COMJIG call for papers

Planning for the 2007 AEJMC convention in Washington, D.C., is underway, and the annual call for papers has been sent out. As always, the deadline is April 1. But there is something new -- this year, all paper submissions must be filed electronically. There will be no exceptions.

HQ is still working out some bugs with the online submission system, but I expect everything will be up and running well before April 1. In the meantime, if you or your students are working on research projects that might be ready for a write-up, be sure to send those papers to COMJIG. (The call for papers is at the bottom of this e-mail, and online at: http://www.aejmc.org/_events/convention/papercall/uniform_callspecs_2.php).

Also, and this is very important if you are not submitting a paper to COMJIG, we really need volunteers to serve as reviewers. We have had pretty light turnout for reviewers in the past years, and if the submission rate increases this year (as we expect), the crew of stalwarts won't be enough to handle the work. Please, please, PUH-LEASE, if you want to help this interest group, donate a little bit of your time to review papers in April. E-mail Jack Rosenberry of St. John Fisher College, our research chair, at JackR@sjfc.edu.

Here's the paper call itself:

The Community Journalism Interest Group (COMJIG) is interested in research focused on any and all aspects of community journalism, from small-town newspapers to ethnic papers and niche magazines in major cities, from rural independent radio to independent Web ’zines with readers around the world.

Our goal is to identify and present original, meaningful research that advances the understanding of the role of journalists and news organizations as members of communities, with particular interest in issues that are unique to small-market (which does not necessarily mean small-town) journalism. Quantitative and qualitative methods are equally welcomed, as are attempts at mixed methodology. Theoretical groundings are appreciated. Only serious and complete research-based studies will be considered — please do not submit opinion essays, incomplete pilot studies, literature reviews, or other incomplete or unscholarly works.

Papers should be a maximum of 7,500 words long (about 25 pages, double-spaced) and should include an abstract no longer than 75 words. Please provide a running title on each page. Manuscripts must be prepared for blind review, with any language that identifies the authors or the authors’ institutions removed. (Biographical and contact information for authors will be associated with the paper through the electronic submittal process all research competitions will be using this year.)

Papers that do not meet the guidelines of the Uniform Paper Call of AEJMC will not be considered.

For more information, contact COMJIG research chair Jack Rosenberry via e-mail (jrosenberry@sjfc.edu) or telephone (585-385-8206).