eResearch08: Original Call

Posted: March 2008.

The Oxford e-Research Conference 2008 seeks to stimulate and inform multi-disciplinary research on the development, use and implications of ICTs such as the Internet in shaping research across the disciplines. It will bring together research from key e-Research projects from around the world examining the role of the Internet, Web and the Grid in research. It seeks to facilitate scholarly communication and publication on this topic, and to help foster a broader public understanding of the significance of this area to the sciences and humanities as well as to the public at large.

Anyone with a serious interest in conducting research on the development or use of ICTs across the disciplines should attend, as well as those with questions about how new research tools might impact the range, significance and quality of research. The conference is intended to complement and extend the activities of key research projects and programmes in this area, representatives of which are among the organizing committee.

Topics will include, but not be limited to:

  1. Major e-Research initiatives, such as e-infrastructure and cyberinfrastructure programmes in Europe and North America
  2. e-Social Science, including social, legal and institutional dynamics of e-Research
  3. Case studies of e-Research projects, programmes, and policies
  4. Policy analyses of key issues, ranging from IPR to privacy
  5. Ethical and legal analyses of innovations in e-Research, focusing on risks as well as approaches to resolving ethical dilemmas
  6. Research on e-collaboration, including new platforms for scientific collaboration, such as those using social networking sites
  7. Survey research and in-depth interviews focused on the attitudes and practices of researchers
  8. Usability of e-Research tools, and related issues of human-computer interaction
  9. Showcasing new methods, practices, and tools afforded by new ICTs
  10. Research on the social shaping and impact of e-Research
  11. Take-up, diffusion and sustainability of e-Research infrastructures
  12. Technical advances of relevance to any stage of research, from agenda-setting and budgeting to data collection, analysis, dissemination and evaluation of research
  13. Social and technical perspectives on innovations in metadata, the development of ontologies, and the semantic Web
  14. Overviews and comparisons of particular schools of research, including Web Science, e-Social Science, e-Research, and e-Infrastructure communities

Submitting your paper or proposal

Those who wish to propose a paper should submit a paper abstract of 500-1000 words by 15 March 2008.

Proposals for a workshop or panel session should define the focus and proposed title, provide an outline of topics likely to be covered, and describe the proposed format, audience, and any special requirements. All proposals should include the name of the authors or contributors, their affiliations, where applicable, and indicate who will present the paper or chair the proposed panel.

Submissions will be reviewed by two or more members of the Conference Programme Committee, which will communicate its decision by 15 April 2008. Final versions of accepted conference papers will be compiled and posted on this website.

Paper submission

The submission deadlines have passed.

There are two options for submitting your final papers. The first option is for those who wish to have their paper considered for publication in a special issue of Information, Communication & Society (currently scheduled for October 2009). The second option is for those who do not wish to submit their paper to the journal, but who wish to have their paper made available as part of the eResearch08 Conference Collection on the University of Oxford's 'Oxford Research Archive' (ORA).

  1. Option 1: Submission to Information, Communication & Society (Deadline: 1 August 2008)
    iCS formatting / submission: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/authors/ricsauth.asp
    NOTE: At Step 4 (Details and comments) where it says: 'Is the manuscript a candidate for a special issue or a series?' you should tick the 'Yes' box, and put the title of the special issue as 'e-Research'. Note: papers submitted to iCS will not be made available on the web as part of the conference proceedings. Paper abstracts, however, will be part of the proceedings.
  2. Option 2: Submission to the conference proceedings only (Deadline: 15 August 2008)
    Submission: authors have been emailed a submission form. We will not format or proof your submission, and it will be made available as submitted. We recommend that you follow the iCS style guidelines (tables and figures can be incorporated in the body of the paper). Submissions should be in English with a word count less than 7000 words, including references. Please submit in either Word or PDF format. Correctly submitted items should appear on the Oxford Research Archive (ORA) by the 10th of September.