International History of Public Relations Conference

CALL for papers 2018

Organised by the Public Relations Research Group of the Faculty of Media and Communication, Bournemouth University, UK

Academics, practitioners and research students are again invited to submit competitive abstracts and papers for presentation at the ninth running of the International History of Public Relations Conference (IHPRC) to be held on July 11-12, 2018 at Bournemouth University.

The first eight IHPRCs have been very successful and have made an important contribution to public relations and communications history scholarship. Proceedings, presentations and keynote presentations, are available at http://historyofpr.com.

Conference themes

Among the themes IHPRC continues to promote are:

• The history of public relations and its developing or diverging relationships with other disciplines such as marketing, HR, legal and corporate governance
• The historiography of public relations and the application of historical theories and interpretations to the history of PR; alternative and unheard histories and herstories; archaeological methodologies and theoretical analyses
• Seminal personalities or events that shaped the formation of public relations as a discipline (This can also include challenges to the “Great Man” or “Great Woman” approach)
• History of the PR/Communication departments of organisations (companies, associations, political organisations, NGOs, etc.)
• History of PR instruments (press releases, press conferences, campaigns, social media, etc.)
• Alternative approaches to the history of public relations, e.g. on the basis of culture (personal networks and influence) or via definitions of public relations
• The evolving naming of the field from propaganda and press agentry to corporate and strategic communications
• The evolution of public relations in nations, government and industry
• The history of public relations in specific sectors (for example, consultancy, education, health, and politics)
• The public relations of dissent and activism; historical analysis of public relations in activist and non-profit campaigns
• The evolution of public relations theory(ies) over time; the history of schools of thinking in public relations
• The formation of industry and professional bodies and their impact on public relations practice and education; professionalisation of public relations
• The ethics of public relations and its discussion over time
• Oral histories of public relations; discussion of this methodology

Submissions

Papers for presentation at IHPRC 2018 will be selected, after peer review, on the basis of abstracts, of no more than two pages total length, including any references. The abstract should express the purpose, methodology, findings, implications/limitations and originality of the study. Author and affiliation details are to be printed on a separate sheet and the author(s) should not be identified in the abstract.

Abstracts must be presented in Word format, 12 point font size, single spacing with 1-inch (25mm) margins on A4 page size. For presentational examples, please see: Abstracts_2017 IHPRC

Publications

Manuscripts have been sought for submission to the most established journals of the PR discipline. Papers from the conference have mostly been published in Special Issues in Public Relations Review. Specifically:

Journal of Communication Management (2011), 15(3)

Public Relations Review (2012), 38(3)

Public Relations Review (2013), 39(2)

Public Relations Review (2014), 40(4)

Journal of Public Relations Research (2015), 27(3)

Public Relations Review (2016), 42(5)

Journal of Public Relations Research (2017), 29(1)

The next special issue will be in Public Relations Review, which will be published in 2018 (guest editors: Dr Tasos Theofilou and Professor Tom Watson).

Deadlines

• Submission of abstracts: Monday, December 18, 2017 to prhistory@bournemouth.ac.uk
• Acceptance notification (by email): w/c January 29th, 2018

All accepted abstracts will be published online prior to the conference.

Conference Venue and Registration

IHPRC will be held at Bournemouth University’s Executive Business Centre. Conference Registration is arranged via http://historyofpr.com. Please go to the ‘registration’ tab from March 2018 onwards.

Keep in touch You can follow IHPRC through its Facebook group and on Twitter, @historyofpr