About the Journal

Paranalar International Journal of Communication (PIJoC) is a peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to advancing scholarly research in communication studies. PIJoC provides an academic forum for theoretical, empirical, methodological, and critical inquiry into communication processes and their relationships with media, culture, politics, development, organizations, communities, digital technologies, and social transformation. The journal welcomes interdisciplinary perspectives and encourages research addressing communication phenomena at local, national, regional, transnational, and global levels. Particular attention is given to studies that examine contemporary issues related to participation, development, identity, representation, power, governance, public engagement, technological change, inequality, and social transformation. PIJoC is committed to strengthening communication scholarship by bringing together theoretical development, empirical investigation, and critical reflection. The journal particularly encourages studies originating from Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and the Global South while remaining open to scholarly contributions from different geographical and intellectual traditions.

Aims

Paranalar Journal of Communication (PIJoC) aims to advance theoretical, empirical, and methodological development in communication studies while providing an academic forum for scholarly discussion of contemporary communication phenomena. The journal promotes critical and interdisciplinary approaches to communication, media, culture, politics, development, technology, and society, with particular attention to development communication, community participation, and communication for social change. PIJoC also encourages scholarly discussion on the social consequences of digital media and emerging communication technologies and supports research that addresses communication issues across diverse social, cultural, and geographical contexts. Through these commitments, the journal seeks to strengthen the visibility and contribution of communication scholarship from Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and the Global South within broader regional and international academic discussions.

Journal Scope

Paranalar Journal of Communication (PIJoC) publishes original scholarly manuscripts across the broad field of communication studies. The journal welcomes theoretical, empirical, methodological, and critical research examining communication processes, practices, institutions, technologies, and their relationships with social, cultural, political, and economic life. PIJoC encourages interdisciplinary perspectives and gives particular attention to studies addressing Indonesia, Southeast Asia, the Global South, and comparative international contexts. Its principal areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following fields.

1. Communication Theory and Critical Communication Studies

Research on the development, application, evaluation, and critique of communication theories and concepts, including power, ideology, discourse, meaning, hegemony, resistance, identity, participation, social relations, social change, communication ethics, and emerging theoretical or conceptual developments.

2. Development Communication and Communication for Social Change

Research examining communication in development, community participation, empowerment, and social transformation, including communication for development and social change, participatory and community communication, sustainable development, SDGs, social and behavioral change, marginalized communities, local development, social innovation, and digital media for development.

3. Digital Media and Platform Studies

Research on digital communication and platform-based environments, including social media, online communities, digital platforms, algorithms, artificial intelligence, digital participation, digital activism, creator and influencer cultures, platform governance, digital inequality, and emerging communication practices.

4. Political Communication and Public Discourse

Research examining communication in politics, government, democratic institutions, elections, and public debate, including political and electoral communication, campaigns, political branding, public opinion, participation, activism, misinformation, disinformation, social media, public diplomacy, polarization, political legitimacy, and institutional trust.

5. Strategic Communication and Public Relations

Research on strategic and professional communication involving organizations, governments, corporations, communities, civil society, and stakeholders, including public relations, corporate and government communication, crisis and risk communication, reputation, advocacy, public engagement, institutional legitimacy, and stakeholder communication.

6. Organizational Communication

Research examining communication within and between organizations, including internal communication, organizational culture and identity, leadership communication, communication networks, workplace communication, organizational change, collaboration, decision-making, conflict, and communication in changing or technology-mediated work environments.

7. Journalism and News Studies

Research on journalism, news production, media institutions, and changing news environments, including digital and citizen journalism, media convergence, news framing, journalism and democracy, alternative journalism, community media, newsroom practices, credibility, audiences, and emerging forms of news production and distribution.

8. Communication Technology and Society

Research examining relationships between communication technologies and society, including artificial intelligence, human-machine communication, digital transformation, digital inclusion, technology adoption, emerging technologies, socio-technical change, ethics, accessibility, governance, and technological inequalities.

9. Communication Research Methods and Emerging Approaches

PIJoC welcomes methodological studies and research employing quantitative, qualitative, mixed-method, ethnographic, digital ethnographic, visual, multimodal, social network, computational, and other innovative approaches that contribute to understanding contemporary communication phenomena.

Type of Manuscripts

1. Original Research Articles

PIJoC publishes original research articles presenting new empirical findings that make meaningful contributions to communication scholarship. Manuscripts should be grounded in appropriate theoretical or conceptual perspectives, employ rigorous and clearly explained research methods, and demonstrate the relevance of their findings to existing academic debates. Quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, comparative, and interdisciplinary studies are welcome, provided that the research questions, methodology, analysis, and conclusions are logically connected and contribute to advancing knowledge within the journal's scope.

2. Theoretical and Conceptual Articles

PIJoC publishes theoretical and conceptual articles that develop, extend, evaluate, integrate, or critically examine theories, concepts, models, and perspectives within communication studies. Such manuscripts should offer a clear theoretical contribution rather than merely summarize existing literature. Contributions may propose new conceptual frameworks, reconsider established theoretical assumptions, integrate previously disconnected theoretical perspectives, or demonstrate how existing theories can be refined to explain emerging communication phenomena. Articles should clearly identify their contribution to communication scholarship and explain the significance of the proposed theoretical or conceptual development.

