SUNDAY 7TH JUNE, 2015 – UWI TODAY
5
Last month,
The Journal of Human Communication
Studies in the Caribbean (JHCSC) was launched at the St.
Augustine Campus, making it the first journal of human
communication studies in the English-speaking Caribbean.
The JHCSC is led by a team from three of The UWI’s
campuses and is supported throughout the Caribbean and
beyond.
Discussion on the formal establishment of the journal
began in March 2014 and the first issue was completed in
March 2015. The theme of the first issue is derived from the
inaugural conference: “Celebrating the Caribbean inCulture
Communication and Community.” Selected invited essays,
original research articles, a reflective essay by Professor
Lawrence R. Frey, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA, the
2013 keynote speaker, and reports, reflections and notices
provide the journal content
The journal website was built using the Online Journal
Service (OJS) platform which is hosted by the Alma
Jordan Library, UWI. This platform facilitated the online
submission, and auto-replies and correspondence, review
and editing, revision, copyediting, proofreading and layout
of content. Other UWI journals use this platform, but the
JHCSC is the first to create an online subscription service
to give access to its online and print versions.
The JHCSC aims to promote the study, teaching and
research of human communication studies in the Caribbean
and beyond by publishing peer-reviewed original research
essays and articles on subjects and themes related to human
communication studies.
An earlier attempt to create a journal was made many
years ago but it was not sustained. This version appears
after 40 years of teaching and research in media and
communication at CARIMAC at The UWI, Mona, over 15
years of communication studies at The UWI St. Augustine
and four years of communication studies at The UWI Cave
Hill.
The journal invites scholars and other contributors
with an interest in human communication studies in the
Caribbean to submit original academic research papers. 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 reader
responses, book reviews, interviews, research in progress,
and concept papers will be invited by the editorial board.
The online subscription service is based on the
TouchNet platform. Subscribers will pay to access the full
content of the journal and thus contribute toward making
it sustainable. Some content is free. See:
sta.uwi.edu/jhcsc/index.asp?action=currentIssue . A
subscription entitles the holder to a reduced conference fee
and membership in the AHCSC.
The JHCSC aims to publish at least one volume
consisting of at least two issues per year, but there may be
periodic special thematic calls for papers that necessitate
a deviation. Interested authors should submit original
research papers on human communication studies in the
Caribbean for double-blind international peer review.
The JHCSC received start-up funding from the 2013
Human Communication Studies International Conference
and the Campus Research and Publication Fund. Another
issue is planned for later in 2015.
The Editorial Board consists of three officers, Drs.
Godfrey A. Steele, Editor, Livingston A. White, Associate
Editor and Korah L. Belgrave, Associate Editor, who
represent three campuses and are supported by 25 other
reviewers from the Caribbean, USA, UK and Australia.
These reviewers come from a wide range of interests in
human communication studies and a variety of other
disciplines including cultural studies, gender, literature,
linguistics, history, management, psychology, information
technology and education. The JHCSC has benefitted from
interdisciplinary linkages and support frommany partners
and the Association for Human Communication Studies
(AHCSC).
Also launched at the same time was a conference being
hosted by the Human Communication Studies Postgraduate
Programme in the Department of Literary, Cultural and
Communication Studies.
This conference takes place on September 24 and 25,
2015 and focuses on “Identity, Context and Interdisciplinarity
in Human Communication Studies in the Caribbean.”
(Dr Godfrey Steele)
CAMPUS NEWS
Human Communication Studies Journal launched
The journal invites
scholars and other
contributors with an
interest in human
communication studies
in the Caribbean to
submit original academic
research papers.
Dr Godfrey Steele
at the launch of
the Journal.
