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New Media & Society

New Media & Society


eISSN: 14617315 | ISSN: 14614448 | Current volume: 26 | Current issue: 5 Frequency: Monthly


"Not only a key resource for keeping up to date in this fast-moving field, this journal is proving a vital resource for wide-ranging, insightful analyses of the social contexts and consequences of new information and communication technologies." Sonia Livingstone

New Media & Society is an international journal that provides an interdisciplinary forum for the examination of the social dynamics of media and information change.

New Media & Society engages in critical discussions of the key issues arising from the scale and speed of new media development, drawing on a wide range of disciplinary perspectives and on both theoretical and empirical research.

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This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Electronic access:

All issues of the New Media & Society journal are available to browse online

Breadth, Vision and Critical Analysis

New Media & Society engages in critical discussions of the key issues arising from the scale and speed of new media development, drawing on a wide range of disciplinary perspectives and on both theoretical and empirical research.

The journal includes contributions on:

  • the individual and the social, the cultural and the political dimensions of new media
  • the global and local dimensions of the relationship between media and social change
  • contemporary as well as historical developments
  • the implications and impacts of, as well as the determinants and obstacles to, media change
  • the relationship between theory, policy and practice

Multidisciplinary Perspective

New Media & Society
publishes peer-reviewed content from both the social sciences and the humanities and includes contributions from communication, media and cultural studies, as well as sociology, geography, anthropology, economics and the political and information sciences. Topics to be covered include: digitalization and convergence; interactivity and virtuality; consumption and citizenship; innovation, regulation and control; the cultures of the Internet; patterns and inequalities of use; community and identity in electronic space; time and space in global culture and everyday life; the politics of cyberspace.

Editor
Steve Jones University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Reviews Editor
Dave Park Lake Forest College, USA
Editorial Assistant
Diana Casteel University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Previous Editors
Nick Jankowski  
Leah A Lievrouw University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Rohan Samarajiva LIRNEasia, Sri Lanka
Roger Silverstone London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Previous Reviews Editors
Caroline Bassett University of Sussex, UK
Keith Hampton University of Pennsylvania, USA
International Editorial Board
Colin Agur University of Minnesota, USA
Kath Albury Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
Meryl Alper Northeastern University, USA
Ang Peng Hwa Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Rajiv Aricat Indian Institute of Management Ranchi, India
Matthew Barnidge University of Alabama, USA
Marco Bastos University College Dublin, Ireland and City, University of London, UK
Nancy Baym Microsoft Research, USA
Anat Ben-David The Open University of Israel, Israel
Lucy Bennett Cardiff University, UK
Sophie Bishop King’s College London, UK
Rena Bivens Carleton University , Canada
Jeffrey Layne Blevins University of Cincinnati, USA
Shelley Boulianne MacEwan University, Canada
Nicholas Bowman West Virginia University, USA
Lillian Boxman-Shabtai Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Michael Braun University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Niels Brügger Aarhus University, Denmark
Taina Bucher University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Jean Burgess Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Heidi Campbell Texas A&M University, USA
Scott Campbell University of Michigan, USA
Celeste Campos-Castillo University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Matt Carlson University of Minnesota, USA
Andrew Chadwick Loughborough University, UK
Shira Chess University of Georgia, USA
Lynn Clark University of Denver, USA
Mia Consalvo Concordia University, Canada
Leen d'Heenens KU Leuven, Belgium
Mark Deuze University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
David Domingo Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Brooke Duffy Cornell University, USA
Elizabeth Ellcessor University of Virginia, USA
Charles Ess University of Oslo, Norway
Deen Freelon University of North Carolina, USA
Robert Gehl University of Utah, USA
Tarleton Gillespie Microsoft, USA
Debbie Ging Dublin City University, Ireland
Gerard Goggin Western Sydney University, Australia
Anita Greenhill University of Manchester, UK
David J. Gunkel Northern Illinois University, USA
Andrea Guzman Northern Illinois University, USA
Alex Halavais Arizona State University, USA
Eszter Hargittai University of Zurich, Switzerland
Amy Hasinoff University of Colorado, Denver, USA
Heather Horst University of Sydney, Australia
Tim Jordan University College London, UK
James Katz Boston University, USA
Christian Katzenbach Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Anne Kaun Södertörn University, Sweden
Ulrike Klinger Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Seth Lewis University of Oregon, USA
Christian Licoppe Telecom Paris, and Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France
Ben Light University of Salford, UK
Carmen Llorente-Barroso Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Christoph Lutz BI Norwegian Business School, Norway
Bree McEwan University of Toronto – Mississauga, Canada
Andrew McStay Bangor University, UK
Seungahn Nah University of Florida, USA
Lisa Nakamura University of Wisconsin, USA
Susanna Paasonen University of Turku, Finland
Jean-Christophe Plantin London School of Economics, UK
Massimo Ragnedda Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK
Adrian Rauchfleisch National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Ronald Rice University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
Sue Robinson University of Wisconsin, USA
Minna Ruckenstein University of Helsinki, Finland
Limor Shifman Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Marko Skoric City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Elizabeth Stoycheff Wayne State University, USA
Ted Striphas University of Colorado, USA
Harsh Taneja University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Maurice Vergeer Radboud University, Netherlands
Ran Wei The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Chris Wells Boston University, USA
Bradley Wiggins Webster Vienna Private University, Austria
Greg Wise Arizona State University, USA
Tamara Witschge University of Groningen, Netherlands
Gabriela Zago MIDIARS, Brazil
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  • Manuscript Submission Guidelines: New Media & Society

