The gap between professional and research agendas in public relations journals

Introduction of a new journal devoted to research in public relations signals the continuing professionalization of the field and expanding body of knowledge underlying the practice. It also is an appropriate context for again considering the knowledge base of public relations and for reporting an empirical study of what some perceive as a gap between professional and research agendas. This chapter is intended as something of a "situation analysis" with respect to the professional and scholarly literature on public relations available to researchers, practitioners, teachers, and students. Concern about the relationship between public relations research and public relations practice motivates the analysis. The empirical portion of our analysis is an inventory of the content of Public Relations Journal and Public Relations Review. The analysis begins, however, with a review of recent assessments of public relations research and its relationship to the practice.