Quality – Network – Communication: Strategic Actions in 2020
The global COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the way we live and work. From our editorial perspective the goal has not only been to adjust to new tools of digital communications, but the year 2020 was also the first year of our strategy implementation, resulting with new partnerships and related changes in organizational structures and the overall publishing practices.
Towards a New Strategy
Our work on the new journal strategy began in the Fall of 2018, during the conference “Central European Journal of Communication: 10 Years On” (Wrocław, November 2018). The goal of a round-table with several editors of scientific journals was to identify best practices on the adaptation of scholarly journals in the digital age. Based on the ideas gathered during the General Assembly of the Polish Communication Association (September 2019), a new Editorial Team of CEJC identified key values to move forward.
Photo 1. Speakers during the conference entitled: “Central European Journal of Communication: 10 Years On” held in November 2018 at the University of Wrocław (from left to right): Paolo Mancini (University of Lower Silesia), Bogusława Dobek-Ostrowska (University of Wrocław), Michał Głowacki (University of Warsaw).
Source: Department of Social Communication and Journalism, Institute of Political Science, University of Wrocław.
A strategy entitled “Quality–Network–Communication” was adopted during the one-day workshop organized at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Wrocław in October 2020. The meeting was hosted by prof. Bogusława Dobek-Ostrowska, Editor-in-Chief of CEJC in 2008–2019.
Photo 2. The Central European Journal of Communication’s Editorial Team during the workshop held at the University of Wrocław in October 2020 (from left to right): Dagmara Sidyk (University of Warsaw), Bogusława Dobek-Ostrowska (University of Wrocław), Jacek Mikucki (University of Warsaw), Michał Głowacki (University of Warsaw).
Source: Julia Trzcińska (University of Wrocław, CEJC).
Photo 3. Jacek Mikucki (University of Warsaw), Julia Trzcińska (University of Wroclaw), Michał Głowacki (University of Warsaw), Dagmara Sidyk (University of Warsaw) and Róża Norstrom (University of Silesia) during the workshop held at the University of Wrocław in October 2020.
Source: Julia Trzcińska (University of Wrocław, CEJC).
In the following months, the new Editorial Team decided on the APA Style citations guidelines and invited a group of international scholars to join a team of Associate Editors to advance cross-country and cross-regional collaboration.
New Partnerships and the Publishing Process
Figure 1. 2020: Key Actions
Source: CEJC.
In February 2020, we launched the new website of the “Central European Journal of Communication”; with the help of Aleksandra Misztela (Academy of Art in Szczecin) and Łukasz Stachowski (University of Wrocław), the overall layout and navigation menu was changed. The next big step was to introduce Open Journal Systems (OJS) – an online journal management software (read more about it here). All the stages of CEJC production, including paper submission, review, copy editing, typesetting, and publication are now managed by the Editors via the OJS. It means that the Polish Communication Association – the publisher of CEJC – has taken responsibilities and publishing actions performed so far by the University of Wrocław Press. This change allowed us to modify CEJC’s layout, including the front page.
As of now, CEJC is published as an open-access publication via the OJS in partnership with Marcin Kulig from TOC – an agency responsible for the stage of production. In addition to this, we established collaboration with Marcus of Derettens OÜ, who is responsible for the copy-editing stage. A turn into a more participatory and community-driven model of publishing has also been advanced via formal collaboration with supporting institutions: universities and research centers across the country (see the full list here). We thank you for your support!
Dagmara Sidyk
UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW, POLAND