    This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics

    This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

    Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/nms to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

    Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of New Media & Society will be reviewed.

    There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

    As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.

    1. What do we publish?
      1.1 Aims & Scope
      1.2 Article types
      1.3 Writing your paper
    2. Editorial policies
      2.1 Peer review policy
      2.2 Authorship
      2.3 Acknowledgements
      2.4 Funding
      2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
    3. Publishing policies
      3.1 Publication ethics
      3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
      3.3 Open access and author archiving
    4. Preparing your manuscript
      4.1 Formatting
      4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
      4.3 Supplementary material
      4.4 Reference style
      4.5 English language editing services
    5. Submitting your manuscript
      5.1 ORCID
      5.2 Information required for completing your submission
      5.3 Permissions
    6. On acceptance and publication
      6.1 Sage Production
      6.2 Online First publication
      6.3 Access to your published article
      6.4 Promoting your article
    7. Further information

     

    1. What do we publish?

    1.1 Aims & Scope

    Before submitting your manuscript to New Media & Society, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

    1.2 Article Types

    New Media & Society engages in critical discussions of the key issues arising from the scale and speed of new media development, drawing on a wide range of disciplinary perspectives and on both theoretical and empirical research.

    The journal welcomes contributions on:

    Global and local dimensions of the relationship between media and social change
    The individual and the social, the cultural and the political dimensions of new media
    Contemporary as well as historical developments
    Implications and impacts of, as well as the determinants and obstacles to, media change Relationship between theory, policy and practice

    Multidisciplinary perspective: New Media & Society publishes from both the social sciences and the humanities and includes contributions from communication, media and cultural studies, as well as from sociology, geography, anthropology, economics and from the political and information sciences. Topics covered include (but are not limited to):

    Digitalization and convergence
    Interactivity and virtuality
    Consumption and citizenship
    Innovation, regulation and control
    The cultures of the Internet
    Patterns and inequalities of use
    Community and identity in electronic space
    Time and space in global culture and everyday life
    The politics of cyberspace

    Review Articles: New Media & Society is dedicated to providing comprehensive surveys of topics relevant to the editorial scope of the journal. The authors of Review Articles will consider recent research concerning an important theme in new media research. The point of these Review Articles will be to craft well-written surveys of existing research.

