About the Journal
History of the journal
The International Network on the Professionalization of Communicators (RESIPROC) brings together Belgian, Canadian and French researchers and practitioners. It was created in 2011 to understand the evolution of communication practices, to question the role of university training in communication, to strengthen the dialogue between professional and academic communities and, ultimately, to define what is meant by professionalization in communication.
In order to promote this research, the network launches Les Cahiers du RESIPROC, under the direction of François Lambotte (professor in communication at UCL- LASCO, Belgium).
In 2015, Les Cahiers changed its name to Communication et professionnalisation. This change has a double objective: on the one hand, to make the editorial project and its positioning in CIS more directly readable and explicit; on the other hand, to remove a possible ambiguity about the term "Cahiers", which does not sufficiently translate the functioning of a scientific publication. In 2017, the journal will be published twice a year.
The journal is included in the list of qualifying journals in France (CNU71) and is recognised in Italy by the Ministry of Research.
Editorial Policy and expected contributions
The journal Communication & Professionalisation explores professionalisation in communication and information through empirical studies, critical analyses and cross-disciplinary reflections, from an international and multidisciplinary perspective, and is aimed at researchers, practitioners and students.
It examines issues relating to the professionalisation of communication and information from three angles (Rouleau 2013) (practitioners, professional practices and praxis) and the tensions that exist between them.
- The practitioners' perspective focuses on those who actively participate in organisational communication, on professionals whose jobs involve communication, information and documentation, and on actors in other professional fields whose practices increasingly incorporate communication and information skills and issues.
- The professional practices angle invites us to examine the documents, tools, procedures, standards and ethics that underpin communication, information and documentation work.
- Finally, the praxis angle invites us to analyse the activities, routines, processes and interactions that constitute communication and information, their challenges and their professionalisation.
The journal invites contributions that address these dynamics from different perspectives specific to information and communication sciences, but remains fully open to other disciplines (language sciences, management sciences, sociology, economics, etc.).
The journal mainly welcomes scientific contributions within the framework of thematic dossiers supervised by guest editors. It also welcomes, in the ‘varia’ section, various contributions, which are first reviewed by the editorial committee to ensure that they are in line with the editorial policy of the journal and the RESIPROC network. All articles are double-blind reviewed, with particular attention paid to the originality of the contributions and compliance with good editorial practices (e.g. absence of plagiarism, declared use of generative AI, respect for copyright, commitment to scientific quality and disciplinary diversity).
It also provides a forum for professional expression through interviews with professionals and student work. Across the board, it ensures that its thematic reflections are linked to their implications for communication and information training.
(Rouleau, L. (2013). Strategy-as-practice research at a crossroads. M@n@gement, 16, 574‑592. https://doi.org/10.3917/mana.165.0574)
A journal in continuous publication
Communication & Professionnalisation intends to implement its transition to open access electronic publishing by adopting a continuous publication mode: several thematic dossiers are opened simultaneously on the journal's website, and the articles submitted and accepted for publication in these dossiers are published one by one on the website, as they are finalized, without waiting for the entire dossier to be ready for publication. This is intended to speed up and reinvigorate the publishing process, so that authors can see their articles published more quickly. This new way of operating has the added advantage of encouraging a new form of scientific debate. Indeed, during the period when an issue is open, the thematic could evolve, the different authors could react to articles already published, comments could dynamize the edition.
Double-blind evaluation procedure
Each contribution proposed to the journal is subject to a double-blind evaluation as follows.
- The submission is subject to a first reading by the editor(s) in charge of a thematic issue. If the submission is deemed eligible, the editor(s) assigns it to two reviewers who conduct a full evaluation of the submission.
- On the basis of their respective evaluations (within a maximum of three months), the editors communicate the result of the evaluation to the author(s) (contribution accepted without modification, accepted with minor modification, resubmission, or rejection).
- In the case of resubmission, the new version of the contribution is resubmitted for double-blind review.
- Once the contribution is accepted for publication, it is edited, proofread and returned to the author(s) for final validation before publication.
Submission standards
