Examining risk communication, crisis management, as well as the implications of the decisions made, and actions taken to combat a global pandemic.

Guest Editor – Professor Yan Jin

Georgia Athletic Association Professor in Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication; Professor, Department of Advertising and Public Relations; Associate Director, Center for Health & Risk Communication, University of Georgia, United States.

Objectives and Scope of the Special Issue:

On January 30, 2020 the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) a “public health emergency of international concern). Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that include MERS and SARS and it is believed it was initially spread from animals to humans with the epicentre in Wuhan, China. It has subsequently spread throughout Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East, and several countries in Africa. In response to the pandemic, public health officials and governments worldwide have taken steps to mitigate the spread of infection with seemingly extreme recommendations, requirements, and restrictions. Organizations have also taken steps to respond by developing guidance for international travel for employees, recommendations for working at home, and cancelling major events. Finally, people have also reacted as sales of hygiene products have skyrocketed creating shortages in products like masks, hand sanitizer, and even toilet paper.

Broadly, our aim in this issue is to use crisis and risk communication knowledge, experience, and research to shed light on a crisis that has received significant heat in the last few months. As such there are broad three objectives in this issue:

1. Deconstruct the COVID-19 crisis in a meaningful way to better understand lessons for future pandemic crisis planning, and actions.
2. Analyze the existing and emergent risks associated with COVID-19, organizational or institutional reactions to it, and public self-protection actions taken (or not).
3. Evaluate the (de)escalating factors affecting the pandemic and its outcome(s) in order to build strategic recommendations for future pandemics and public health crises.
4. Advance crisis and risk communication theory via conceptual and methodological innovation that provides evidence-based insights for COVID-19 and future public health crisis prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery.

Examples of topics suitable to this issue could include:

• Critical examinations of government policy, decision-making, & the communication of those decisions
• Evaluations of reactions to the pandemic in/across different sectors (e.g., public sector, private sector, NGOs, etc.)
• Cross-cultural explorations reactions and factors driving reactions to the pandemic
• Risk analyses of the short, medium, and long-term implications of the pandemic
• Specific analyses of messages to manage risk perception

• Online and offline conversations about the disease, risk perception, and risk management
• Outcome risk assessment (e.g., what could happen as a result of the crisis)
• Information & communication expectations and challenges (e.g., misinformation and disinformation) during the pandemic
• Socially responsible behavior and ethical considerations in the wake of a global pandemic

This is not an exhaustive list, but successful papers will meaningfully build their rationale around at least one of the three objectives identified in this call. All methodologies, ontological perspectives, and theoretical approaches are acceptable.

Submissions

Submissions to this special issue should follow the process outlined on: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/submit.cgi?context=jicrcr and authors can find more information about the journal’s guidance for authors at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/jicrcr/styleguide.html.

Submission deadline: December 4, 2020

About the Journal

The Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research (JICRCR) is the first scholarly journal dedicated to human and mediated communication issues associated with crises, risks, and emergencies around the world. JICRCR publishes original theoretical and scientific articles and brief reports that stimulate debate and contribute to the knowledge of crisis and risk communication. JICRCR intends to be the premier outlet for authors to submit crisis and risk communication research. The Journal is supported by an international editorial board comprised of top risk and crisis communication scholars. The journal publishes articles in a print version and open access online, which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or institution. Users are allowed to read, download, print, or link to the full texts of the articles, without asking prior permission from JICRCR. For more information about the journal visit: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/jicrcr/about.html