Title: Future of communication journals in Spain

Se presentan los principales resultados de un estudio cualitativo llevado a cabo entre noviembre de 2010 y febrero de 2011 sobre el futuro de las revistas científicas de comunicación en España. La técnica de investigación utilizada fue el método Delphi y se contó con la participación de una muestra significativa de los directores de las principales revistas académicas de comunicación. Las conclusiones revelan las tendencias de futuro más relevantes para estas publicaciones, que en los últimos años han experimentado una gran expansión, tanto en número como en influencia, debido al auge de la investigación comunicológica en España.The results of a qualitative investigation carried out between November 2010 and February 2011, on the future of the scientific journals specializing in media and communication in Spain are summarized. The research methodology used was the Delphi method based on the answers provided by the editors of the most important journals in this field. The main purpose was to provide a descriptive analysis of the current situation, along with a prospective analysis to attempt to foresee the future development of these publications.Ciencias de la Comunicació

Empirical Legal Studies Before 1940: A Bibliographic Essay

The modern empirical legal studies movement has well-known antecedents in the law and society and law and economics traditions of the latter half of the 20th century. Less well known is the body of empirical research on legal phenomena from the period prior to World War II. This paper is an extensive bibliographic essay that surveys the English language empirical legal research from approximately 1940 and earlier. The essay is arranged around the themes in the research: criminal justice, civil justice (general studies of civil litigation, auto accident litigation and compensation, divorce, small claims, jurisdiction and procedure, civil juries), debt and bankruptcy, banking, appellate courts, legal needs, legal profession (including legal education), and judicial staffing and selection. Accompanying the essay is an extensive bibliography of research articles, books, and reports

A meta-analysis of the pique technique of compliance

A random-effects meta-analysis was undertaken to examine the effectiveness of the pique technique of compliance-gaining. Results indicated an overall significant effect of the pique technique on increased compliance rate across 17 comparisons (r = .27). Moderator analyses showed the technique worked significantly better than controls in gaining compliance when a smaller amount was requested, when the reason for the request was included, and when the technique was used in France. In addition, the pique technique was more successful than control requests in terms of the total amount of money or time given by participants and the percentage of participants inquiring about the requests. Theoretical and practical implications for the success of pique technique are discussed for future research

The “that’s-not-all” compliance-gaining technique: when does it work?

The that’s-not-all (TNA) compliance-gaining technique offers a product at an initial price and then improves the deal by either lowering the price or adding an extra product before the target responds to the final and adjusted offer. A meta-analysis with 18 comparisons examining the effectiveness of the TNA strategy found that the technique is a reliable method for increasing compliance (r = .16). Moderator analyses showed that the technique is effective when the purchase of a product is requested, when the price of a product offered in the final request is lower, and when the concession size is not too large. It is argued that the principles of hedonic editing and mindlessness account for the TNA effect

Journal impact factor or intellectual influence? A content analysis of citation use in Communication Monographs and Human Communication Research (2007–2009)

► Journal impact factors are defined in the essay. ► Journal impact factors are conceptually differentiated from intellectual influence on other scholars’ work. ► Two journals with different impact factors are content analyzed. ► Findings were that journal impact factor was not indicative of the influence work published had on theoretical or methodological advancement. ► Implications are that scholars’ work should not be evaluated on the basis of the impact factors for the journals in which it is published. Journal impact factors typically rely on the number of citations to a journal as well as the number of citable items published in the journal during specific time parameters. If journal impact factors accurately differentiate journals along a quality continuum, journals with higher impact factors should be referenced more often than journals with lower impact factors as sources of influence on scholars’ conceptual and methodological approaches to inquiry. To investigate this claim, a sample consisting of all twelve issues of Human Communication Research (HCR) and Communication Monographs (CM) published from 2007 through 2009 were content analyzed and every citation to either journal in the articles appearing in HCR and CM was coded. Results indicated that, despite higher impact factors for HCR, there were not more citations to HCR than CM as sources of conceptual or methodological influence appearing in articles appearing in HCR or CM

An examination of three theoretical models to explain the organ donation attitude-registration discrepancy among mature adults

An inconsistency in the research indicates positive attitudes toward organ donation do not map reliably onto organ donor registrations. Various models have sought to explain this inconsistency and the current analysis formally compared three models: the Bystander Intervention Model (BIM), the Organ Donor Model (ODM), and Vested Interest Theory (VIT). Mature (N = 688) adults between the ages of 50 to 64 years completed surveys related to organ donation. Results revealed that VIT accounted for the most variance in organ donation registrations followed by the BIM and ODM. The discussion emphasizes the importance of employing theories to explain a phenomenon as well as the practical implications of the findings