Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft

The scholarly journal, “Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft” (M&K) [Media and Communication Studies] has been published and edited by the Hans Bredow Institute since 1953 (up to the end of 1999 under the title “Rundfunk und Fernsehen” [Broadcasting and Television]; it appears quarterly in the Nomos-Verlag, Baden-Baden.

M&K offers a forum for discussion of questions related to media and communication, as well as for analysing media developments from various perspectives and across all forms, be they “new” or “old”. M&K is open to various scholarly disciplines and methodological approaches and hence reflects the trends in research and the public discussion surrounding the media.

The spectrum of contents ranges from research-based contributions into use and reception, journalism, media law and regulation, health communication, media economics, out of political communication, research into effects, cultural studies and media culture to media psychology and media eth-ics.

The journal runs to ca. 600 pages p.a. and contains articles on the development of theory, current reports oriented to results and methodology and contributions to discussions, reviews and reports on literature, a survey of new literature, and extracts from the relevant international specialist journals.

The editors ensure the greatest possible transparency with an annual report. The assessment of manuscripts proceeds via an anonymous peer-review procedure, where experts from the academic community provide opinions on texts submitted and in this way help to assure the selection of contributions oriented towards scholarly quality. 

In order to deepen this cooperation and further involve professional groups, the work of the editorial staff has been supported by by advisors since spring 2008. All DGPuk sections as well as SGKM and ÖGK delegate one person as an advisor for two years, currently there are 17 people: Dr. habil. Stefanie Averbeck-Lietz (FG International and Intercultural Communication), Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Bucher (FG Media Language – Me-dia Discourse), Prof. Dr. Beatrice Dernbach (FG Journalism/Journalism Studies), Prof. Dr. Patrick Donges (FG Communication and Politics), Dr. Martin Emmer (FG Computer-Mediated Communication), Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp (FG Sociology of Media Communication), Dr. Bjørn von Rimscha (FG Economics), Prof. Dr. Marcus Maurer (FG Methods), Dr. Thomas Petersen (FG Visual Communication), Prof. Dr. Ulrike Röttger (FG PR and Organisational Communication), Prof. Dr. Christian Schicha (FG Communication and Media Ethics), Dr. des. Marco Dohle (FG Reception and Impact Research), Ass.Prof. Mag. Dr. Thomas Steinmaurer (ÖGK: Austrian Association of Communication Studies), Jun.-Prof. Dr. Tanja Thomas (FG Media, Public and Gender), Dr. Ulrike Wagner (FG Media Education), Prof. Dr. Jürgen Wilke (FG Communication History) und Prof. Dr. Vinzenz Wyss (SGKM: Swiss Association of Communication and Media Studies).

The advisors are more than helpful through their advice and suggestions, which persons are relevant for assessments and reviews. In case they would like to review themselves they have first access to the most recent offers and thereby support the editors with commentary on particular texts. 

The Nomos-Verlag has been offering the issues of “Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft“ since June 2007 at the website www.m-und-k.info. Here, all volumes older than three years can be downloaded free of charge as PDF file, that is, currently all volumes from 2000 to 2007 inclusive.

Since 2008, M&K has been one of the two magazines included in the membership fee of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Publizistik und Kommunikationswissenschaft [German Association for Publicist and Communication Studies].