Crisis Communication in Context: History and Publication Trends

This study aims to describe the development of crisis communication as a subfield of Communication Studies, through an analysis of data taken from journal publications. By tracing the origins of crisis communication, this study identifies some of the primary forces that have influenced its development. Next, the results of an analysis of crisis communication articles drawn from twelve periodicals over nineteen years within the larger communication discipline are offered. The results suggest that Journal of Applied Communication Research has been the most common outlet for this subdiscipline, human subjects data accounts for less than half of the published research, and that crisis communication articles are often prominently featured in mainstream Communication journals. An authorship analysis suggests leading scholars in the subdiscipline, and potential centers of excellence at Wayne State University, Michigan State, and the University of Central Florida