Chinese communication research has been carried out in various Chinese and overseas communities, including Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and the United States. Attempts have been made to review and analyze the research efforts, patterns and publications in journals. A conference panel theme entitled "Academic Publication and Communication Research" was dedicated to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the journal Communication & Society in January 2012. The resulting Special Issue consists of three research articles and detailed record of a round table discussion attended by seven journal editors and other scholars from various places. This Special Issue empirically documents and compares the research output of 11 journals from the past five years, and various conference participants discuss some important topics related to the current status of Chinese communication research.