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Information Technology for Development (ITD) journal
(2017 impact factor 1.387)
Special Issue on Blockchain for Development
https://eden.dei.uc.pt/~rupino/ITD/
Aims and Scope
Blockchain is emerging as a very promising technology. It is based
on a shared, distributed ledger, where transactions can only be
registered by consensus in a network of peers, using cryptographic
mechanisms that render the records virtually immutable. This
enables transparency, auditability, and resilience. Additionally,
Blockchains can store and enforce smart contracts – pieces of code
that are executed automatically once predetermined conditions are
met – further reducing uncertainty and promoting confidence among
stakeholders that would not normally trust each other and, thus,
dispensing with middlemen.
This has led to innovative experiments in high profile areas, such
as financial services, insurance, healthcare, value chains,
shipping and logistics, Internet-of-Things, Intellectual Property
Rights licensing, and crowdfunding, among others.
In addition, Blockchain holds a huge potential for development in
general and emerging economies in particular. It can foster more
democratic mechanisms and help fight corruption. It can enable
secure and lean ID mechanisms, reduce the number of unbanked,
prevent voting fraud and tax evasion, improve government
management of public benefits, reduce commissions on remittances
of emigrants, control donations and charity initiatives, or ensure
integrity of public records.
Of course, there are risks to account for when deploying
Blockchain-based systems. For instance, its key strengths can be
challenged if a coalition of malicious actors manages to garner
more than 50% of the resources used to produce the blocks; care
must be taken to ensure that data to be recorded reflects true
world events; mechanisms must exist to ensure that the system and
smart contract code does not contain unintended loopholes and
flaws. Other problems, related to resources, exist, if traditional
proof-of-work consensus mechanisms are used, namely the need for
huge processing power, which, in turn, may draw a significant
amount of energy from the public grid.
In the past, we have seen emerging economies lag in ICT adoption
when compared with developed counterparts. With Blockchain,
however, the opportunity exists to implement the technology in the
same time frame, to address afflicting areas and even leapfrog
established solutions in others.
Topics addressed
In general, we invite papers dealing with Blockchain that address
a broad range of issues associated with development. In
particular, we seek papers offering contributions in the
following, non-exhaustive, topics:
● The social, human, and economic development impact of Blockchain
● Relationships between National Culture, and the Blockchain
Technology & Philosophy
● National Impact Assessments of Blockchain Technology including
Benefits & Dangers to governance, national unity, and
democracy
● Blockchain Technology & Small Island States
● Blockchain for Development case studies, applications, and
implementations
● Alternative ID systems based on Blockchain
● Blockchain in e-government and public administration
● Barriers and enablers in the adoption of Blockchain for
Development
● Blockchain and traditional pain points in Development ●
Blockchain and voting
● Blockchain and the legal system
● Blockchain and regulatory frameworks
● Smart contracts
● Alternative uses of Blockchain
● The use of crypto currencies in countries in crisis ● Tokens,
ICOs, fundraising ● Blockchain and disruptive innovation
● Business models supported on Blockchain
● Blockchain Technology & SMEs
Deadlines
Deadline for submission: November 1, 2019
Notification of initial acceptance: March 15, 2020
Deadline for revised papers: June 15, 2020
Notification of final acceptance: September 30, 2020 Tentative
publication date: early of 2021
Paper Submission Instructions and review process
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit original
papers using the journal submission and reviewing web site
https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/itd. Detailed submission
guidelines can be found at:
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/journal.asp?issn=0268-1102&linktype=44
Submitted papers should follow the instructions for authors and
indicate “Blockchain for Development” special issue when uploading
their papers. Submissions to the special issue should be full
research papers or practice papers. Each submitted paper will be
peer-reviewed in the same manner as other submissions to the
Journal of Information Technology for Development. Relevance,
quality and originality of the contribution are the major
acceptance criteria for each submission. After initial screening,
papers are reviewed by selected members of the editorial board and
peers from an international pool for quality, consistency and
research contribution. Authors are welcome to nominate one of the
special issue editors or preferred reviewers when submitting their
paper where no conflict of interest exist (an existing business or
professional partnership, past or present association as thesis
advisor or thesis student, and/or collaboration on a project or on
a book/article/report/paper or co-editing of a journal,
compendium, or conference proceedings constitutes a conflict of
interest). Papers submitted to this journal must contain original
results and must not be submitted elsewhere while being evaluated.
If a duplication is found, papers are subject to being rejected
for that reason alone.
Special issue editors
Paulo Rupino da Cunha
University of Coimbra
Departamento de Engenharia Informática
Universidade de Coimbra, Pólo II
3030-290 Coimbra, Portugal
rupino@dei.uc.pt
Piotr Soja, Cracow
University of Economics
Department of Computer Science
Cracow University of Economics
Rakowicka 27
31-510 Krakow, Poland
eisoja@cyf-kr.edu.pl
Marinos Themistocleous
University of Nicosia, Cyprus
University of Piraeus, Greece
School of Business, Department of Management and MIS
University of Nicosia, 46 Makedonitissas Avenue, CY-2417,
Nicosia, Cyprus
themistocleous.m@unic.ac.cy
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