Global Disparities in Knowledge Production Within Journalism Studies: Are Special Issues the Answer?

Abstract

Within journalism studies, journalism theory and phenomenon in the Global North receive outsized attention, while studies of journalism in the Global South and by scholars in the Global South are infrequent and largely ignored. One response to geographic disparities in knowledge production has been to encourage more special issues that focus on the Global South. These calls are based on a belief that special issues provide a more welcoming venue for Global South research and scholars. Our study tests this proposition by examining whether and how the geographic representation of authorship differs between articles published in special issues and those published through general calls. We examine this through a content analysis of more than 4,000 articles published in five highly ranked journalism studies journals. Our findings reveal that special issues with a geographic focus on the Global South and global perspectives broadly lead to a more geographically diverse group of authors. At the same time, themed issues with a global or Global South focus are rare, and publications in these issues receive far fewer citations. Overall, these findings indicate that while special issues provide greater publishing opportunities for scholars from the Global South, enduring biases in the field limit their impact.