Dr César Jiménez-Martínez
Chair and Conference Program Planner
London School of Economics and Political Science
E-mail: c.a.jimenez@lse.ac.uk
Dr Lauren J. DeCarvalho
Vice-Chair and Conference Program Planner
University of Denver
lauren.decarvalho@du.edu
The Popular Media and Culture (PMC) division is a forum for scholarly investigation, analysis, and dialogue among communication and media researchers interested in a wide variety of communication forms, phenomena and strategic systems of symbols within the context of popular culture. Division members employ a range of critical and empirical methods to understand diverse popular communication acts, artifacts, products and processes that constitute, entertain, inform and/or persuade audiences. We are an open-minded, international community of scholars invested in questions of ideology, identity, resistance, power and pleasure in the domain of popular culture.
General submission information
For the 2025 annual conference, the PMC division invites papers, panels, roundtables and extended abstracts from scholars in all career phases, but especially those from traditionally underrepresented groups in academia. Papers can address the 2025 Conference theme but can also focus on other topics that advance discussions in popular media and culture. Following the success of last year, we will also accept research escalator abstracts.
Submissions must adhere to the guidelines in the ICA general call for papers. Authors are not allowed to submit previously published papers. Please also make sure to anonymize the submission or it will be automatically disqualified.
It is also very important to choose the right keywords for representing the manuscript. These keywords are used to select reviewers for the submission. The more specific the keywords, the better the match between reviewers and submission.
Submission of the same paper to multiple divisions is strictly prohibited. Submission of material that does not meet PMC requirements will result in automatic rejection.
Submission formats
We accept the following submission formats:
Full papers: Full papers should not exceed 8,000 words (+/- 25 pages) in length; tables, images, appendices, and reference do not count toward this limit. Papers should be in 12-point type, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins and with all identifying marks removed (i.e., blinded manuscript). Please note that accepted full papers may be scheduled either on panels or in an interactive (“poster”) session.
Panel proposals: Panels may include four or five papers, or four papers with a respondent. Panel proposals should include contributions from at least two different countries, feature gender balance, and include not more than one contributor from a single faculty, department or school. These points are all based on the honor system. Please follow these guidelines closely while creating panels as well as putting together paper sessions.
Roundtable proposals: Roundtable sessions involve more speakers/session leaders (6-10) who give shorter, more informal presentations of their work. Roundtables are intended to provide more time for audience interaction/discussion. Submissions should articulate specifically why a roundtable format is optimal and provide a clear rationale for how audience interactivity will enhance these sessions.
Extended abstracts (2,500-3,500 words) with a full paper submitted to the PMC division planner (c.a.jimenez@lse.ac.uk) at least 6 weeks prior to the conference. Extended abstracts are intended for works in progress, offering the opportunity to present ongoing research. Extended abstracts should present in a concise way the purpose of the paper, main theoretical framework/assumptions and, if applicable, research methods and preliminary and/or expected results. Extended abstracts should clearly state the contribution of the paper to popular media and culture. Submitters must delete all identifying information before submitting an extended abstract. In the introduction, they should provide a good justification of why they are submitting an extended abstract instead of a full paper -this will be taken into account in the review.
We are open to proposals for alternative formats; but these should be discussed with the Division’s Conference Program Planner before being submitted for review. Popular Media and Culture does not accept paper abstracts in lieu of paper submissions.
Importantly, panel and roundtable submissions should cohere around a single topic (one that is timely, and directly relevant to the division), with each paper/presenter providing a distinct perspective. Panels should aim to reflect and juxtapose different interregional, international, transnational, and global perspectives. Proposals whose participants and topics reflect the cultural, geographical, and gender diversity of the Division’s scholarly community, and which include both junior and senior scholars, will be viewed most favorably. Sessions consisting of multiple panelists from a single institution are strongly discouraged, as are panels that closely mirror one from a recent ICA, in either composition or topic.
Proposals for panel and roundtable sessions must include the following:
A 400-word abstract for the panel.
A 150-word abstract for each of the papers on the panel, followed by a very brief (<100 words) description of each panelist’s background and qualifications regarding the proposed topic.
A 75-word description of the panel for the conference program.
A 200-word rationale is optional for panel proposals and should be used only if there is a need for explaining something above and beyond what has been included in other aspects of the proposal (e.g. a unique format, further clarification of how the papers fit together, connection to an external event, etc.). Roundtable proposals must include a rationale that speaks to why a roundtable is the preferred format.
ICA’s submission system may offer different word length limits, but the limits stated above take precedence.
If the work is accepted by the division, a presentation is expected from the submitter, who must be a registered attendee at the conference.
Research Escalator Abstracts
The Research Escalator is a mentorship opportunity for PhD students with a work-in-progress to receive feedback and support on a project that is being developed, with the goal of eventually turning part of this work into a conference submission or journal article.
The submission of an extended abstract (between 800 - 1000 words) of the work, not including title, abstract, tables, figures, and references, should be made using the submission portal. Please delete all identifying information before submitting the abstract. Do not submit a research escalator abstract in the category ‘Extended Abstract’ described above -this will result in automatic rejection.
During the conference, time will be set aside specifically for a research escalator session. Submitters will meet with their mentors one-on-one in meetings to discuss their feedback on the submission (audience members are welcome and encouraged to attend these conversations).
If the abstract is selected for mentorship, submitters are expected to send full paper 6 weeks prior to the conference so that they have sufficient time to review the manuscript.
Scholars interested in mentoring at the Research Escalator should email the PMC division program planner.
Reviewers – Please Help Out!
We are a community of researchers. It is therefore expected that everyone who submits to the Popular Media and Culture Division will volunteer to review papers.
In one’s general profile set-up, please do not forget to select “yes” to review and select keywords belonging to our PMC division. This is very important, so we can match papers with each reviewer’s interests and expertise.
If submitting a panel or roundtable proposal, be sure to remind fellow panel members to volunteer to review for the Division.
We would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of the importance of following the ICA’s rules and fulfilling our membership obligations. We also appreciate those who are willing to do a couple of extra reviews for the coming conference. Those who have been especially helpful are nominated as ‘rock star reviewers’, among whom one of them is chosen across ICA to receive complimentary registration.
Thus, please be a good citizen and if you can do a couple of extra reviews, let us know: c.a.jimenez@lse.ac.uk and lauren.decarvalho@du.edu
Chairs
Scholars interested in chairing sessions should email the PMC Division program planners. The sooner, the better so interests can be matched.
Awards
Every year, we honor the Top Faculty Paper and the Top Student Paper submitted to the division. Papers submitted via the conference submission site are automatically eligible for consideration for these awards.
Special Issue
We have an affiliation with the Communication and the Public journal. We are currently working to produce an issue with papers submitted to the 2024 conference, giving priority to academics belonging to traditionally underrepresented groups, including those from minoritized backgrounds, early career researchers and originally from/or working in the Global South. We will provide more information in due course about our take for the next conference.
Get in Touch!
We always want to know more about what our members are doing. Please let us know about new publications, upcoming events and anything one wants to promote. We can give more visibility to one’s work through our website (Icapopular.com), Twitter/X (https://twitter.com/ICAPopular) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/groups/popularmediaculture/).
Contact
Those seeking help with the submission process are invited to contact the Division’s Conference Program Planners, César Jiménez-Martínez, c.a.jimenez@lse.ac.uk and Lauren J. DeCarvalho lauren.decarvalho@du.edu.
| DIV/IG Keywords | ||