The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (JCMC) is a web-based, peer-reviewed scholarly journal. Its focus is social science research on communicating with computer-based media technologies. Within that general purview, the journal is broadly interdisciplinary, publishing work by scholars in communication, business, education, political science, sociology, psychology, media studies, information science, and other disciplines. Acceptable formats for submission include original research articles and meta-analyses of prior research.
JCMC is one of the oldest web-based Internet studies journals in existence, having been published quarterly continuously since June 1995. The journal was started by Margaret McLaughlin and Sheizaf Rafaeli in response to the growth of CMC scholarship in the early- to mid-1990s. The founding editors had the vision to make JCMC an open-access, online journal. This, combined with high quality standards, proved to be a recipe for success: today JCMC is widely read and cited by CMC scholars around the world. In 2004, JCMC became an official journal of the International Communication Association.
