Doctoral Education Trends: Content Analyses of Dissertations and Job Postings

2026/03/26 by Alyssa Appelman, Huong Ha, Neelofar Ahmad · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Academic Writing and Publishing #Climate Change Communication and Perception #Doctoral Education Challenges and Solutions

paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/10776958261431995

openalex publication_date 2026/03/26 · openalex created_date 2026/03/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

This study analyzes doctoral education trends in journalism and mass communications. Dissertation abstracts ( N = 643) from ACEJMC-accredited schools from 2019 to 2024 were coded; popular topics included underrepresented communities, social media, and health, and popular methods included qualitative interviews. Job postings ( N = 1,067) shared through AEJMC from 2021 to 2024 were also coded; most did not require specific research concentrations or methods, but they explicitly required teaching and professional experience. Implications for graduate students, mentors, and program directors are discussed.

Citations

• A Coefficient of Agreement for Nominal Scales

Discussions

• Congratulations to division member Alyssa Appelman on her second publication this month in Journalism & Mass Communication Educator! [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

Related

• Identifying story types of PhD candidates lecturing in higher professional education: “ups and downs”, “turnaround”, “continuous growth”, and “scholarly recognition”
• Results from a 2016 Pilot Survey on Math Post-docs
• Mentoring Graduate Students: A Study on Academic Rejection, the Pressure to Publish, and Career Paths
• Postdoc publications and citations link to academic retention and faculty success
• What educational researchers present: Trends in research topics and methods based on conference abstracts