The Doctoral School of Communication, Public Relations and Advertising at Babeș-Bolyai University (UBB) welcomed Professor Jooyoung Kim, PhD, from the University of Georgia, Athens, USA, for a series of academic lectures held on October 20–21, 2026.
Professor Jooyoung Kim is an internationally recognized scholar in advertising, whose research has made significant contributions to understanding the evolving relationships between advertising, consumers, brands, and digital technologies. Since 2019, he has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Interactive Advertising, a leading international academic journal that ranked first in the Communication category of Web of Science in 2025.
During his visit, Professor Kim delivered two lectures addressing important theoretical and practical challenges in contemporary advertising research and academic publishing. On October 20, 2026, Professor Kim presented Understanding Advertising & Communication in the Connection Era introducing an innovative theoretical framework, Connectism, developed in his research published in the International Journal of Advertising. Connectism proposes a new paradigm for understanding advertising in an increasingly interconnected communication environment, emphasizing the dynamic relationships among brands, people, content, and technology. The presentation explored how advertising is evolving beyond traditional models of message transmission and persuasion toward a connection-oriented paradigm, in which networks of interactions and relationships play a central role. This perspective offers new theoretical directions for investigating advertising practices, consumer engagement, and the transformation of strategic communication in the digital age (read more on this topic in his recent article in the International Journal of Advertising)
On October 21, 2026, Professor Kim delivered a second lecture entitled The Intellectual Politics of Journal Publication: How Editors Make Desk Decisions. Drawing on his extensive editorial experience, he provided valuable insights into the decision-making processes of leading international academic journals, with particular attention to the criteria editors apply when evaluating manuscripts at the initial submission stage.
The lecture addressed key considerations in scholarly publishing, including theoretical contribution, originality, research relevance, and the positioning of academic manuscripts within ongoing disciplinary debates. It offered doctoral researchers a valuable perspective on the expectations of high-impact international journals and the challenges of developing research with strong publication potential.
The visit provided an important opportunity for doctoral students and academic staff to engage with contemporary developments in advertising theory and gain first-hand insights into international scholarly publishing. It also contributed to strengthening the international academic environment of the Doctoral School of Communication, Public Relations and Advertising, and fostering dialogue with leading scholars in the field.