From Introducing the World Wide Web to Teaching Advertising in the Digital Age: A Content Analysis of the Past Twenty Years of the "Journal of Advertising Education".

IntroductionTwenty years ago, the Advertising Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) launched the first journal to focus exclusively on teaching advertising (Marra & Avery, 1996). Since its beginning in the spring of 1996, the Journal of Advertising Education's (JAE) goal was to "help advertising faculty teach" (Marra & Avery, 1996, p. 4). James Marra and Jim Avery, the AEJMC Advertising Division heads who helped launch the journal, stated that before the first issue of JAE was published, "advertising education never could claim its own medium to embrace and then assist, guide, and refine the lofty mission of teaching" (Marra & Avery, 1996, p. 4).Since its first edition, journal contributors have explored a range of topics, and JAE has been publishing research in various areas of advertising education, including media planning, creative, account planning, marketing, student competitions, curriculum, and employment and internships. Contributors also have explored how pedagogical innovations can be applied to advertising education. In addition to exploring an array of topics, JAE has embraced a variety of methods, ranging from surveys and quasi-experimental studies to interviews and case studies.JAE is a peer-reviewed scholarly publication that addresses issues related to instruction, curriculum and leadership in advertising education. The journal is unique because it has always been self-published by the AEJMC Advertising Division. Advertising professors, administrators and graduate students in the United States constitute the journal's audiences (JAE, n. d.).This study's objective is to examine JAE's 20 years of contributions to advertising education research, while also providing an in-depth look at the research trends and practices that have shaped the journal with regard to methods, authorship and content focus. This article will also explore the dynamics of the institutions and authors who have made this journal a resource for advertising educators. To achieve these goals, this research reviews 20 years of JAE content inductively to identify research trends. Then, the study quantitatively content analyzes JAE according to research topic, method, Carnegie Classification and authorship practice. The analysis concludes by comparing JAE with its peer publications.Literature ReviewSince 1996, JAE's first year of publication, the advertising profession and, consequently, the practices in advertising education have rapidly evolved. JAE content has kept pace with this evolution on several fronts. Kim, Hayes, Avant and Reid (2014) analyzed advertising research trends from 1980-2010 that parallel trends in advertising practice. The most frequently studied areas in the field included advertising practice, effects, social issues, content and methodology. Although Web-focused research has recently increased in popularity, advertising scholars have traditionally focused on print media analysis (Kim et al, 2014). JAE was quick to adapt to Webbased media innovations, with many articles exploring Internet-related issues in its earliest years (Barnes, 1996; Everett, Siegel & Marchant, 1999; Frisby, 2000). JAE is distinct in its methodological innovation and diversity. JAE embraces a variety of qualitative methodologies, including interviews, textual analysis and personal narratives, although advertising and marketing research tends to be primarily empirically and quantitatively focused (Kim et al, 2014).In addition to matching their research to industry trends and being quick to innovate, advertising professors publishing in JAE also work to establish state-of-the-art industrycentered curricula and coursework. JAE has a history of publishing articles on teaching industry-related skills as they apply to creative (Barnes & Lloyd, 1997; Beard & Tarpenning, 2001; Blakeman & Haley, 2005; Duke, 2001; Habib, 2015; Johnson & Jones, 2010; Robbs, 2010; Stuhlfaut, 2007), media (Kim & Patel, 2012; Kinsky, 2015; Martin, 2002; Slater, Robbs & Lloyd, 2002), account planning (Lavery, 2000; Morrison, Christy & Haley, 2003), internships and employment (Kendrick & Fullerton, 2002; Kendrick & Fullerton, 2003; Maynard & Saewitz, 2008; McMillan, Sheehan, Heinemann & Frazier, 2001; Perlmutter & Fletcher, 1999; Roznowski & Wrigley, 2003; Taylor & Sheehan, 1997; Yoo & Morris, 2015) and student competitions (Fullerton, Kendrick & Frazier, 2009; Marra, Avery & Grabe, 1997; Parker, 2000; Spuler & Marold, 2015; Weir, 1999). …