Identifying Research Gaps and Opportunities as Journal’s Fiftieth Anniversary Nears

ABSTRACT In anticipation of Journalism History’s fiftieth year of publication, the History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication commissioned this audit of the journal’s content beginning with the first issue in 1974. A total of 727 research essays were coded for author demographics and focus on historical period and media type as well as various diversity factors. While the analysis showed an increasing research focus on gender and race/ethnicity, it revealed a dearth of scholarship examining disability and sexual orientation in historical context. In addition, it found a substantial gender gap in gender-related research, with nearly half of articles by women focused on gender versus less than 20% of articles by men. The discussion addresses implications and opportunities for future scholarship.