Jump to:

• Introduction
• Person specification
• Area Editors
• Editorial Board
• Benefits
• Tenure
• How to apply
• Deadline

Data & Policy is a peer-reviewed, open access journal exploring the relationship between data science and governance (2022 Impact Factor: 2.6). It is published by Cambridge University Press in association with Data for Policy, an international Conference series and a registered Community Interest Company. The journal’s Editors-in-Chief are Zeynep Engin (Data for Policy & UCL), Jon Crowcroft (Cambridge & The Alan Turing Institute) and Stefaan Verhulst (The GovLab & NYU).

The vision driving the Data for Policy Conference and the Data & Policy journal is one of interdisciplinary and cross-sector community-building: forming connections between people in academia, government, non-profit and commercial organizations who can contribute their knowledge on how Data Science and AI are transforming governance. The Conference and Journal are interrelated venues for the discussion, development, dissemination and archiving of this knowledge. We have outlined a unique framework of six interdisciplinary, non-domain specific Areas of Interest, based upon the contributions made to both venues to date, that are embedded as standard tracks in the Conference and the journal. (See our landscape paper for more details about how the community has developed: Unleashing collective intelligence for public decision-making: the Data for Policy community).

With the Conference in its 10th year and Data & Policy in its 5th year of publishing, we seek new editors to join us to further this process of community-building. We encourage interested parties to read and respond to the call below and consider registering for the next edition of the Conference, which takes place at Imperial College London (9-11 July 2024; find registration details here).

We seek:

• Area Editors working across the Conference and Journal to develop the six non-domain specific Areas of Interest, overseeing and reviewing articles, commissioning new submissions and contributing their own thought leadership (blogs, landscape reports, position papers). 

• Editorial Board members, working on special issues (collections), handling papers and assuming responsibility for specific strands of content including Translational Articles and Data Descriptor papers.

Person specification

For all of these roles we seek individuals who have: 

• An understanding of data science and associated technologies and their impact on policy, public service provision and societal and ethical questions.
• A PhD or proven research skills and engagement experience in a relevant field.
• Having been or being part of a network of peers and experts on data and policy that could be leveraged for the conference and the journal

The following experience is also desirable:

• A demonstrable track record in the area, e.g. in the form of publications, presentations at conferences, involvement in relevant working groups and initiatives.
• Prior experience of acting as part of an editorial team.
• An interest in Open Research and the ways in which the research and publishing process can be made more transparent and collaborative.

Area Editors

We have six committees of editors working across the following interdisciplinary, overarching Areas of Interest across the Conference and Journal:

• Area 1: Focus on Digital & Data-Driven Transformations in Governance
• Area 2: Data Technologies and Analytics for Policy and Governance
• Area 3: Policy & Literacy for Data
• Area 4: Ethics, Equity & Trustworthiness
• Area 5: Algorithmic Governance
• Area 6: Global Challenges & Dynamic Threats

For full descriptions of each area, visit this page. This Data & Policy Report provides an account of the development of the community, including the area approach. 

Area Editors are expected to work within these interdisciplinary teams with an eye on leveraging the connection between the conference and journal and achieving following aims:

• Encourage the submission of articles that relate to these overarching areas, i.e. proactive outreach to potential authors in the field
• Provide input during the review process of these articles (e.g. act as a handling editor or reviewer).
• Contribute to reports about the area published in the Data & Policy journal and blog
• Attend regular editorial meetings.

Editorial Board

The Data & Policy Editorial Board performs a key role in both the commissioning of content and the assessment of content submitted to the journal. Editors are expected to assume the following responsibilities: 

• Handle the peer-review process of articles submitted to the journal by obtaining appropriate peer reviews, and forming a decision on the basis of these reviews. 
• Propose new publishing projects: in particular special collections (issues) in an area of their expertise, often in combination with Guest Editors. 
• Attend regular Editorial Board and Town Hall meetings (2 a year)

In addition to research articles and commentaries, the journal publishes the following types of articles and we seek Editors with specific interest in developing these strands.

Translation Articles 

The Data for Policy community includes academic researchers, as well as people working in government and industry. Since the launch of Data & Policy in 2020, we’ve sought to develop a translational strand of the journal, seeing the open-access format of the journal as an opportunity to disseminate content focused on the transfer of knowledge from research to practice and vice versa. We are keen to find editors capable of developing Translational Articles, which may include revisiting our guidelines to authors for writing these articles as well as identifying potential topics and contributors. 

Data Papers

In order to promote the re-use of data, we also encourage the submission of Data Papers: articles that provide a structured description of an openly available dataset with potential for reuse. We are keen to find editors with an interest in open data to promote this strand in the journal, which may include revisiting our guidelines to authors and forming strategies to grow this content. 

Benefits

Editorial Board members and Area Editors will be recognised on the website, marketing materials and communications related to the journal. Time commitment is expected to be no more than a day a month. We can also offer free and discounted Cambridge University Press as a small token of thanks.

Tenure

3-years

How to apply

Email and CV explaining how you meet the person specification and which of our areas fit your interests to dataandpolicy@cambridge.org. 

Deadline

31 July 2024