3. Review Articles

PIJoC publishes review articles that systematically examine and synthesize existing scholarship in areas relevant to communication studies. These may include systematic literature reviews, scoping reviews, integrative reviews, bibliometric studies, and other rigorous forms of scholarly review. Review articles should employ transparent and appropriate procedures for identifying, selecting, organizing, and analyzing relevant literature and should move beyond descriptive summaries by identifying patterns, debates, theoretical developments, methodological tendencies, research gaps, or future directions. Manuscripts are expected to provide substantial conceptual, theoretical, methodological, or empirical value to communication scholarship.

4. Critical Essays

PIJoC publishes scholarly critical essays that address contemporary debates, emerging communication phenomena, theoretical controversies, or significant developments in communication and media studies. Critical essays should present a clearly articulated argument supported by relevant scholarly literature and appropriate evidence. They may challenge prevailing assumptions, examine emerging social or technological developments, reconsider established interpretations, or introduce critical perspectives on important issues in communication. Although critical essays may adopt a more interpretative and argumentative form than conventional empirical articles, they should maintain scholarly rigor and demonstrate a substantive contribution to contemporary academic discussion.

5. Book Reviews

PIJoC publishes critical reviews of scholarly books relevant to communication, media, culture, technology, development, politics, and related fields. Reviews should provide more than a descriptive summary by critically examining the book's central arguments, theoretical perspectives, methodological contributions, strengths, limitations, and relevance to communication scholarship. Where appropriate, reviewers may situate the book within broader academic debates or compare its contribution with related scholarship. Book reviews are published based on editorial consideration and the relevance of the reviewed work to the aims and scope of PIJoC.

Publication Frequency

Paranalar Journal of Communication (PIJoC) is published three times a year, with regular issues appearing in February, June, and October. Each publication constitutes one regular issue of the journal. In addition to its regular issues, PIJoC may publish special issues or thematic sections devoted to emerging areas of communication research, significant contemporary developments, specific theoretical or methodological debates, or scholarly themes considered important to the advancement of communication studies. Special issues and thematic sections may be initiated by the editorial board or developed in collaboration with invited scholars, subject to the journal's editorial policies and peer-review standards.

Open Access Policy

PIJoC is an open-access journal committed to the principle that scholarly knowledge should be freely accessible to researchers, students, practitioners, policymakers, and the general public. All articles are made freely and immediately available upon publication without subscription or access charges. Open access to scholarly research is intended to support the wider dissemination, accessibility, visibility, and exchange of academic knowledge.

Publication Fees

PIJoC does not charge submission fees or Article Processing Charges (APCs) for manuscripts submitted to or published in the journal. Authors are not required to make any payment for manuscript submission, peer review, editorial processing, or publication. This policy reflects the journal's commitment to providing equitable opportunities for scholars to disseminate their research without financial barriers.

Peer Review Policy

Manuscripts submitted to PIJoC undergo an initial editorial assessment to determine their suitability for the journal's aims, scope, academic standards, and publication requirements. Manuscripts that pass this stage are evaluated through a peer-review process involving reviewers with relevant academic expertise. The review considers the study's originality and significance, relevance to communication studies, theoretical contribution, methodological rigor, quality of analysis and discussion, clarity of scholarly argumentation, ethical considerations, and contribution to existing academic knowledge. Final publication decisions remain the responsibility of the editorial team and are based on the quality of the manuscript, reviewers' assessments, authors' revisions, and compliance with the journal's academic, editorial, and ethical standards.

Publication Ethics

PIJoC is committed to maintaining academic integrity and ethical standards throughout the publication process. Authors, editors, and reviewers are expected to uphold principles of originality, research integrity, accurate reporting, proper citation and attribution, avoidance of plagiarism, disclosure of conflicts of interest, confidentiality during peer review, and responsible scholarly communication. Research involving human participants must comply with relevant ethical principles, institutional requirements, and applicable research regulations, including appropriate procedures for informed consent and, where required, the protection of participants. All parties involved in the publication process are expected to act transparently, responsibly, and in accordance with accepted standards of scholarly publishing.

Archiving and Digital Preservation

PIJoC is committed to ensuring the long-term preservation, accessibility, and availability of its published scholarly content. The journal maintains its publications through appropriate institutional repositories, digital archiving systems, and preservation mechanisms designed to provide continued access to published articles. Where applicable, PIJoC may participate in recognized distributed digital preservation services, including LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe), institutional repositories, or other reliable preservation systems. These measures are intended to protect the scholarly record and ensure that published content remains accessible even if the journal's primary publishing platform changes.

Copyright and Licensing

Authors retain copyright to their work published in PIJoC while granting the journal the right of first publication. Unless otherwise stated, articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits users to share, reproduce, distribute, adapt, and build upon the published material for any lawful purpose, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author or authors and the initial publication in PIJoC is properly acknowledged. Authors may also archive, distribute, and share their published articles through institutional repositories, personal academic websites, research networks, and other scholarly platforms in accordance with the terms of the applicable Creative Commons license.

Editorial Orientation

PIJoC approaches communication as a broad and continuously evolving field of scholarship that intersects with social, cultural, political, economic, developmental, organizational, and technological processes. The journal encourages scholarship that moves beyond viewing communication solely as the transmission of information and instead examines it as a process of meaning-making, participation, interaction, representation, negotiation, institutional practice, and social transformation. PIJoC provides a scholarly space for the critical examination of communication theories, empirical research, methodological innovation, and contemporary societal issues. While maintaining an international orientation, the journal places particular emphasis on strengthening the visibility of communication scholarship from Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and the Global South and on fostering meaningful dialogue between locally grounded empirical realities and broader theoretical, methodological, and intellectual developments within international communication scholarship.