    Reviews: New Media & Society includes a section in which books and other significant contributions to the field are reviewed. This includes both essay length and shorter contributions. For more information about reviews please contact book reviews Editor David Park (park@ lakeforest.edu).

    1.3 Writing your paper

    The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

    1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

    When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

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    2. Editorial policies

    2.1 Peer review policy

    Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication. Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

    •  The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors

    •  The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper

    •  The author has recommended the reviewer

    •  The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution). 

    2.2 Authorship

    All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

    Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

    2.3 Acknowledgements

    All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.

    Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

    2.3.1 Third party submissions

    Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

    • Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
    • Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
    • Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

    Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

    2.4 Funding

    New Media & Society requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

    2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

    If authors have any conflicting interests to declare, New Media & Society encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway. If there are no potential conflicts of interest, this declaration is not required.

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    3. Publishing Policies

    3.1 Publication ethics

    Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.

    3.1.1 Plagiarism

    New Media & Society and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

    3.1.2 Prior publication

    If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

    3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

    Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.

    3.3 Open access and author archiving

    New Media & Society offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

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    4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

    Each submission should contain:

    (i) Include title page with full title and subtitle (if any). For the purposes of anonymize refereeing, the full name of each author with current affiliation and full address/phone/fax/email details plus short biographical note should be included in the Title Page of the submission, and entered separately on the site, but should not be included in the manuscript itself. Manuscripts that do not follow this guideline may be summarily declined for consideration. Please include a statement confirming that all authors have agreed to the submission and that the article is not currently being considered for publication by any other print or electronic journal. 

    (ii) Prepare abstract of 100-150 words.

    (iii) Compose up to 10 key words.

    (iv) The target word count is 8000 words (all text, including notes, references, tables, charts, etc.). Submissions of more than a few hundred words beyond the target will not be considered. Text to be clearly organized, with a logical hierarchy of headings and subheadings, and quotations exceeding 40 words to be displayed and indented, in the text.

    (v) Endnotes, if necessary, should be signaled by superscript numbers in the main text and listed at the end of the text before the references.

    Authors are responsible for obtaining permissions from copyright holders for reproducing through any medium of communication any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere.

    Style: use a clear readable style, avoiding jargon. If technical terms or acronyms must be included, define them when first used. Use non-racist, non-sexist language and plurals rather than he/she.

    Spelling: UK or US spelling may be used.

    Punctuation: use single quotation marks with double quotes inside single quotes. Present dates in the form 1 May 1998. Do not use points in abbreviations, contractions or acronyms (e.g. AD, USA, Dr, PhD).

    Revised manuscript: on acceptance of your manuscript for publication, authors will be asked to supply a further electronic copy of the final version. PC format graphics files should be supplied as TIFF or EPS files.

    4.1 Formatting

    The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

    4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

    For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines  

    Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.

    4.3 Supplementary material

    This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplementary files.

    4.4 Reference style

    New Media & Society adheres to the Sage Harvard reference style. View the Sage Harvard guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

    If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Harvard EndNote output file.

    4.5 English language editing services

    Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

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    5. Submitting your manuscript

    New Media & Society is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/nms to login and submit your article online.

    IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created.  For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

    5.1 ORCID

    As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

    The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

    If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

    5.2 Information required for completing your submission

    You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

    5.3 Permissions

    Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

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    6. On acceptance and publication

    6.1 Sage Production

    Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly.  Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.

    6.2 Online First publication

    Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

    6.3 Access to your published article

    Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

    6.4 Promoting your article

    Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

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    7. Further information

    Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the New Media & Society editorial office as follows:

    Steve Jones
    Department of Communication
    University of Illinois at Chicago
    1007 W. Harrison (m/c 132)
    Chicago, IL 60607
    USA

    Tel: +1 312 996 3187 
    Fax: +1 312 413 8661 
    E-mail: sjones~at~uic.edu

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