Information and Technology in Open Justice: SSCR Special Issue (Call for papers)

Originally posted to El blog de Estratic.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Social Science Computer Review (2015 Impact Factor: 1.525) Special Issue on “Information and Technology in Open JusticeAn open, independent, and impartial justice system serves as a foundation for better access to justice by fulfilling all people’s civil liberties and allowing individuals to more effectively protect...”. Abstract submission deadline: April 30, 2017

Guest editors:

• Carlos E. Jimenez-Gomez, IEEE Computer Society STC on e-Government
• Mila Gasco-Hernandez, Center for Technology in Government and Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy – University at Albany – SUNY.

Focus

On January 2009, President Obama signed the Memorandum on TransparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More and Open Government that declared his administration’s commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government and establishing a system linking three principles: transparency, participation and collaboration. Since then, public administrations around the world have embarked on open government initiatives and have worked to redefine their relationship with citizens and with each other. The benefits attributed to open government are many. They include the claims that open government leads to more effective decision-making and services, safeguards against corruption, enables public scrutiny, and promotes citizens’ trust in government, included better achievements of effectiveness, efficiency or accountability.

Although many open government initiatives have been implemented around the world, most of them have been related to the executive and legislative powers and institutions. However, the topic of open justiceTo address barriers that prevent citizens from having their justice needs met, OGP participating governments are working to expand transparency, accountability, and inclusion into all systems of justi... has been little explored, perhaps due to its traditionally having been considered a “closed” field. There is a need to know about what open justice is, to explore its implementation and to understand what it can do to improve government, society and democracy.

The aim of this special issue is to shed light on the concept of openness in the judiciaryWhile a majority of open government reforms occur within the executive branch, OGP members are increasingly taking on commitments to increase the openness of the judicial branch. Technical specificati... and to identify and analyze worldwide initiatives that focus on opening judicial organizations by intensively using information and technology.

Recommended topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... and big data
• Re-use of information in the justice field
• Open source software for open justice
• Social media
• Interoperability
• Evaluation of open justice initiatives
• Computer-mediated transparency and accountability
• The CIO’s role in open justice
• ICT-enabled co-production/co-creation of justice
• Open justice, e-access, and e-inclusion
• Privacy versus access
• Participation
• Innovation in the justice field
• Open justice and the modernization of the courts
• Online Dispute Resolution

It is the intention of the special issue to include both empirical and theoretical articles but priority will be given to analytic articles with data.

Submission procedure

Researchers and practitioners will be invited to submit on or before April 30, 2017 a 2-3 article proposal clearly explaining the goals and content of the proposed article. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by May 31, 2017 about the status of their proposals and sent article organizational guidelines. Full articles are expected to be submitted by September 30, 2017. All submitted articles will be reviewed on a blind review basis. Input will be sent to authors by November 30, 2017. Final articles will be expected by December 31, 2017.

Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically to Dr. Mila Gascó-Hernández (mgasco@ctg.albany.edu).