International Association for Media and Communication Research

International Association for Media and Communication Research
Name	International Association for Media and Communication Research
Founded	1957
Type	International scholarly association
Fields	Media studies, Communication studies

Contents

International Association for Media and Communication Research is an international scholarly association that brings together researchers from across University of Amsterdam, University of Oxford, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Australian National University and other institutions to study media and communication. The association acts as a coordinating body for scholars who publish in journals such as Journalism Studies, New Media & Society, Communication Research and Media, Culture & Society, and who participate in forums connected to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, International Federation of Journalists, World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers and regional bodies like European Broadcasting Union.

History

The association was founded in 1957 amid postwar scholarly exchange involving figures associated with Harvard University, University of Chicago, London School of Economics, Université Paris Sorbonne, and University of California, Berkeley. Early activities intersected with conferences at venues such as International Congress of Sociology, World Congress of Philosophy, UNESCO General Conference, and collaborations with institutes like Columbia Journalism School and Annenberg School for Communication. Throughout the Cold War era the organization convened scholars from Stanford University, Moscow State University, University of Tokyo, University of São Paulo, and University of Cape Town for comparative work, later expanding networks to include affiliates from National University of Singapore, Tsinghua University, University of Melbourne, and University of Toronto.

The association is governed by an elected Council and an Executive Board including officers from institutions such as University of Cambridge, Yale University, Sciences Po, Freie Universität Berlin, and King's College London. Administrative functions have been hosted at secretariats associated with University of Helsinki and University of Zurich, and oversight mechanisms reference procedures found in organizations like International Sociological Association and American Political Science Association. Election cycles coordinate with major congresses similar to those held by International Political Science Association and International Studies Association, while prize juries mirror practices at American Sociological Association and Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

Membership includes individual scholars and institutional representatives from universities such as McGill University, University of Buenos Aires, University of Cape Town, Seoul National University, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and from research centers such as Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Poynter Institute, Reuters Institute, and Berkman Klein Center. The association organizes thematic sections and working groups comparable to units in International Political Communication Conference, covering areas that attract scholars from University of Westminster, University of Amsterdam, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, HEC Paris, and Universidad de Salamanca.

The association convenes international congresses on a triennial cycle in cities including Barcelona, Montreal, Stockholm, Beijing, Buenos Aires, and Cape Town, drawing keynote speakers affiliated with Stanford University, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, MIT Press, and Routledge. Satellite events and regional meetings mirror formats seen at Association of Internet Researchers and International Communication Association conferences and have been hosted in collaboration with institutions such as National University of Ireland Galway, Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of the West Indies, and University of Copenhagen.

Research affiliated with the association appears in edited volumes published by Routledge, Oxford University Press, Sage Publications, Springer, and Palgrave Macmillan, and in journals including Information, Communication & Society, Television & New Media, Critical Studies in Media Communication, and European Journal of Communication. The association has sponsored handbooks and monographs involving contributors from Princeton University, Duke University, University of Michigan, University of British Columbia, and National Taiwan University, and has supported comparative projects connected to archives such as British Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, and Library of Congress.

The association awards prizes recognizing lifetime achievement, best monograph, and early career research comparable to honours given by American Academy of Arts and Sciences, British Academy, Royal Society, and discipline awards from Association for Computing Machinery and IEEE. Recipients have included scholars affiliated with Columbia University, University of Oxford, University of California, Los Angeles, London School of Economics, and Università Bocconi.

Critiques of the association have paralleled debates in venues like New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and El País over issues of representation, access, and dominance of Anglophone scholarship; critics cited participation imbalances involving institutions such as Harvard University, University of Cambridge, Stanford University, Yale University, and University of Chicago. Controversies have involved disputes over conference location choices linked to host city politics in places like Hong Kong, Istanbul, and Moscow, peer review disputes resembling cases discussed at Elsevier and Springer Nature, and debates about open access echoing campaigns by Directory of Open Access Journals and Sci-Hub.