Announcement
Guest editors: Tomas Kačerauskas (Professor Dr., Vilnius Tech, Lithuania) Salvatore Schinello (junior researcher, Vilnius Tech, Lithuania)
Topics and key questions
Contemporary society can be defined as a creative society (Kačerauskas, 2022) – a society in which creativity serves as the driving force, permeating all aspects of social life (creative economy, creative city, creative labor, creative communication, etc.). The development of such a society is propelled by the intersection of creative industries, new media, and, most notably, emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (GAI). The year 2022 marked the widespread introduction of ChatGPT and various other machine-learning-based chatbots into everyday life. These tools, often freely available or offered at accessible prices, are constantly evolving and capable of generating content whose quality largely depends on user’s ability to provide well-structured inputs. In this context, it becomes essential to reflect on the impact of these innovations on communication within a creative society. A question arises: How does GAI influence communicative practices in social media? On the one hand, GAI can serve as a powerful tool for facilitating the generation of communicative content, tailored for social media. Furthermore, AI-driven algorithms used for content moderation on digital platforms (Gillespie, 2020) may lead to new forms of (self)censorship. Furthermore, numerous cases of bias and “hallucinations” (Jacob et al., 2025) in AI-generated outputs raise concerns about their role in the spread of misinformation, the production of fake news, and the reinforcement of stereotypes. This prompts further inquiry: What challenges does the ongoing integration of GAI pose for journalism (Zhang and Tornero, 2020) and the strategic communication- based professional fields such as corporate communication, public relations, advertising, etc (Adi, 2023; Guzman & Lewis, 2024; Dong & van den Berg, 2025; Cui, Liu & Yuan, 2025) ? Moreover, in what ways does AI-generated content contribute to the blurring of boundaries between reality and simulation, reinforcing the concept of hyperreality (Baudrillard, 1994) in digital culture and social media? Participants are invited to explore these topics, as well as other critical issues related to the challenges that GAI presents for the creative society.
Planned sections (topics) of the conference:
Philosophical aspects of AI
GAI and social media communication
AI-driven content moderation
Bias and “hallucinations” in AI-generated content
The role of AI in the spread of misinformation and fake news
Algorithms, echo-chambers and polarization
AI in journalism
AI in television and radio studies
AI in film studies
AI in corporate communication
AI in public relations
AI in advertising
AI in creative industries
AI, hyperreality, and digital culture
Ethical issues of AI in communication
Creativity in the age of AI
Multidisciplinary perspectives on AI in the context of a creative society
Please submit abstracts (400-500 words) and a short bio to: connectist@istanbul.edu.tr by December 31, 2025.
Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences is an open access, peer-reviewed and international journal, which has been indexed by ProQuest and EBSCO among others and ranked Q4. Authors whose abstracts are accepted for the special issue of Connectist are expected to present their papers at the Online Conference of The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Communication in the Context of a Creative Society on 26-27 March 2026 before they submit their manuscripts for publication. There will not be a registration fee to attend the online conference or Article Processing Fee (APC) fee to publish in the journal. Connectist is published biannually and uses double-blind peer review for all articles it publishes.
Please contact Salvatore Schinello (salvatore.schinello@vilniustech.lt) should you have any questions.
Important Deadlines
Deadline for abstracts: December 31, 2025
Online Conference: March 26-27, 2026
Deadline for final paper submission: July 6, 2026
Publication Date: December 2026
References
Adi, A. (Eds., 2023) Artificial Intelligence in Public Relations and Communications: cases, reflections, and predictions. Quadriga University of Applied Sciences. Berlin.
Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and Simulation. The University of Michigan Press.
Cui, W., Liu, M. J., & Yuan, R. (2025). Exploring the Integration of Generative AI in Advertising Agencies: A Co-Creative Process Model for Human–AI Collaboration. Journal of Advertising Research, 1-23.
Dong, C., & van den Berg, M. (2025). Revisiting PR professionalism and ethics in the generative AI era through PR practitioners’ insights. Public Relations Review, 51(3), 102582.
Gillespie, T. (2020). Content moderation, AI, and the question of scale, Big Data & Society 7(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951720943234
Guzman, A. L., & Lewis, S. C. (2024). What generative AI means for the media industries, and why it matters to study the collective consequences for advertising, journalism, and public relations. Emerging Media, 2(3), 347-355.
Jacob, C, Kerrigan, P., Bastos, M. (2025). The chat-chamber effect: Trusting the AI hallucination, Big Data & Society 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517241306345
Kačerauskas, T. (2022). Creative Society. Peter Lang Group AG.
Zhang, W., Tornero, J. M. P. (2020). Introduction to AI journalism: Framework and ontology of the trans-domain field for integrating AI into journalism, Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies 12(3): 333-353. https://doi.org/10.1386/ajms_00063_1
Call for Papers for Issue 68
Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal that has been published biannually since 1992. The journal provides a platform for the exchange of scholarly knowledge in the field of communication, inviting original, scientific contributions in English.
We are currently inviting submissions for the upcoming issue, scheduled for June 2025. This issue will focus on a general topic within the communication field, encouraging papers that explore innovative approaches to communication studies from various interdisciplinary perspectives.
We welcome submissions from scholars, researchers, and communication professionals worldwide. Contributions should provide valuable insights that contribute to the ongoing dialogue in communication studies.
Submission Guidelines:
All articles must be original and unpublished.
