Journal of Media Psychology

Volume 37, Issue 6 is now out!
Included in our latest is a special section including articles from the 2025 Moral Media Conference. Articles address ChatGPT-generated stories, smoking campaign messaging, and language driving USA tensions toward China.

econtent.hogrefe.com/toc/zmp/37/6

Now that your #ICA26 submissions are in, what do you do with them? JMP is always looking for submissions that advance our understanding of "how human beings select, use, and experience various media..and...can affect their cognitions, emotions, and behaviors."

www.hogrefe.com/us/journal/j...

Meet our new Editorial Assistant, Ellanore Foltz!

Ellanore is a second-year graduate student in the school of communication master’s program at Illinois State U, and they started working as JMP's editorial assistant in September.

Submitters will encounter Ellanore for intial manuscript processing.

An enthusiastic welcome to JMP's newest Associate Editor, Dr. Rachel Bailey!
The James E. Kirk Professor of Communication at Florida State University, Dr. Bailey's research is "rooted in biological and evolutionary perspectives," typically focusing on media in the health context.

One of JMP's Associate Editors, Dr. @bradleyjbond.bsky.social, was recently interviewed about his work in parasocial mediated relationships for a new article in The Atlantic. Check it out via the link below!

www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/...

We're back, baby! After an editorial handoff, JMP is now back at full strength; and eager for *YOUR* submission. We'll be posting more shortly; but in the meantime, our great appreciation to Nick Bowman for situating JMP so wonderfully during his tenure.

Each year, JMP take a brief Summer Pause to prepare for the upcoming academic year, which mostly coincides across editors, reviewers, and authors. While Authors are welcome to submit manuscripts during this time, please know that processing of that work will be somewhat delayed as we shift our editorial offices from Syracuse University (and outgoing editor, Dr. Nick Bowman) to Illinois State University (and incoming editor, Dr. Caleb Carr). If you have immediate questions, our Syracuse-based team can field those at jmp@syr.edu.

From Monday 21 July to Friday 16 August, Journal of Media Psychology will be taking our annual Summer Pause while we shift towards the upcoming academic year, as well as transition the journal's editorship from @bowmanspartan.bsky.social to @calebtcarrphd.bsky.social.

Peer review stats, from May-June 2025. Holding stead with just under 30 days for initial reviews. Desk rejects are still quite high (around 66%). Other questions? Reach us at our new address: journalofmediapsychology@gmail.com. We're moving our Editorship to @calebtcarrphd.bsky.social. WOO!

We're thrilled to announce that for 2024, @jmp-hogrefe.bsky.social saw more than a 33% increase in citations to published manuscripts. Accordingly, our updated Impact Factor is 2.4 (5-year 2.3). Thanks to our readers, editors, and the many scholars who call JMP home. =)

YouTube video by JohnDenverVEVO John Denver - Rocky Mountain High (from The Wildlife Concert)

Hello, folks! A quick note that we're out at #ICA25 in Denver next week, so we'll not be processing manuscripts during that time. If you're feeling a bit anxious, feel free to reach out to EiC @bowmanspartan.bsky.social - or enjoy one of our favorite songs this week: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOS5...

JMP @ ICA 2025 #JMPatICA25 This is JMP’s guide to the 75th annual International Communication Association conference, being hosted at the Hyatt Regency and Grand Hyatt in Denver, USA. This guide highlights the work...

Heading to #ICA25 in a few weeks? Check out one of the many panel discussions and research presentations from our team of JMP editors, all scheduled for the conference: docs.google.com/document/d/1.... Very eager to join yet another @icahdq.bsky.social in Denver. =)

Is It Time to Abandon the Media Multitasking Index? | Journal of Media Psychology

Amidst all of this, @jacobtfisher.online & I have a new paper in @jmp-hogrefe.bsky.social! We discuss theoretical, methodological, & practical concerns with the media multitasking (MMT) index & lay out an agenda for better research on MMT

📄 doi.org/10.1027/1864...
📝 OA osf.io/preprints/ps...

JMP @ ICA 2025 #JMPatICA25 This is JMP’s guide to the 75th annual International Communication Association conference, being hosted at the Hyatt Regency and Grand Hyatt in Denver, USA. This guide highlights the work...

We're about one month out #ICA25, and we're proud to share that our JMP editorial team will have several different presentations - over 20, in total! Check out this interactive schedule, and if you're attending ICA, pop by to see their work-in-progress.

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

... but you're always welcome to reach out, jmp@syr.edu or directly to EiC at nbowman@syr.edu. We want to make sure that our studies hold up and we're always open to suggestions, but we try to keep Authors from "endless review loops" (if that makes sense).

We get that there are lots of opinions about SEM, but our editors and peer reviewers are increasingly skeptical of (especially complex) causal models based on survey data. Via @bowmanspartan.bsky.social, the "cross-sectional limitation" in the Discussion sort of renders the paper moot. =/

Our latestly bimonthly Journal Accountability Report is up! We're slightly quicker these last two months, but some of that is due to a much higher desk-reject rate of nearly 73%.

What's leading to desk rejects? A mix of lack-of-fit with a lot of causal analyses (i.e., SEM) or correlational data.

Folks often ask, "is it okay to ask the editors a question?" The answer is YES. Yes it is. If you're unsure, reach out at jmp@syr.edu.

This even goes for editorial decisions. We get it: we reject 90% of manuscripts. If you'd like more information - or maybe you just want to vent - it's okay. =)

But for now? Let's thank Dr. Carr and ISU for taking up the next few years of top-notch media psychology scholarship. =)

Our current EiC @bowmanspartan.bsky.social will still be around through the end of the calendar year, mostly handling our summer months and then helping sew up projects and special collections.

When Authors submit to JMP, they're in for a robust set of reviews, but reviews that will ensure that papers really do "move the needle" in terms of producing timeless scholarship--work that matters today, tomorrow, 10 years from now, and beyond.

What's he most excited about? Paraphrasing, he's eager to see where and how JMP plays a role in the evolving field of media psychology, and he's very proud of how our editorial teams are critical, but constructive.

Caleb has been with JMP for quite a long time as a reviewer, then Editorial Board member, and mostly recently as one of our Associate Editors. In each capacity, he's been among our most dedicated, detailed, and engaged scholars.

Soon? We'll be transitioning our editorship and thus, our editorial offices to a new Editor-in-Chief. It's been announced in passing elsewhere, but we're thrilled to note that as of Fall 2025, Dr. Caleb Carr (Illinois State U, USA) is our new editor. =)

Again, this is the first time JMP has given this award. Congratulations, Rachel!

She adds, “The academy doesn’t function without collaboration and helpful critique, and working with the great editorial team at JMP helps make that happen. I also (selfishly) like the advanced preview to the newest work in the field of course.”

Rachel Bailey enjoys reviewing for JMP because “I like to see papers become the best they can be.”

This is the first time we have used this category because we have never had a reviewer chosen for their outstanding work by nearly every single editor at JMP! Congratulations to Rachel Bailey, for being the first to receive this award!

The last category of reviewers we would like to recognize is “Editor’s Choice of the Year.”

Douglas is “one of our most dependable and thoughtful reviewers.” Our editors appreciate his attention to detail and openness to new theories and concepts. Specifically, his ability to cite current and contemporary theories is what helps push the manuscript & its authors.

Last but certainly not least...our final "Reviewer of the Year" is Douglas Parry (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands)!