permission before the work can be published.