International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

Scholarly communication (sometimes called “scientific communication”) refers to studies of the dissemination of knowledge through scholars' activities including memberships in professional organizations, hiring practices, and academic publication (journals, books, conference papers). Because of the diverse subject matter and variety of theoretical perspectives that constitute communication, its scholars have engaged in empirical research and discussion about its structure, antecedent conditions that created its current form, and how the idealized field should look. Much of this research has used network analytic methods and focuses specifically on the communication discipline, so that quite a bit is known about the network structure of communication and citation patterns across disciplines (→ Communication: Definitions and Concepts ; Communication as a Field and Discipline ; Communication Theory and Philosophy ). Traditionally, scholarly discussion describing communication has bifurcated the field into two sub-disciplines, mass communication and →  interpersonal communication , although such a characterization is probably an oversimplification. The field may be further subdivided into intradisciplinary divisions based on such characteristics as specific channels studied (interpersonal, mass, and the new digital media), levels of analysis (micro vs macro), specific applied contexts ... log in or subscribe to read full text