Looking back: Fifteen Years of the Journal of Public Deliberation

The Journal of Public Deliberation is the product of collaboration between deliberative scholars and practitioners from around the globe. The journal was founded in 2005 as an initiative by the Deliberative Democracy Consortium (DDC). In November 2010, The International Journal for Public Participation (2007 – 2010) merged with JPD as a joint venture between the Deliberative Democracy Consortium and International Association for Public Participation (IAP2). 

In announcing the joint venture in November 2010, IAP2 President Desley Renton said “this initiative builds on the foundations of both journals and will extend the discourse in the field with readers benefiting from firsthand experience of public participation practitioners”. DDC Executive Director Matt Leighninger said “We are very excited about this new partnership. Working together on JPD will help our networks strengthen the critical links between research and practice, and better support democratic innovation throughout the world.” 

The newDemocracy Foundation, which has long been associated with the journal through its membership in DDC, officially became a major sponsor of the Journal of Public Deliberation in 2017. JPD editors are excited about this collaboration with newDemocracy Foundation as it helps to strengthen the international networks for public deliberation scholarship and practice. 

The Journal of Public Deliberation (JPD) is a peer review, open access journal with the principal objective of synthesizing the research, opinion, projects, experiments and experiences of academics and practitioners in the emerging multi-disciplinary field and political movement called “deliberative democracy.” 

In 2020, the Journal of Public Deliberation is relaunched as the Journal of Deliberative Democracy.