Disinformation

The study of disinformation has seen substantial research interest in the past decade, with a notable increase since 2016. While the practice of disinformation has existed across societies and throughout history, disinformation is now newly salient in a ‘post-truth’ information environment. There is a pressing need for research into the ways that disinformation is shaping our world, and into how the issue might be responded to from local to global scales.

Disinformation: An Interdisciplinary Journal provides a global, peer-reviewed hub for these conversations. Through its fully open access publishing model, with no cost to authors or readers, the journal offers a space for discussion and critique of the concept of disinformation that bridges fragmented approaches and consolidates a rapidly advancing field. The journal aims to build a better understanding of the practice and impact of disinformation and to highlight and evaluate strategies for responding to it, drawing on perspectives from academics, policymakers and practitioners.

The journal recognises that the term ‘disinformation’, as used in contemporary scholarship, remains contested. Traditionally, it has been contrasted against the term ‘misinformation’ through the lens of intentionality – the former suggesting wilful attempts at creating or sharing false and problematic information, and the latter, unintentional spread of false information. The difficulty of defining disinformation stems, in part, from the speed and scale at which information circulates, but also from deeper debates about intentionality, platform responsibility, and the political uses of the term itself. For this reason, the journal adopts a broad understanding of this term, allowing space for debate, critical reflection and interdisciplinary approaches from across the humanities and social sciences.

The journal addresses these issues by promoting interdisciplinary research with international reach and impact. It seeks to highlight Global South and other understudied perspectives in particular. The journal publishes theoretical, empirical and methodological studies, including those that track and investigate disinformation in context, and those that critically examine the problems and possibilities of disinformation as a guiding framework. Drawing on fields across the social sciences and humanities, from media studies and political science to linguistics, history and philosophy, the journal welcomes contributions from a variety of methodological perspectives, ranging from computational and quantitative approaches to case studies and close readings.

In addition to research journal articles, Disinformation also includes an ‘Interventions and Commentary’ section, which offers a venue for short critical commentaries on the dynamic field of disinformation studies. This section promotes contributions beyond academia, including from journalists, policymakers, fact-checkers and other practitioners at the forefront of initiatives to combat disinformation, providing a forum for public debate on disinformation and disinformation studies.