Call for papers: Special Issue on

Semantic Web for the Global Food System

The global food system is comprised of tightly woven and highly interconnected subsystems, from logistics, ecosystems, geopolitical entities, agriculture, economics and the events that impact them, such as climate change or disasters. However, these systems are not stable or uniform, and in times of global climate and health uncertainty, increasingly difficult to predict. They vary across regions and time, and they form complex interaction networks. For instance, changing cultural norms may require an adjustment of a system even though these may not strictly be optimal from another perspective. Conversely, society has to adapt to changes in the environment, e.g., to ensure the long-term sustainability of natural resources. Decision-makers also need to account for regional aspects and systemic interactions between neighboring regions that, to date, are often considered in isolation.

Furthermore, the data used to inform these decisions is generated at a pace that no human can ingest, let alone understand. It is too rapid, too multivariate, and too interlinked. Alternatively, there can be disconnected data, either from each other, or from the procedural knowledge used to generate it. This confusing tangle of data and processes, coupled with the high volume of each can lead to significant problems and barriers to understanding the current state of the art - and the world.

This call aims to address how Semantic Web and knowledge graph technologies can be - or are - used to facilitate the improvement of global food systems, from decision- and policy-making, to data-informed agricultural practices, and the integration of highly heterogeneous sensor data.

Topics relevant to this special issue include - but are not limited to - the following, understood in a context of Semantic Web and the Global Food System:

• Precision/Digital agriculture
• Swarm Farming
• Water-food-energy nexus
• Pests and diseases
• Supply chains and logistics
• Land use
• Environmental health and safety
• Climate Change
• Food Security
• Food Safety
• Omics of food (e.g., genomics, metagenomics, metabolomics, etc.)
• Governance, legislation and policies
• Socio-cultural aspects of the food system
• Biosecurity
• Energy supply and consumption
• Health and nutrition
• Biodiversity
• Farm Management Systems
• Precision Animal Production

Deadline

• Submission deadline: 30th of November 2021. Papers submitted before the deadline will be reviewed upon receipt.

Author Guidelines

Submissions shall be made through the Semantic Web journal website at http://www.semantic-web-journal.net. Prospective authors must take notice of the submission guidelines posted at http://www.semantic-web-journal.net/authors.

We welcome any submission type as described in http://www.semantic-web-journal.net/authors#types. While there is no upper limit, paper length must be justified by content.

Note that you need to request an account on the website for submitting a paper. Please indicate in the cover letter that it is for the "Global Food System" special issue. All manuscripts will be reviewed based on the SWJ open and transparent review policy and will be made available online during the review process.

Also note that the Semantic Web journal is open access.

Finally please note that submissions must comply with the journal’s Open Science Data requirements, which are detailed in the corresponding blog post.

Guest editors

The guest editors can be reached at swj-gfs-2021@googlegroups.com .

Emma Griffiths, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Pascal Hitzler, Kansas State University, USA
Krzysztof Janowicz, University of California, Santa Barbara
Monika Solanki, Agrimetrics, U.K.
Ajay Sharda, Kansas State University, USA
Cogan Shimizu, Kansas State University, USA
Evan Wallace, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), USA

Guest editorial board

to be expanded

Farhad Ameri, Texas State University
Christopher Brewster, TNO, The Netherlands
Damion Dooley, Simon Fraser University
Brett Drury, LIAAD-INESC-TEC, Portugal
Matthew Lange, IC-FOODS
Pierre Larmande, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier France
Daniel Martini, Kuratorium für Technik und Bauwesen in der Landwirtschaft e. V.
Vaishali Sharda, Kansas State University
Rui Zhu, University of California, Santa Barbara