Information Processing & Management is devoted to refereed reporting of:

1. Basic and applied research in information science, computer science, cognitive science and related areas that deals with: the generation, representation, organization, storage, retrieval, and use of information; the nature, manifestations, behavior, and effects of information and knowledge; communication and distribution of information and knowledge; and human information behavior.

2. Experimental and advanced processes, related to: information retrieval (IR); digital libraries; knowledge organization and distribution; digitized contents - text, image, sound and multimedia processing; and human-computer interfaces in information systems. Implementations in information retrieval systems and a variety of information systems, networks, and contexts. Related evaluation.

3. Management of information resources, services, systems and networks, and digital libraries. Related studies of the economics of information and the principles of information management.

The aim is to provide an international forum for advanced works and critical analysis in these interdependent and interdisciplinary areas. Invited are original papers and critical reviews of trends reporting on:
• Progress in the theory, principles, and procedures in information processing, particularly involving information retrieval; search engines; knowledge and distributed intelligence; information representation, classification, extraction, filtering and summarization; question answering; information navigation, browsing and visualization; and human-computer interaction in information systems.
• Research on the formal characteristics and properties of information and knowledge and the associated processes of communication among humans and between humans and machines. Includes studies of human information needs, seeking, searching, and use; and bibliometric and infometric studies of the structural and statistical properties of information artifacts.
• Modeling and evaluation of information systems performance, particularly of information retrieval systems, knowledge systems, and digital libraries. Studies of their effectiveness, efficiency, value, or impact.
• Studies in management and economics of information and information systems. Use of information for decision making and problem solving.
• Studies in information policies. Data and issues relevant to information policies on organizational, national, and international levels. Derivation and use of information indicators.

Special Issue on Blockchain for Information Systems Management and Security
Submission Date: 2020-05-15

Researchers are encouraged to submit original research contributions in all major areas of Blockchain-Information systems, which include, but not limited to:

* State-of-the-art of the Blockchain technology and cybersecurity for Information systems
* Blockchain Technologies and Methodologies for Information systems
* Recent development and emerging trends using Blockchain for securing Information systems.
* New models, practical solutions and technological advances related to Blockchain
* Theory of Blockchain for Information systems
* Blockchain-based security of financial Information systems
* Blockchain-based security of health Information systems
* Blockchain-based security solutions of smart cities Information systems
* Blockchain for Internet of Things (IoT) Information systems
* Authentication and authorization in Blockchain.
* Applications of blockchain technologies in digital forensic for Information systems
* Privacy aspects of blockchain technologies
* Blockchain for Artificial Intelligence.
* Scalability and efficiency of blockchain-based Information systems
* Applications of blockchain technologies in computer & hardware security
* Implementation challenges facing blockchain technologies
* Blockchain-based threat intelligence and threat analytics techniques
* Blockchain-based open-source tools for Information systems
* Forensics readiness of blockchain technologies
* Vulnerabilities of smart contracts
* Open issues and trends in Blockchains

Special Issue on Health informatics in China: Local practices with global implications
Submission Date: 2020-07-01

The advancement of information technology and digital innovations has become a driving force for global healthcare development and transformation. Without exception, China’s investment in its healthcare industry had increased dramatically year-over-year (Lei et al., 2016). Healthcare is becoming increasingly data intensive and evidence-based (Agarwal et al., 2010). ICT-empowered healthcare has emerged as a new discipline - health informatics, which aims at delivering the most effective and efficient care to patients with a strong commitment to cost reduction. Health informatics is defined as “the use of information and ICTs to improve the quality of care and health and well-being of patients, their families and carers, and the general public” (Bath, 2008, p.505). Successful health informatics practices require effective collaboration among domain experts with different disciplinary skills and knowledge and active participation of the general public. China has launched a major healthcare reform and invested heavily in health informatics since 2009 (Yip et al., 2019). In 2016, Healthy China 2030 was launched, outlining the country’s long-term strategy for the development of its healthcare sector. Currently, most hospitals and clinics in China are attempting to deploy health technologies and information systems that leverage big data, Internet of things, and cloud computing to greatly improve their smart health services.

Although China has made steady progress in health informatics research and development, many challenges remain. To better understand the current status and future directions of health informatics development in China’s context, scholars and practitioners recognize that a one-size-fits-all model rarely works in large and diverse countries like China (Yip et al., 2019).

The aim of this special issue is to present the latest developments in health informatics research and practice in China. We welcome in particular original contributions that (a) conceptualize and contextualize health informatics in China’s context; (b) provide empirical evidence on leveraging informatics in healthcare in China, such as design and deployment of new tools and techniques, data analytics in healthcare, and development of local and national healthcare infrastructure in China; (c) investigate theoretical frameworks and models related to health informatics issues in China, such as the adoption and use of health information systems, health literacy training and public health informatics education, ethical and legal issues involved in health informatics research and development. Comparative studies are also welcome.

Topics

This special issue welcomes original research papers, conceptual papers, case studies, and systematic review articles that address a range of topics including, but are not limited to, the following areas. If in doubt about the suitability, please contact the Guest Editors.

Comparative analysis of healthcare IT professionals and policies nationally or internationally
Consumers, patients, or healthcare professionals’ information needs and information behavior in the context of healthcare in China
e-Health initiatives adoption, implementation, design, and evaluation in China
Health literacy training and health informatics education in China
Workforce standards, organizational and social roles of health information technologies in China
ICT-empowered doctor-patient communication and relationship
Ethical concerns within health informatics in China
Knowledge sharing in online health communities in China
Affordances and constraints of health information technologies in China
Ubiquitous computing for chronic condition management in China
Data science and health analytics in China
Consumer access to health information in China
Electronic medical records in China
Health information standards and regulations in China
Security, privacy, and disparities of health information access in China

Special Issue on Creative Language Processing
Submission Date: 2020-10-31

 Aims and scope

The SI focuses on topics deepening the knowledge on the creative use of language. Instead of taking up basic topics from the fields of CL and NLP, such as improvement of part-of-speech tagging, we will promote research focused on such creative topics as humor processing, deceptive language processing, figurative language processing, and others for which the generally perceived state-of-the-art has not been established yet.

Target audience

The SI is addressed at the audience comprised of scientists, researchers, scholars, students and practitioners performing research in the analysis or generation of language, with a specific weight put on studies focused on the creative use of language, and the creative methods for the processing of language. The Special Issue will not accept research on basic topics for which the field has been well established, such as improvement of part-of-speech tagging, etc., unless they directly contribute to the idea of creative processing of language phenomena.

List of Topics

The Special Issue will invite papers on topics listed, but not limited to the following:

l natural language processingl computational linguisticsl creative language processingl figurative language processingl NLP applicationsl natural language generationl emotional language processingl humor and joke processingl deceptive language detectionl emoticon processingl automatic cyberbullying detectionl fake news detectionl abusive language processingl story generationl poetry generation