To cite this article
Brabham, D. C. (2013). Editor’s introduction: From proof of concept to growth. Case Studies in Strategic Communication, 2, article 1. Available online: http://cssc.uscannenberg.org/cases/v2/v2art1
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Editor’s Introduction:
From Proof of Concept to Growth
Daren C. Brabham
University of Southern California
Volume 1 of Case Studies in Strategic Communication was a bit of a proof of concept. The goal was to start a peer-reviewed journal that featured case studies in public relations and related strategic communication domains, and the journal’s first year was a success in that regard. Seven case studies were accepted in the journal’s first volume after rigorous peer review. These cases covered a range of topics, from a professional sports team’s use of a social media suite in its stadium, to team building activities and internal communication among members of a collegiate volleyball team, to media coverage of the fall of a major televangelist and his mega-church. Each of these cases offers researchers and teachers of strategic communication an opportunity to dive deep into real events and bring the situations surrounding organizational decisions to life.
Cases from Volume 1 have already been assigned in college classrooms around the country, including in my own classes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and students have enjoyed these readings much more than most of what they have seen in textbooks. This was the goal, really—to fill a void in the case study literature that textbooks and one-off corporate case studies seem to leave open.
Already, Volume 2 brings with it a major change for the journal. I accepted a position at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, and so the journal will relocate there as well. UNC-Chapel Hill was a great place to launch this publication. Many thanks to my Tar Heel colleagues. I am certain, though, that this journal will continue to grow in size and prestige at Annenberg, and my thanks already to my USC colleagues for transferring the journal’s website and providing other forms of support along the way.
The acceptance rate for Volume 1 was 41%. As with any academic journal, the hope for subsequent volumes will be to grow the quantity of submissions. However, since this is an online journal with no space constraints, this desired increase in submissions will not necessarily result in an arbitrarily shrinking acceptance rate. As articles pass muster in the peer review process, they will be published. The goal here is to produce a high-quality, useful resource for researchers, teachers, and practitioners of strategic communication, not necessarily to set our sights on becoming an arbitrarily “tough” journal to get into.
It is my hope that future case studies in this journal will address a wider range of events in strategic communication. Many of the cases in Volume 1 addressed entertainment and sports. While these topics are of great interest to students of strategic communication, I welcome submissions addressing business-to-business contexts, the high-tech industry, the energy sector, and other contexts. All of the cases in Volume 1 were also U.S.-centric, and the hope for CSSC will be to develop a broader focus, so send in your international case studies.
Finally, my thanks to the editorial board, editorial assistant Laurie Phillips, as well as a number of ad hoc reviewers who gave their time and expertise to making Volume 1 a success: Lindsey Borg, Queenie Byars, Nori Comello, Meredith Geisler, Morgan Greco, Sonia Hendrix, Chris Perry, Joe Waters, and Brenda Wrigley.
DAREN C. BRABHAM is the founding editor of Case Studies in Strategic Communication and an assistant professor in the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California. Email: brabham[at]usc.edu. Web: www.darenbrabham.com.
Editorial history
Published April 1, 2013
Not peer-reviewed