Transparency in Communication: An Examination of Communication Journals’ Conflicts-of-Interest Policies

Authors

Lawrence Soley, Marquette UniversityFollow
Sarah Bonewits Feldner, Marquette UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Language

eng

Format of Original

20 p.

Publication Date

7-2006

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Source Publication

Journal of Communication Inquiry

Source ISSN

0196-8599

Original Item ID

doi: 10.1177/0196859906287769

Abstract

Increased corporate-sponsored university research and professorial consulting has caused medical, psychological, and other scientific journals to adopt conflicts-of-interest disclosure policies. This study examines editorial policies concerning conflicts of interest at communication journals in the context of Habermas’s theory of communicative action. The results show that communication journals do not have the same mandatory disclosure requirements that journals of other disciplines have. In this regard, communication research journals are similar to the mass media. Consequently, the article suggests that disclosure policies are needed if communication research journals are to function as part of a larger dialogic process. Moreover, communication researchers are not in a position to criticize the mass media for failing to disclose conflicts of interest when their own journals do not require disclosure.

Comments

Accepted version. Journal of Communication Inquiry, Vol. 30, No. 3 (July 2006): 209-228. DOI.© 2006 Sage Publications. Used with permission.

Recommended Citation

Soley, Lawrence and Feldner, Sarah Bonewits, "Transparency in Communication: An Examination of Communication Journals’ Conflicts-of-Interest Policies" (2006). College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications. 12.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/comm_fac/12