Editor’s essay
Abstract
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC RELATIONS RESEARCH 2017, VOL. 29, NO. 1, 1–2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1062726X.2016.1278138 GUEST EDITORIAL Anastasios Theofilou Department of Public Relations, Bournemouth University, Poole, United Kingdom Historical research within public relations is a relatively new field of scholarship. It may sound contradictory; however, the nature of the discipline and its dynamic expansion academically and professionally has, until recently, limited opportunity to research the phenomenon historically. Attempting to explore the past of the discipline signals, in part, a desire to understand the present and to an extent foresee future directions. This historical quest for knowledge though does not come without challenges. When focusing on historical research and historiography, public relations researchers must become historians, using the same techniques and appropriate methodological approaches as professional historians to explore and analyze the past. Perhaps there may still be skepticism on the ability to do so (J. Xifra, personal communication, July 7, 2016) or acknowledge the existence of professional prejudices (D. Wright, personal communication, July 6, 2016); however, recent scholarship provides a solid argument for the opposite viewpoint. One may also argue that existing tools and models used to capture historical developments are not appropriate (L’Etang, 2014); hence, there is a necessity to provide