Mobile Media & Communication is a peer-reviewed forum for international, interdisciplinary academic research on the dynamic field of mobile media and communication. The journal publishes primarily social scientific and humanistic scholarship engaging broadly with the topic of mobility in communication and media. The study of mobile media and communication focuses on how mobile devices, platforms, and networked infrastructures shape the movement of human bodies, social life, psychology, and culture. The journal welcomes studies and analyses of the wider social, cultural, political, and governance implications of mobile media and communication – for instance, analysis from political science and theory perspectives of mobile communication, mainstream and alternative politics, the role of mobile communication in new formations of political life, activism, and so on.
 
Contributions may include, but are not limited to, explorations of the following topics:

Social and cultural dimensions of mobile communication

    The ubiquitous presence of mobile communication in everyday life.
    The embeddedness of mobile communication within social networks, and the mutual shaping of technology and social structures.
    Cultural differences in mobile communication.
    Mobile communication in the Global South.
    The interconnections between mobile communication and marginalized groups.
    Policy, power, and political perspectives on mobile communication.
    Mobile communication and the contemporary media landscape
    Specific ‘cultures’ of mobile communication and media, and their implications for how we understand contemporary culture.
    Media representations of mobile communication.
    Industries, innovation structures, entrepreneurship, and political economy of mobile communication and media.
    Policy and regulatory concerns raised by mobile communication and media.
     
Spatial, geographic, and sustainability perspectives

    Mobile communication in urban, suburban, and rural spaces.
    The social functions played by mobile media across different communities, locations, and regions internationally.
    Local uses and experiences of mobile communication.
    The geopolitics of mobile communication.
    The environmental and sustainability dynamics and implications of mobile communication and mobile media.
     
Histories and futures of mobile communication

    History of mobile media
    AI and mobile communication
    Emergence of new uses, experiences, negotiation of norms, and symbolic representation by producers and users.
     
Applied domains and uses

    Mobile learning and education.
    Mobile health.
    Mobile journalism and civic engagement.
    Mobile gaming.
    Mobiles and development.
    Mobiles and digital inequalities.
    Persuasion through mobile media in various domains.
    Disconnection from mobile media and communication.
     
The 10th Anniversary Special Issue and the inaugural issue further explain and define the field of mobile media and communication.

Mobile Media & Communication embraces a wide range of methodologies, including quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as critical, interpretive, and creative approaches. It welcomes perspectives from cultural studies, sociology, political economy, historical, and archival research. 
 
Articles published in this journal should draw on literature from within mobile communication studies and discuss the mobile nature of user perceptions and experiences. For example, is there something about being able to communicate from a variety of locations that produces different experiences from using a stationary device in a single location? Or, is there something about the possibility of being constantly available for communication that makes the use of mobile apps a uniquely mobile experience? How does our experience of communication and our surrounding space change when we are able to communicate while moving about? Rather than simply focusing on mobile devices, platforms or apps, we are interested in engagement with the human and spatial experiences of being able to communicate while mobile.
 
Decentering from specific devices implies that articles published in this journal must consider a wider (cultural, political, social, spatial) context. For example, “phubbing” is an activity in which the use of a technological device while in the presence of others can lead to individuals feeling as though they have been snubbed. However, mobile studies have shown that not all co-present mobile interactions lead others to feel snubbed, and that instead it can be a normal part of interaction in certain populations or cultural contexts. Therefore, while the topic of phubbing is potentially appropriate for the journal, a study that focuses on this topic must explicitly consider the context in which mobiles are used and not simply define phubbing as any use of mobile devices during co-present interactions (see Campbell, 2022, Deneker et al., 2024, and Frackowiak, 2025). Studies that fail to take this larger context into account would not be appropriate for the journal.