Journalism and Media was established in 2020. Notably, it’s a space for academics to publish journalistic research. For example, research on topics such as journalistic cultures and performance, social media, and digital journalism. Ivana Vuleta, Managing Editor, provides insight into the journal. In particular, she talks about its foundations, and its everyday operations.

How does Journalism and Media compare to other journals?

Journalism and Media is an open access scholarly journal. In my opinion, this is a huge advantage compared to other journals in the field. Open access gives scholars the opportunity to make their latest research publicly available to everyone.

The journal is published by MDPI, which means that a timely and professional peer review process is guaranteed. Our journal also provides professional copy-editing and English editing for every accepted paper.

Authors are always kept up to date on the statuses of their submissions. This is something that is appreciated in the academic community. We have received a lot of positive feedback from authors regarding our professionalism and dedication.

How did you become Managing Editor of Journalism and Media?

I had been working at MDPI for almost two years. I was asked if I would be willing to manage the journal.

At the time, I was an experienced Assistant Editor. I had processed more than 150 peer-reviewed papers and led a few successful Special Issues. These SIs were mostly in small journals within the social sciences and humanities research fields.

I wanted to combine my experience as an MDPI Editor with my educational background in Political Sciences. I hoped to develop a new journal, in line with my personal interests and educational background.

Even though it was difficult, we got there in the end. We have our journal, Journalism and Media, with an impressive Editorial Board, led by Prof. Dr. Andreu Casero-Ripollés, the Editor-in-Chief.

As Managing Editor, what work do you do for the journal on a daily basis?

Managing Editor responsibilities are liable to change. It really depends on the stage of the journal’s development.

My main responsibility is to keep the journal moving along from month to month. This requires a lot of communication with all parties involved with the journal; internal as well as external.

I have almost daily communication with the Editor-in-Chief and the authors, as well as with the Journalism and Media Editorial Board Members and Guest Editors.

Which papers stand out for you?

The journal covers a very dynamic field.

I would say that the most interesting articles to me are those published in our Special Issue “Media Freedom in the Age of COVID-19″. This includes the article “Kindness and Control: The Political Leadership of Jacinda Ardern in the Aotearoa New Zealand COVID-19 Media Conferences” and “Reporting Strategy and Gender Perspective in Chinese Media Coverage of COVID-19 News”.

This Special Issue is now closed. However, considering the high amount of interest and great importance of the topic, we created a Topic Collection which focuses on COVID-19- and media-related topics, entitled “Role of Media and Journalism during COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned and Future Challenges”.

Learn more about Journalism and Media in our dedicated spotlight article.