Please cite this article in press as: Xifra, J., et al. Images of PR special issue and the 2013 Barcelona International PR conference. Public Relations Review (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.02.027 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model PUBREL-1271; No. of Pages 4 Public Relations Review xxx (2014) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Public Relations Review Images of PR special issue and the 2013 Barcelona International PR conference Jordi Xifra a,* , Ferran Lalueza b,1 , David McKie c,2 a Department of Communication, Pompeu Fabra University, Roc Boronat, 138, 08018 Barcelona, Spain b Department of Information and Communication, Open University of Catalonia, Rambla del Poblenou, 156 08018 Barcelona, Spain c Department of Management Communication, The University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 25 February 2014 Accepted 25 February 2014 Keywords: Barcelona International PR Conference Public Relations Images a b s t r a c t Now entering its fourth year, the Barcelona International Public Relations conference has, since it began in 2011, gathered a reputation for inclusiveness, openness, and reflection. In this latest set of articles, the conference’s openness is visible in the very variety of the papers. This special issue confirms inclusiveness in augmenting contributions from the 2013 participants with articles from non-attendees. The Public Relations Review call for images of public relations drew some surprising submissions so, in the open spirit of the conference, we welcomed them into the refereeing process and they have helped to widen our range. Significantly, this year, although the potentially abstract topic of images of PR did not target applied contributions, most of the articles address practitioner issues – albeit of different kinds and with different levels of engagement. Finally, as the conference has matured, iconoclasm and innovation continue to be the other characteristic ingredients of a Barcelona mix that gives voice to those embracing rather than excluding controversy. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Reflection and iconoclasm both marked three of 2013’s plenary panels: the first on the growing topic of the organization- public relationship (OPR) was convened by Professor Bob Heath under the title: “OPR: The journey to understand and champion OPR takes many roads, some not yet well traveled.” It fed into the iconoclastic stream of the conference as speakers questioned current orthodoxies. Two papers in this special issue give a flavor of that panel and subsequent debate among the conference attendees. Coombs and Holladay’s “Public Relations’ ‘Relationship Identity’ in Research: Enlightenment or Illusion” put its challenge upfront in the title offering the option of current OPR research leading either to more enlightenment or to ongoing illusion. At once insightful, thoughtful and reflective, their work injects intelligent caution into the rush toward premature quantifications of relationships. They offer a set of healthy correctives by highlighting the necessarily fragile nature of these human interactions and for foregrounding the role of valuable and hard-to-measure but still influential factors (e.g., weak ties and parasocial contacts). Coombs and Holladay end with a call for greater transparency and greater honesty in how both practitioners and scholars handle organizations-public connections. This goes to the heart of their continuing project of developing an ethics of care to improve the profession and to show how PR can win back a reputation for integrity. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 935421484. E-mail addresses: jordi.xifra@upf.edu (J. Xifra), flalueza@uoc.edu (F. Lalueza), dmckie@waikato.ac.nz (D. McKie). 1 Tel.: +34 933263600. 2 Tel.: +64 78384197. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.02.027 0363-8111/© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.