Associations and Their Journals: The Search for an “Official” Voice

Abstract

The shift from an occupation to a profession has been analyzed as a series of steps or stages. Among those frequently identified are the founding of a professional association and the existence of professional journals. In a review of the histories of forty professional associations, it was discovered that professional journals existed before any of these organizations were established. Yet they all gained ownership and control of one or more “official” journals as they grew and developed. The analysis was guided by two research questions: Why did these organizations decide to own and control an official journal and what were the means by which they acquired them? Vignettes from eight associations provide the data necessary to answer these questions. It was discovered that those involved in these organizations recognized early on that owning and controlling a publication was an effective means of establishing a legitimate and effective voice for the profession. Further, these associations were able to obtain their own official journal by four different routes: Start a competing publication, receive one as a gift, inherit one, or buy one outright. The similarity among the patterns discovered in this process suggests that associations were a population of organizations that responded to their environments in ways that produced organizational isomorphism.