The International Journal of Computer and Telecommunications Networking

Computer Networks is an international, archival journal providing a publication vehicle for complete coverage of all topics of interest to those involved in the computer communications networking area. The audience includes researchers, managers and operators of networks as well as designers and implementors. The Editorial Board will consider any material for publication that is of interest to those groups.

SUBJECT COVERAGE

The topics covered by the journal but not limited to these are:

1. Communication Network Architectures:
New design contributions on Local Area Networks (LANs), Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs), Wide Area Networks (WANs) including Wired, Wireless, Mobile, Cellular, Sensor, Optical, IP, ATM, and other related network technologies, as well as new switching technologies and the integration of various networking paradigms.

2. Communication Network Protocols:
New design contributions on all protocol layers except the Physical Layer, considering all types of networks mentioned above and their performance evaluation; novel protocols, methods and algorithms related to, e.g., medium access control, error control, routing, resource discovery, multicasting, congestion and flow control, scheduling, multimedia quality of service, as well as protocol specification, testing and verification.

3. Network Services and Applications:
Web, Web caching, Web performance, Middleware and operating system support for all types of networking, electronic commerce, quality of service, new adaptive applications, and multimedia services.

4. Network Security and Privacy:
Security protocols, authentication, denial of service, anonymity, smartcards, intrusion detection, key management, viruses and other malicious codes, information flow, data integrity, mobile code and agent security.

5. Network Operation and Management:
Including network pricing, network system software, quality of service, signaling protocols, mobility management, power management and power control algorithms, network planning, network dimensioning, network reliability, network performance measurements, network modeling and analysis, and overall system management.

6. Discrete Algorithms and Discrete Modeling
Algorithmic and discrete aspects in the context of computer networking as well as mobile and wireless computing and communications. Fostering cooperation among practitioners and theoreticians in this field.TYPES OF CONTRIBUTIONS CONSIDERED

The primary purpose of the journal is to publish original and complete papers covering a specific topic or project in the above mentioned areas in sufficient detail and depth to be of practical use to interested readers. The readers should benefit from the novel solutions and analyses presented in the papers. Enhanced, extended versions of quality papers presented at conferences or workshops can be submitted to our journal for review. Note that papers which were already published with the same contents or simultaneous submission of the same paper to other journals or conferences will not be considered for publication in our journal and will be immediately rejected.

Dataset Articles. Computer Networks also publishes micro-articles that describe open datasets available in a redacted and organized way. The purpose is for researchers to easily share and reuse each other's datasets by publishing data articles that:

(i) Describe collected data in detail, facilitating reproducibility of experiments and improvements over proposed techniques, thus promoting rigorous experimentation and data analysis.
(ii) Describe tools developed to collect, analyze, and visualize data.

Open-Source Software Articles. Computer Networks additionally publishes micro-articles that describe open source software that has been used to obtain scholarly results in the area of computer networks. This may include articles describing discrete-event or other simulators, emulation tools, software implementations of networking and communication functionalities and protocols, standard implementations, monitoring tools, among others.

Special Issue on AI-Native Federated Testbeds and Datasets for Next-Generation Communication and Networking Systems
Submission Date: 2026-10-15

The growing complexity of next-generation communication and networking systems demands experimental infrastructures that support scalable, reproducible, and data-driven research across diverse environments and heterogeneous platforms. AI-native networking solutions, which span machine learning, reinforcement learning, and autonomous control, to name a few, require high-quality real-world datasets and experimentation capabilities to validate performance under realistic network, channel, mobility, and hardware conditions. 

Guest editors:

Dr. Zhangyu Guan
​University of Minnesota Twin Cities, USA
Email: zguan@umn.edu

Dr. Mingyue Ji
University of Florida, USA
Email: mingyueji@ufl.edu

Dr. Leonardo Bonati
Northeastern University, USA
Email: l.bonati@northeastern.edu

Dr. Nicholas Mastronarde
University at Buffalo, USA
Email: nmastron@buffalo.edu

Dr. Maxwell McManus
University at Buffalo, USA
Email: memcmanu@buffalo.edu

Special issue information:

This Special Issue aims to bring together recent advances in AI-native federated testbeds and experimentally validated open datasets that enable intelligent, adaptive, and self-optimizing network behavior.

• Deep learning, reinforcement learning, multi-agent learning, online learning, and other learning-based techniques applied to networked wireless systems, including Open Radio Access Networks
• Federated testbed architectures integrating heterogeneous wireless, edge, IoT, and cloud resources
• AI-native control, orchestration, and automation for large-scale experimental platforms
• Cross-site interoperability frameworks, common APIs, metadata standards, and experiment abstraction layers
• Automated experiment execution pipelines, resource scheduling, and reproducible workflow management
• Open and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) datasets capturing wireless channels, network dynamics, interference, mobility, and multi-modal sensing
• Experimental evaluation on community platforms, university testbeds, and emerging infrastructures such as UnionLabs, PAWR, and SLICES-RI platforms
• Hybrid digital–physical experimentation, digital-twin-assisted sim-to-real validation, and cross-domain evaluation
• Security, privacy, and trust in federated experimentation environments and shared datasets
• Tools for measurement, monitoring, logging, visualization, and real-time analytics across distributed facilities

Manuscript submission information:

The journal's submission platform (Editorial Manager®) will be available for receiving submissions to this Special Issue from Apr 01, 2026. Please refer to the Guide for Authors to prepare your manuscript, and select the article type of “VSI: AI-Native Federated Testbeds and Datasets” when submitting your manuscript online. Both the Guide for Authors and the submission portal could be found on the Journal Homepage: Computer Networks | Journal | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier.

Timeline:

Submission Open Date: 01/04/2026
Final Manuscript Submission Deadline: 15/10/2026

Keywords:

AI-Native Networking, Federated Network Testbeds, Reproducible Experimentation, Open Networking Datasets, Sim-to-Real Validation

https://www.sciencedirect.com/special-issue/331512/ai-native-federated-testbeds-and-datasets-for-next-generation-communication-and-networking-systems