A Note of Thanks, and a Nod Towards Internationalization

As we move into 2023, the Journal of Media Psychology continues to serve as a destination for high-quality and high-impact research into the increasingly complex and nuanced relationship between people and their media. In 2022, JMP expanded to publishing six issues, and submission have tracked with that expansion. Our handling editors were able to efficiently-yet-diligently process nearly 300 manuscript submissions in that time – with our associate editors processing nearly 700 individual peer reviews, in addition to drafting their own reviews and summaries. For this reason, I owe a sincere debt of thanks to Drs. Caleb Carr (Illinois State University, USA), Enny Das (Radboud University, Netherlands), Vivian Chen (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore), Karolien Poels (University of Antwerp, Belgium), and Stephan Winter (University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany).

The end of the calendar year brings with it a transition of editorships. For us, Dr. Özen Odağ (Touro College, Germany) has ended her associate editor term, and her impact will be missed. We asked a few of the JMP authors working with Dr. Odağ to offer a few notes about her work as editor. One author, an early career scholar submitting their first manuscript to JMP, noted that they were appreciative of her offering “an additional review full of helpful suggestions” along with the external peer reviews, and that this process and her feedback “motivates me to keep going” with my scholarship. Another scholar noted that Özen was “transparent,” “appreciative,” and “constructive” when providing feedback and working through the peer review process, and took extra care to communicate with authors whenever papers were delayed–we encourage our editors to proactively work with authors in cases where editorial decisions could be delayed (such as having delayed peer reviews, or when calendar events could coincide with editorial processes). Yet another reviewer showed special appreciation for Dr. Odağ as the handling editor for their registered report submissions. Registered reports are a newer submission category at JMP in which authors submit manuscripts for multi-stage review: initial manuscripts laying out the logic for study proposals that are evaluated prior to data collection, and then finalized manuscripts submitted with the results of those peer-reviewed study proposals. These authors noted that as registered reports are long processes, they “felt supported along the way” and especially expressed gratitude for her “keen attention to our manuscript.” Yet another author simply stated that “the field could use more editors” like her.

In replacing Dr. Odağ, we thankfully can turn to a bit of our institutional history with the promotion of Dr. German Neubaum (University of Duisburg-Essen). For those following along, German was an editorial assistant with JMP under former Editor-in-Chief Dr. Nicole Krämer (University of Duisburg-Essen), from 2015 to 2017. German was instrumental for the journal’s administrative survival then, and we are eager to invite him back as an Associate Editor for a 3-year term. German notes that in his former role that he “had a seat in the front row of the publication process and saw first-hand how devoted, constructively and benevolently members of our media psychology community participate in the review process.” From this, and given his success as an author and peer review with JMP, he “[looks] forward to preserve this spirit in my new role and look forward to serving our so vibrant community.”

Our focus on Özen and German overshadows another editorial transition from earlier in the year, with Dr. Allison Eden (Michigan State University, USA) moving from her Associate Editor role in 2022 and Dr. Matthew Grizzard (Ohio State University, USA) moving into her position for a 3-year term. Authors were equally laudatory of Allison’s contributions to JMP, noting that she brought an “intellectual rigor and openness to new ideas” to the journal, … and another appreciated that she was a collaborative editor, able to find “engaged and extremely thoughtful reviewers” that fostered “critical but supportive” dialogue in the review process. Here also, we owe Matthew a great deal of gratitude for moving into the Associate Editor position mid-stream. Already, he has been an incredibly strong addition to our editor team, writing insightful and robust peer reviews in addition to recruiting and procuring quality reviews. This should be no surprise, as Dr. Grizzard has been previously recognized as a “Reviewer of the Year” in several years and by several former JMP editors. Our journal is already stronger because of his work.

As another recognition, JMP has been far more active and vocal on social media and through other communication channels due to our editorial assistants in the last year. This would include Emily Bohaty (Texas Tech University, USA) and her work in Spring 2022, and Bryce Whitwam (Syracuse University, USA) assuming her responsibilities in Fall 2022. Through their work – and especially through Bryce’s continued efforts – the journal’s day-to-day operations are as smooth as ever. Bryce is our primary voice through social media and at [email protected], and he is our first line of inquiry when we’re tracking manuscripts through peer review. Consider him an open ally for your questions, comments, and concerns.

As we reflect on the people who make JMP possible, it is equally important that we consider the extent to which our publication represents a plurality of global perspectives. About 15 years ago, JMP was recast as an international journal publishing in English, continuing the tradition set out in 1989 as the German-language Zeitschrift für Medienpsychologie (ZMP). This intentional internationalization can be seen in our reviews and our authors, although we can also see room for improvement and more deliberate inclusion. Looking at 2022, we had reviewers from institutions in 25 different nations from around the world – every continent excepting Antarctica included in this group. Conversely, reviewers from the US and Germany made up the majority of these reviews (nearly 50%) with large contingents from Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom as well. Likewise, our Editorial Board has scholars from 12 nations but reflects a similar dominance of perspectives from North American and Western Europe. We see similar-yet-slightly-different patterns when considering submitting authors. For incoming manuscripts in 2022, 38 nations were represented and a majority of those were from the US and Germany. However, we saw (and continue to see) an increase in submissions from PR China, Republic of Korea, India, Pakistan, and Turkey. As we move into 2023, we will continue to be receptive to and encouraging of submissions from these regions and any other communities with an interest in media psychology, working towards a broader mission of amplifying the voices. Such inclusion is critical on reflection of broader trends in psychological research in which authors and data tend to be anchored in Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) contexts. We hope that 2023 marks a turn towards authentic and meaningful global scholarship, and we especially encourage research that looks to replicate and extend established scholarship into novel geopolitical contexts – especially relevant for submission to our “Replication Reports” track of papers.

In closing this editorial, I remain passionate about media psychology and proud to serve as the editor-in-chief of JMP. Stay tuned to our social media (Facebook and Twitter) for upcoming announcements regarding special issues, as well as collaborations with academic conferences and other presentations. I am indebted to those I have already named in this editorial, as well as Regina Pinks-Freybott, Juliane Munson, Robert Dimbleby and the others at Hogrefe that make this journal possible. I finally owe sincere thanks to the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University for their ongoing support of JMP.