Call for Papers: The Value of Null, CSR and Corporate Social Advocacy Research through Non-Findings
Published:
Special Section of Public Relations Review
Journal: Public Relations Review (Elsevier)
Manuscript deadline: January 5, 2027
Guest editors: Amy O’Connor (University of Minnesota), Hyejoon Rim (Chinese University of Hong Kong), Hao Xu (University of Melbourne), Luke Capizzo (Michigan State University)
This special section takes on the file-drawer problem in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social advocacy (CSA) research. The editors want theoretically grounded, well-executed studies whose results were null or unstable and therefore never published, including null components cut from published studies. CSR and CSA were chosen because stakeholder responses are highly context-sensitive and prone to unstable effects under moralization and polarization.
Welcome topics
- replications or extensions of established CSR and CSA communication effects
- tests of boundary conditions and robustness of commonly observed effects
- CSR and CSA communication strategies
- context-specific variation in CSR and CSA outcomes
Submission notes
Up to 8,000 words excluding references. Submissions should describe the original study and its theoretical rationale, give a full account of the method, and present the null results with an extended discussion of their theoretical and methodological implications; contributions are judged on how the null findings refine assumptions, mechanisms or scope conditions. Double-blind review. Select the article type “VSI: The value of ‘null’” in the journal’s submission system. The optional 500-word abstract screening closed October 1, 2026, but authors may still contact any guest editor with questions.