CONFERENCE CALL FOR PAPERS

Political Communication Division

‘Chris’ Fei Shen, Vice Chair and Program Planner
ICA’s Political Communication Division
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Email: feishen@cityu.edu.hk

The Political Communication Division supports research and theory development at the intersection of politics and communication. Political communication involves creating, shaping, disseminating, and processing information among actors from the political system, the media, and the public, as well as the effects of such communication. Political communication today is initiated by a multitude of actors with different interests, who use a variety of channels to spread their messages. Studies of communication dealing with governments, media, policy, citizens, campaigns, platforms, social movements, and advocacy groups are all within the purview of the division. Papers that address political communication problems at all levels of analysis (from the individual to the institutional, from the local to the global) using a variety of theories and methods are welcome. Our division is committed to ICA’s guidelines on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access (IDEA). The division especially encourages submissions from Latin America, Asia, and Africa. 

Members of our division have repeatedly advocated at business meetings that the focus of our conference program should be on fully completed papers because this format allows reviewers to best identify the strengths and weaknesses of submissions. We also accept a small number of panel proposals that are focused on cutting-edge topics and are diverse in terms of methodologies, theoretical standpoints, or nationalities of the presenters. We will again allow works in progress for the 2025 Denver Conference; these are short papers of 3,000-4,000 words. Given its success at the 2023 and 2024 conferences, we are also including a format called research escalators for the upcoming conference as well. Research escalators are extended abstract opportunities for junior scholars with less developed research ideas to receive feedback and support for their work to help them develop the ideas into future projects for publication.

Please note the following detailed information:

1. Fully completed research papers. These submissions remain the standard format of our division and have a minimum length of 6,000 and a maximum length of 8,000 words, including abstract and references (but excluding tables, figures, or other illustrative material). When submitting the paper on ICA’s ScholarOne website make sure to select appropriate and meaningful keywords out of our division’s keyword list.
   
   Important: Please note that papers must adhere to the guidelines in the general ICA call for papers. Specifically, papers MUST NOT contain any identifying information (i.e., author names) and may not have been previously published or accepted for publication. Submission of the same paper or proposal to more than one division is not allowed. Covert self-plagiarism in papers can constitute a serious ethical transgression. Papers violating ICA’s general submission rules MAY DISQUALIFY your submission from review.
   
   

2. Panel submissions. Panels provide a good forum for the discussion of new approaches, timely topics, ongoing political developments, innovative ideas, and debates in the field. If you plan to submit a panel, please submit the following details: (a) panel theme or title, (b) a 75-word description of the panel for the conference program, (c) a 400-word rationale, providing justification for the panel and the participating panelists, (d) 250-word (maximum) abstract of each paper, (e) names of panel participants (usually four presenters, plus a designated respondent), and (f) name of panel chair/organizer. In terms of diversity, we expect a strong panel proposal to (a) include contributions of at least two different countries, (b) feature gender balance, and (c) include not more than one contribution from a single faculty, department, or school.

3. Works in Progress (Short Papers). Short work-in-progress papers of 3,000-4,000 words in length (including abstract and references, but excluding tables, figures, or other illustrative material) allow scholars to present ongoing work that could not be translated into a fully completed research paper by the deadline. Work-in-progress papers should include succinct and sufficient information about research objectives, significance, methods, and preliminary (or expected) findings. Work-in-progress contributions provide an opportunity for late-breaking results to be presented more fully at the conference. We expect work-in-progress papers to be based on rigorous high-quality original research that furthers our understanding of political communication. They will undergo the regular peer-review process and enjoy no special treatment and no softer admission barriers than full papers. Work-in-progress contributions are not eligible for top paper awards. They could be programmed with a higher probability in high-density sessions or the interactive poster session.

Important: Submissions of this format may in no case be shorter than 3,000 words and MUST include the words “Work In Progress” in the TITLE of the paper. Papers must not contain any identifying information (i.e., author names) and may not have been previously published or accepted for publication. Submissions violating these rules will be desk-rejected.

4. Research Escalators. The research escalator is an opportunity for graduate student scholars with less developed research ideas to receive feedback and support on their work, with the intent of helping the work toward advanced stages of the knowledge-sharing process: either publication or conference presentation. The purpose is to connect junior scholars looking for mentorship with established scholars. Research escalator submissions will take the form of extended abstracts that are not to exceed 1,000 words (excluding references). Extended abstracts should present concisely the purpose of the paper, main theoretical framework/assumptions, and, if applicable, research methods. Submitters should delete all identifying information before submitting an extended abstract. The extended abstract will be reviewed by potential mentors with expertise in the field and/or paper topic. If an abstract is selected for mentorship, the submitter will be expected to send the most recent version of their paper to their mentor(s) four weeks prior to the conference so that they have sufficient time to review progress made on the topic.

During the conference, time will be set aside specifically for the research escalator session. Submitters will meet with their mentors to discuss their feedback on the submission during the session rather than give a developed presentation to an audience. The division especially encourages participation from Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Because the purpose is to connect junior scholars seeking mentorship with established scholars, submissions should not contain multiple authors. Important: Submissions of this format MUST include the words “Research Escalator” in the TITLE of the submission.

How to Submit?

1. Go to submission website, which can be found on the ICA website: https://www.icahdq.org/

2. Submission deadline is 1 November, 2024

Please make sure to observe the following points:

1. Each *submitter* (whomever is entering the individual submission in the system) is limited to three first-author peer-reviewed submissions. Participating as a Co-Author, Session Organizer, Chair, or Respondent does not count against the three (3) limit.

2. Given limited space on the program, the division may accept only one first-authored submission per person. If one submits more than one first-authored submission that receives high reviewer scores, the division may choose only one for the first author to present at the conference.

3. We select reviewers based on the paper title, abstract, and keywords used when submitting the paper. Please be as descriptive as possible and select meaningful keywords about theory, method/approach, and topic area so that appropriate reviewers can be identified.

4. In the submission process, please also choose meaningful keywords about your own reviewer expertise. Consistent with the ICA-wide policy, all submitters to Political Communication will be automatically added as reviewers for the division.

5. As the submitter, you are presumed to be the first/presenting author. It is expected that at least one author of an accepted submission will present the work, no matter what the format. No last-minute drop-outs, please!

Call for Reviewers: We ask all paper authors and coauthors to volunteer as reviewers for the division.

We need YOU as reviewer!

The Political Communication Division routinely receives a large number of submissions, and we need a large number of volunteer reviewers to meet the goal of having each submission reviewed and rated by three qualified reviewers. We strongly encourage all faculty members and final year PhD students to volunteer to review submissions -- particularly those who are an author or co-author of a submission to the Political Communication Division. The Division recognizes this important service each year with a Top Reviewer Award.

All reviewers must be registered with the ScholarOne paper submission website to be able to review and rate submissions. If you did not previously register with the ScholarOne website (which is different from the ICA website), you will be asked to create an account.

As part of the registration process, you will have an option to volunteer to be a reviewer (please check “Yes”), and then to select a division (please add Political Communication Division).

Next, select from the list provided at least three keywords that best represent your area of expertise. These keywords will be used to match you with the most relevant submissions given your expertise. Again, please select keywords that best identify your expertise in terms of content and methodology.