Manuscripts should be submitted in English.
Articles will undergo a rigorous double-blind peer-review process.
Authors are invited to follow the detailed submission and formatting guidelines provided on the journal’s website.
Important Details:
The journal is indexed in the Web of Science (Emerging Sources Citation Index - ESCI) and is in the process of being indexed in Scopus.
There are no article processing or submission fees.
Istanbul University covers all expenses related to publication.
How to Submit: To submit your manuscript and for detailed author guidelines, please visit: https://iupress.istanbul.edu.tr/en/journal/connectist/information/author-guidelines
For access to the latest issue of Connectist, visit: https://iupress.istanbul.edu.tr/en/journal/connectist/issue/current
We look forward to receiving your submissions and to advancing knowledge in the field of communication.
HEALTH COMMUNICATION
VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
March 04-05, 2025
This call for papers is for publication of a special issue of Connectist. It is combined with a call for submissions to a virtual conference on the same theme, which may precede publication.
Participants in the virtual conference on Health Communication will benefit from feedback and an opportunity to refine or develop work, prior to submission to the associated journal. Also, it will be a great opportunity to network with other researchers from different parts of the world to open a discussion on various emerging topics, compare practices in different communities, and develop research networks.
Successful submission to the journal does not depend upon participation in the conference, and nor does participation in the conference guarantee publication, but we aim that these two activities will support each other, and our participants, as they develop work for publication in the Connectist special issue
Health Communication
If you would like to be considered as a participant for the virtual conference, please submit a word document containing:
- title of the project
- author(s) name
- author(s) affiliation(s)
- author(s) organization(s)
- 500-word abstract.
Submission Deadline: September 22, 2024
Email submissions to connectist@istanbul.edu.tr
Notification of acceptance: October 27, 2024.
Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences is an open access, peer-reviewed and international journal, which has been indexed by ProQuest, EBSCO, Erihplus, TrDizin, DOAJ, SOBIAD and ranked Q4(WoS). There will not be a registration fee to attend the virtual conference or Article Processing Fee (APC) to publish in the journal. ConnectIST is published biannually and uses double-blind peer review for all articles it publishes.
CALL FOR PAPERS: ConnectIST Special Issue
"We are not just fighting the pandemic; we are fighting the infodemic"
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Health has perhaps become a fundamental issue that needs to be addressed together with many different concepts and developments than ever before. Within this requirement, basic concepts such as health communication and health literacy began to need to be evaluated with more up-to-date research and definitions. We see that the concept of communication, technology, cultural diversity, individualized tools and many other topics is prominently included in the evaluation of health-related issues. Traditional definitions need to be framed once again with current approaches, handled together with new concepts and even new definitions need to be put forward.
When we look at Health Communication, we see that it is a discipline that examines the health-related information exchange and interaction of individuals, societies and health professionals.
While this field covers topics such as the prevention and treatment of diseases and the promotion of healthy lifestyles; Health communication aims to understand and improve health-related communication processes by bringing together scientific, cultural and ethical dimensions.
Health communication is a discipline that has a wide scope and includes various communication areas. This scope includes health-related information exchange, health service communication, patient-relative communication, communication of health policies and other dimensions. Interactive and effective management of each area is important for health communication to be successful.
On the other hand, it also includes concepts such as transparency, empathy and cultural sensitivity, which are expected to be carefully maintained between people. It is also seen that it creates the basic values of health communication by encouraging effective communication between individuals.
Health literacy includes the ability to access correct information and services and to use this information and services in order to improve both one's own and the public's health. It also strengthens the correct use of resources, the creation of quality conditions in health services, and thus the individual's competence over his own health and public health to the extent that he can change his lifestyle. For quality healthcare, patients must first be able to describe their complaints accurately and describe the symptoms as they are.
Ideally, patients are expected to ask appropriate questions about the subject and understand medical recommendations and treatment instructions. Therefore, low levels of health literacy can negatively affect people's health and therefore their personal, social and cultural development. Indirectly, starting from the individual, it can also gain a social dimension. In this context, people need to be sufficiently health literate. In order to define the level of health literacy, the framework of health literacy is drawn by taking into account basic factors such as education, health and society.
The concepts of health communication and health literacy have become much more diverse, comprehensive and much more interdisciplinary with the new developments (pandemics, crises and the like), concepts (infodemic, disinformation and others) and especially technological developments (digital health, skin technologies and others) needs to be discussed together with transdisciplinary and intersectional approaches. In this regard, the aim of this issue is to present current approaches, discussions and research in the field within these dimensions and variables.
The issue of the journal aims to focus on eight central areas mainly related with health and communication/literacy can be seen below:
Health and human communication
Health and strategic aspects
Health and media
Health and technology
Health and communities
Health and patient-provider relations
Health and intercultural aspects
Health and emerging concepts
According to the defined central areas, topics stated below may work as a guidance for potential submissions but not limited with these are:
Health communication
Health literacy
Health campaigns
Health information
Infodemic
Digital addiction
Digital fatigue
Health and disinformation
Health and fake news
Health and risk communication
Health and crisis communication
Health and media literacy
Health and technology literacy
Health and visual literacy
Health and agenda setting
Health and public opinion
Health and new media
Health and communication technologies
Health and vulnerable groups
Health and behavior change
Health and public relations
Health and intercultural communication
Health and community engagement
Health and creative industries
Health and journalism