International Journal of Communication

What International Journal of Communication does

The International Journal of Communication (IJoC) is an online, multi-media, interdisciplinary academic journal published by USC Annenberg Press at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Founded in 2007, the journal has published continuously for twenty volumes (through 2026) and operates on a fully open-access model with no article processing charges or submission fees. It engages established and emerging scholars worldwide, applying double-blind peer review and publishing peer-reviewed research articles alongside Special Sections, Forum essays, Features, and Book Reviews. The journal is ranked 6th among all Humanities, Literature & Arts journals and 9th among Communication journals on Google Scholar.

The journal is built on Open Journal Systems 3 (OJS), open-source journal management and publishing software developed by the Public Knowledge Project under GNU GPL, with distributed preservation through LOCKSS and permanent archival on a USC Annenberg D-Space server. Content is released bi-monthly on the 15th and 30th of each month (except February and December), and is indexed across DOAJ, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and fifteen-plus other databases. The journal also supports audio and video content as part of its multi-media format.

IJoC operates as a non-profit scholarly publication rather than a commercial enterprise, with a small editorial team of roughly 13 people under Editor Silvio Waisbord. Primary funding comes from the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, with additional support from named sponsors including Microsoft Research and individual donors (danah boyd, Jonathan Donner). The journal markets through social media channels (X, Bluesky), RSS feeds, and academic database indexing, distributing all content freely to a global audience of scholars, researchers, academic libraries, and graduate students.

Name

International Journal of Communication

Legal name

International Journal of Communication

Website

https://ijoc.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

IJoC is an open-access, peer-reviewed academic journal in communication studies published by USC Annenberg Press. Serving scholars, researchers, and academic libraries worldwide, it has published continuously since 2007 with no article processing or submission fees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Journal Publishing

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (51312), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Academic & Scholarly Journals Publishing (Peer-Reviewed) (MPAJABAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Open Access Scholarly Journals & Monographs (EDAGAFAJ)

Keywords

• Academic journal publishing
• Open access publishing
• Scholarly peer review
• Interdisciplinary communication research
• Digital scholarly publication

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Institutional Funding: Primary funding from USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Additional support from individual sponsors and Microsoft Research.
2. Author Fees (Copyediting Overage): Authors exceeding 9,000 word limit charged $30 per 250 words over. Special Sections and Forums funded by guest editors. No article processing charges or submission fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The International Journal of Communication is an online, multi-media, interdisciplinary academic journal that publishes peer-reviewed scholarly research in communication studies and related disciplines. Operated by USC Annenberg Press using Open Journal Systems 3, it delivers open-access content including research articles, Special Sections, Forum essays, Features, and Book Reviews bi-monthly with no article processing charges or submission fees.

Product overview

The International Journal of Communication (IJoC) is a single, unified open-access academic journal published by USC Annenberg Press. It does not operate a platform-plus-modules architecture. The journal publishes multiple content types within one unified offering: peer-reviewed research Articles (the core content), Special Sections (curated thematic collections with editorial introductions), Forum essays (shorter discussion pieces), Features (opinion/op-ed pieces), and Book Reviews. All content is freely available online through Open Journal Systems 3, with no article processing charges or submission fees. The journal publishes one volume per year, with articles posted bi-monthly.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• International Journal of Communication (IJoC) An online, multi-media, interdisciplinary academic journal that adheres to the highest standards of peer review and engages established and emerging scholars from anywhere in the world. Publishes peer-reviewed research articles in communication studies and related disciplines, freely accessible to readers worldwide with no article processing charges or submission fees.

Quantifiable outcome

• Ranked 6th among all Humanities, Literature & Arts journals on Google Scholar
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• USC Annenberg School for Communication & JournalismcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary institutional sponsor and publisher of the journal. Provides funding, infrastructure, and administrative support through USC Annenberg Press. The journal is housed at and published by the Annenberg School.
• Public Knowledge ProjectcoreTechnology or IntegrationDevelops and supports Open Journal Systems 3 (OJS), the open-source publishing software platform used by the journal. OJS is distributed freely under GNU General Public License.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Journal of Communication: One of the highest-ranked peer-reviewed academic journals in communication studies, published by Oxford University Press. Directly comparable to IJoC in audience (communication scholars), peer-review rigor, and disciplinary scope, though it operates under a subscription/paid-access model rather than open access.
• New Media & Society: A leading SAGE-published journal covering interdisciplinary research on new media, communication technology, and society. Directly comparable to IJoC in editorial mission, interdisciplinary scope, and target author base within communication and media studies.
• Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication: An Oxford University Press open-access journal focused on communication mediated by digital technologies. Highly comparable to IJoC in open-access publishing model, interdisciplinary digital communication scope, and target audience of communication and media scholars.
• Media, Culture & Society: A SAGE-published journal addressing media research across sociology, political economy, and cultural studies. Directly comparable to IJoC in interdisciplinary scope and academic audience, serving overlapping author and reader communities in communication and media studies.
• Communication Theory: An Oxford University Press journal focused on theoretical and conceptual work in communication studies. Comparable to IJoC as a peer-reviewed scholarly venue serving the same academic community, with a narrower theoretical rather than interdisciplinary orientation.
• Information, Communication & Society: A Taylor & Francis journal covering the social, political, and cultural dimensions of information and communication technologies. Comparable to IJoC in publishing peer-reviewed interdisciplinary research on communication, media, and digital society for a global scholarly audience.

Broad incumbents

• PLOS ONE: A large-scale open-access mega-journal from the Public Library of Science covering all scientific disciplines. Comparable to IJoC as an open-access, peer-reviewed scholarly venue without subscription barriers, but with vastly broader disciplinary scope and much larger operational scale.
• SAGE Open: An open-access journal from SAGE Publishing spanning multiple disciplines including communication, media studies, and social sciences. Comparable to IJoC in open-access publishing model and scholarly audience, but operates within SAGE's larger commercial publishing portfolio.
• MDPI Journals: A large commercial open-access publisher producing numerous peer-reviewed journals across disciplines, including communications-related titles. Comparable to IJoC in open-access publishing philosophy and rapid peer review, but operates a much larger scale APC-based model.

Emerging players

• Frontiers in Communication: A relatively newer open-access journal from Frontiers publishing peer-reviewed research across communication subfields. Comparable to IJoC in open-access model and interdisciplinary communication scope, but operates as part of the larger Frontiers publishing platform with broader editorial scale and APC-based revenue.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/IJoC_USC
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/international-journal-of-communication

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about International Journal of Communication