Understanding the Journals that Write Us: A 30th Birthday Reflection

• In order to provide a reflective picture of where the computers and composition subdiscipline can been, what identities it has cultivated, and where it stands in relation to the larger field of composition, this study examines the articles published College Composition and Communication and Computers and Composition from 1983-2011.
• This research identifies six major findings; the first five speak to the relationship dynamics between College Composition and Communication and Computers and Composition.
• This study's sixth finding presents an emerging trend the subdiscipline's approach to new and emerging article topics in Computers and Composition.
• Finally, these findings are put in dialogue with current assertions about the relationship between the subdiscipline of computers and composition and the larger field of composition to explore how they both align and challenge previous assumptions.

2013 marked the 30th anniversary, or birthday, of the Computers and Composition journal. In order to provide a reflective picture of where the computers and composition subdiscipline has been, what identities it has cultivated, and where it stands in relation to the larger field of composition, this study examines the articles published in College Composition and Communication (CCC) and Computers and Composition (C&C) from 1983–2011. This research identifies six major findings. The first five speak to the relationship dynamics between CCC and C&C: 1) the journals’ overall publication relationship; 2) both journals’ participation in a sticky theory-practice dance; 3) the ways each journal relates (or fails to relate) other subdisciplines to computers and composition; 4) the major topics displayed significantly in one journal and minimally in the other; and 5) both journals’ overall trend of programmatic stasis and (slow) professional increase. This study's sixth finding presents an emerging trend in C&C: the slow and nuanced appearance of a sophisticated development from single to multiple points of entry in the journal's articles. Finally, these findings are put in dialogue with current assertions about the relationship between CCC and C&C to explore how they both align with and challenge previous assumptions.