Call for Papers

The International Conference on Information and Communications Technology for Sustainability (ICT4S) is the premier international conference aiming at bringing together leading researchers in ICT for Sustainability with government, industry and community representatives, including decision-makers and end-users with an interest in using ICT for sustainability, researchers focusing on ICT effects on sustainability and developers of sustainable ICT systems or applications. ICT4S is devoted to covering all types of research, developments and applications of ICT to support sustainability. In this context, there are still numerous problems to be addressed that require collaborative research across multiple disciplines.

To provide a broader forum for reporting on scientific progress as well as practical experiences on ICT for sustainability, ICT4S 2022 invites submissions (Research Paper track) that range from well-founded technical papers, to exploratory, empirical and application papers. Papers recently published in related journals (Journal-first Paper track) are also welcome. Details of the different tracks are below:

Research Paper Track

We welcome original papers reporting on research, development, case studies, and experience and empirical reports in the field of ICT4S. The following type of papers are possible:

• Technical Papers describing original scientifically rigorous solutions to significant sustainability development problems. A technical paper should clearly describe the problem addressed, the relevant state of the art, the scientifically-founded solution, and the impact and benefits of the contribution. Appropriate examples, synthetic or otherwise, should be used to explain all aspects of the contribution.
• Exploratory papers describe new, non-conventional ICT for sustainability development research positions or approaches. These papers should challenge the status-quo and describe vision solutions based on new ways of using ICT for the development of sustainable systems, tools, methods and environments. They must clearly describe the inadequacies in the current state-of-the-art and rigorously present their approach, clearly demonstrating and discussing its pertinence, correctness and significance.
• Application papers provide a realistic and verifiable picture of the current state-of-the-practice in ICT for sustainability and explore the problems encountered by the industrial, community, or other adoption of sustainability techniques. Contributions should describe and analyze the application of ICT for sustainability techniques to industrial problems, preferably identifying challenges, shortcomings, innovative solutions, and concepts arising from the practical deployment of tools and techniques.
• Empirical Evaluation papers evaluating existing problem cases or scientifically validating proposed solutions through, for example, empirical studies, experiments, case studies, or simulations. The topic of the evaluation presented in the paper must be clearly stated and motivated. The research method must be sound and appropriate. The results must highlight the advances found, but also the current gaps and challenges.

Evaluation Process and Selection Criteria

ICT4S 2022 will follow a double-blind review process. The manuscripts should be submitted for review anonymously (i.e., without listing the author’s names on the paper) and references to own work should be made in the third person.

All submitted papers will be reviewed by three members of the program committee. Papers will be evaluated (in accordance with their type) based on their novelty, significance, soundness, reproducibility, evaluation, quality of presentation and appropriate comparison to related work, and general presentation of the overall contribution. Since the ICT4S conference is also a place where researchers and practitioners can exchange personal perspectives on values and impact, particular attention will be given to the explicit description and the significance of how the work has or would positively impact any aspect of sustainability of the environment, society or economy.

Journal-first Paper Track

Authors of recently published journal papers are invited to present their work at ICT4S 2022, therefore providing an opportunity for the authors to engage directly with the community and offering the attendees an additional dimension to the conference program.

Journal First papers should relate to ICT4S and describe original results that have not been presented at a conference. Papers that are extensions of previous conference papers are not eligible. For a journal paper to be eligible to participate, the paper must be: in scope of the conference (see the conference topics), accepted in one of the following journals (if you would like us to consider a paper published in another journal of equal reputation to those presented in the list, please contact the Program Chairs), and accepted for publication after January 1st, 2021 and before December 31st, 2021.

List of considered journals: T-SUSC, SUSCOM, Technol. Forecast. Soc. Change, Solutions, JSS, IST, GMD, JSDTL, Telematics and Informatics, STS, FGCS, EIA Review, IEEE Series on Green Communications and Computing Networks, INFOGG, Journal of Cleaner Production, JSME, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Applied Energy, Energy Policy, TSE, TOSEM, Environ. Model. Softw., IEEE Software, IEEE Computer, CACM, SoSyM, ASE, JOT, IJSEKE, IJCTT, IJSE, CSRD, JIIS.

Evaluation Process and Selection Criteria

Authors will be invited to present their journal paper at ICT4S 2022 after a check that the paper satisfies the criteria listed above. Since the papers have already been reviewed and accepted by the respective journals, they will not be reviewed again for their technical content.

In case an exceptionally high number of submissions is received, we may not be able to select all papers. In this case, priority will be given to the papers with authors that have no (or fewer) papers accepted at other ICT4S tracks. If we still need to select from papers with the same priority, we will choose papers that best fit the technical program, offering a balance across the conference topics.

Topics of interest

ICT4S 2022 seeks submissions to one of the proposed tracks (research papers and journal-first papers) on diverse topics related to ICT for sustainability, including, but not limited to:

• Sustainable community building via ICT
• Potential of ICT for economic growth and decentralization
• Green E-Commerce, sustainable online-shopping
• Digital Sufficiency / Digital Sobriety
• ICT and circular economy / circular society
• Sustainability-driven resilience by and of ICT
• Social sustainability implications, contributions and limitations of ICT
• Enabling and systemic effects of ICT on society and/or the environment
• Smart cyber-physical systems (grids, city, home, farming)
• Sustainability in data centers and high-performance computing
• Green networking, monitoring and adaptation of software-intensive systems and services
• ICT-induced behavioral and societal change
• Design principles for sustainable ICT
• Sustainable software engineering
• Sustainability of technical infrastructures
• Software for sustainable business governance
• Reduced hardware obsolescence
• Incentives and nudges for more sustainable ICT
• Challenges for an environmentally sustainable ICT industry
• Art and education in ICT for sustainability
• Systematic interdisciplinary efforts in ICT for sustainability
• Computational sustainability
• Climate informatics
• Blockchain and Sustainability
• Cloud and sustainability
• Smart and Sustainability
• FinTech and Sustainability
• IST sustainability and SDGs
• Agile & Sustainability

Submission Process

Papers should be submitted electronically via EasyChair.

• Research paper: select the “[ICT4S’22] Research Track" and submit your abstract prior to the full paper by the deadline stated, to allow their allocation to reviewers. Papers should be submitted in IEEE conference proceedings format. Each paper is limited to 10 pages including the main text, figures, tables and appendices. Two more pages containing only references are permitted. Papers that are too long or violate the formatting instructions will be automatically rejected. All submissions must be original, unpublished, and not submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere.

  At least one author of each accepted paper is expected to register for the conference. Registered authors of accepted papers will be allocated a slot during the conference to present their work. Presented papers will be published on the conference proceedings.

  ICT4S 2022 will have the proceedings published by Conference Publishing Services (CPS). Accepted submissions will be submitted to IEEE Xplore and the IEEE Computer Society Digital Library. Content will be submitted to the indexing companies for possible indexing. Indexing services are independent organizations, and CPS cannot guarantee that any particular abstract or index entry will be included in Ei Compendex or any other indexing service.

• Journal-first paper: select the “[ICT4S’22] Journal First Paper Track” and submit your published journal paper together with a cover letter describing the reasons why it should be presented at ICT4S 2022, merged into a single file. Each cover letter is limited to 2 pages in IEEE conference proceedings format including text, appendices, figures and references. Please note that it is by no means mandatory that you use all these elements as long as the cover letter clearly explains the appropriateness of the paper to be presented at the conference.

  At least one author of each accepted paper is expected to register for the conference. Registered authors of the accepted journal-first papers will be allocated a slot during the conference to present their work.

Accepted Papers