Aims & scope
Cambridge Forum on AI: Culture and Society is part of the Cambridge Forum series, which progresses cross-disciplinary conversations on issues of global importance. Learn more here.
Cambridge Forum on AI: Culture and Society publishes research both about and produced with artificial intelligence (AI): research about the social and cultural implications of AI as well as studies employing AI to develop new methodologies for critical research. Its goal is to understand the social and cultural situatedness of AI, how AI is socially and culturally enacted, how AI influences wider social and cultural formations, and how this might change with different culturally sensitive manifestations of AI. The journal takes up a core challenge of our times: how to make sense of and intervene in our entanglement with the emerging regimes of smart machines in order to both harness their positive potentials and mitigate their harmful effects. It will do so by having more comprehensive scope, conceptual depth and interdisciplinary ambition than related journals.
Cambridge Forum on AI: Culture and Society will publish humanities and social science research on epistemologies, histories and practices of AI, casting light on how AI applications translate, undermine or advance the diversity of social and cultural values and lifeworlds. Responding to wider public and political debates, and encouraging critical inquiry with AI as well as about AI, the journal will foster new methodologies, critical capacities and computational practices. Importantly, while the journal employs the terms ‘artificial intelligence’ and ‘AI’ , it joins those concerned to probe critically how it is that these terms have come to be established and reproduced uncontroversially.
The journal will publish themed issues that tackle questions and problematizations that are shared, disputed and debated across disciplines. The journal will:
- Combine critical AI studies with interdisciplinary research employing AI and data science in new ways;
- Integrate contributions from the social sciences and humanities and interdisciplinary collaborations with the computing and data sciences, encouraging new practices with AI and reflections on practices beyond the current technical solutionism associated with AI;
- Encourage methodological innovation, opening new directions in digital research through approaches combining qualitative, quantitative and computational methods; the journal will also welcome articles that bring together critical conceptualisations and new normative thinking with empirical social research and constructive technological design;
- Be global in orientation: benefiting from the international growth of AI studies, the journal will integrate perspectives from multiple disciplines to probe how diverse cultures shape AI as well as AI’s impact on cultures and societies worldwide;
- Combine critical and empirical research with complementary policy-relevant research.
Format
In line with the Cambridge Forum format, the journal publishes themed issues curated by Guest Editor(s) (see proposal process below).
Each themed issue will publish around eight papers (although issues may be longer) alongside an Editorial written by the Guest Editor(s). Each themed issue will welcome unsolicited submissions as well as those initially invited by the Guest Editor(s).
Dialogue between disciplines will be promoted in a number of different ways including publishing authors from multiple disciplines within one topical issue, publishing single-discipline focused issues that are written in a way that is deliberately accessible beyond that discipline, issues that proactively put together authors from multiple disciplines to write papers together and issues that include a focal piece alongside response pieces from multiple disciplines.
Article types
Article types and content formats are broad ranging and flexible to encourage full exploration of the subject matter and to ensure that a multitude of voices are heard. Guest Editors and authors have the freedom to select the article formats best suited to their themes.
| Article type | Length | Abstract required | Description
|
| Introduction/Editorial | No more than 4,000 words | No | Each issue should begin with an introduction or editorial that provides context to the collection. |
| Research article | Typically 6,000-10,000 words | Yes | Presents original research findings according to the typical research article format.
|
| Roundtable paper | No more than 4,000 words | Yes | Considers the current ‘state of the field’, or reflects on seminal events or processes, or explores different methodological approaches or potential avenues for future research. A number of roundtable pieces will typically publish together as a cluster. |
| Reflection | 2,000-3,000 words | Yes | A space, outside of the conventional research article, where authors can offer personal perspectives on a topic or theme. |
| Case Study | 6,000- 8,000 words | Yes | An article that provides an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case within a real world context. |
| Debate/Response/Position Paper | No more than 4,000 words | Yes | An opinion-style paper that makes a clear intervention or articulates an original vision. Papers will typically publish in conversation with each other. |
| Policy Paper | No more than 4,000 words | Yes | A paper, informed by expertise, specifically intended to brief policymakers. |
| Review Article | 6,000-8,000 words | Yes | A discussion paper that reflects critically on a research topic or theme, rather than presenting original research. |
Themed issues
Submitting a themed issue proposal
Individuals interested in proposing a topic for coverage and/or guest editing an issue should follow these instructions.
Proposals should take into account the journal’s aim to publish groundbreaking or agenda setting collections on key topics relevant to the scope of the journal, to engage multiple subject disciplines, and to promote dialogue between policymakers, practitioners, professionals and academics. They should also take into account the aim to include regional perspectives and to seek to engage a broad global readership.
We encourage submissions developed by or including scholarship from groups under-represented in academia and welcome the inclusion of early career researchers.
Proposal selection
We welcome themed issue proposals throughout the year. Proposals will be evaluated and selected by the Editors-in-Chief in consultation with the Editorial Collective and members of the Editorial Board. Themed issues will be selected based on their quality, original contribution to academic and policy discussions, the diversity of perspectives reflected in the proposed issue, and the timeliness of topics.
Paper submission/calls for papers
It is anticipated that themed issues will include papers initially invited by the Guest Editor(s) along with papers originally submitted in response to an open call. The call for papers will clearly outline the criteria against which papers will be assessed and reviewed and will typically be live for 3-6 months. Calls for papers will be publicised on the journal’s website.
Guest Editor responsibilities
Full guidelines for Guest Editors will be provided.
Guest Editors are responsible for curating a list of authors and paper topics, inviting papers for possible inclusion in the themed issue, in line with their accepted proposal, managing the peer review process (for invited and unsolicited contributions) through the online peer review system, providing feedback to authors and overseeing revisions in response to reviews, delivering the themed issue and facilitating its marketing. Following peer review of each paper, Guest Editors make a recommendation to the Editors-in-Chief, who have responsibility for all final decisions. Following acceptance of their themed issue proposal, Guest Editors will contract with Cambridge University Press for delivery of that issue and will receive an honorarium to support their work. The contract will outline the responsibilities of the Guest Editor(s) in full, including agreed timeline.