Is Sage Open an Actual Academic Journal?

On Saturday, 9 March 2024, I received a rejection decision from a non-academic individual from the journal Sage Open for a paper (SO-20-3070) that I had submitted on 29 August 2020 and that had received three positive peer reviews suggesting acceptance on 7 September 2021, raising questions about the journal’s academic merits.

The story of that weird academic experience started at the end of August 2020 when I submitted a paper of mine (SO-20-3070) at Sage Open because it dealt with general social sciences as a thematic focus, and it was open access with a fee of 800USD. I got a fast decision (Major Revision) on the 1^st of December 2020, and reviews that were quite beneficial pointed out flaws in the paper and suggested how to correct them and strengthen the manuscript.

Community views: obstacles to globalising media research

First Published on the website of the Global Media Studies Network (https://globalmediastudies.network/blog/obstacles-to-global-diversity/), MARCH 15, 2023

By Cherian George and Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis

When we asked our network how to make media studies research more globally diverse and inclusive, thoughtful responses arrived from every continent, from senior academics, early-career scholars, and PhD students. They talked about linguistic barriers; the lack of interest in the non-west among the field’s tastemakers; how a narrow understanding of theoretical rigour marginalises work on the Global South; and how performance metrics adopted by non-western universities undermines their own ability to serve their communities’ needs.

‘Top-tier’ journals: Does a global reputation mean a global orientation?

• First Published on the website of the Global Media Studies Network (https://globalmediastudies.network/blog/journals-how-global/), MARCH 20, 2023

By Cherian George and Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis

Academia as an industry has come to rely on journal impact factors as convenient proxy measures of faculty members’ research quality. As competition intensifies — among individuals, departments, and universities —  such bibliometrics have grown in importance. At many institutions, researchers are pushed to publish in journals that are highly ranked.

Many scholars of non-western societies have long noted, though, that “top-tier” journals, while international in reputation, are far from global in orientation. This is an issue that we and our colleagues in the Global Media Studies Network are keen to discuss.

Awards, IAMCR2021, AEJMC2021 & the Macedonian Name

In the passed days, I had the opportunity to present my research about the recent events concerning the Macedonian Name Dispute (MND) at IAMCR2021 & AEJMC2021. All five research papers are dealing with different aspects of the name dispute, including new theoretical contributions.

Lectures & Interview

The second lecture (“Journalistic Practices and the Environment”, 31/03/2021)

I gave two lectures in Greek, “Theories of Environmental Communication” and “Journalistic Practices and the Environment” at the Department of Digital Media and Communication at Ionian University in March.

New Publication – Sustainability

Karyotakis, M.-A., & Antonopoulos, N. (2021). Web Communication: A Content Analysis of Green Hosting Companies. Sustainability 13(2), 495. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020495 [Pdf (2.9 MB)]

Interview (Newspaper Makedonia)

At the beginning of April, I gave an interview in the Greek newspaper Makedonia about my studies at the School of Communication at Hong Kong Baptist University. Makedonia is one of the oldest newspapers in Greece, and, thus, I am glad that I had the privilege to talk about my studies in such a prominent newspaper.

Data Journalism & Environmental Communication (publications)

Two new research outputs of mine (Data Journalism & Environmental Communication encyclopedia entries) were published:

• Antonopoulos, N., & Karyotakis, M.-A. (2020). Data Journalism. In D. L. Merskin (Ed.), The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society (Vol. 1, pp. 440-441). Thousands Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483375519.n175

• Antonopoulos, N., & Karyotakis, M.-A. (2020). Environmental Communication. In D. L. Merskin (Ed.), The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society (Vol. 1, pp. 551-552). Thousands Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483375519.n221

See below a preview of the two entries:

New Publication – Media Watch

Karyotakis, M.-A., Kiourexidou, M., & Antonopoulos, N. (2019). Media and YouTube Appeal in Social Movement Mobilization: The Case of Anti-Tourism Incident. Media Watch 10(3), 687-701. https://doi.org/10.15655/mw/2019/v10i3/49691 [Pdf (185 KB)]

New Publication – Future Internet

Karyotakis, M.-A., Lamprou, E., Kiourexidou, M., & Antonopoulos, N. (2019). SEO Practices: A Study about the Way News Websites Allow the Users to Comment on Their News Articles. Future Internet, 11(9), 188. https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11090188

Abstract