Dear All,

 The Special Interest Group on International Information Issues (SIG-III) of the Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) invites research papers for the 20th International Paper Contest (IPC) for library and information science (LIS) professionals in developing countries, for the 83^rd Annual Meeting, which will take place in Pittsburgh, USA, from October 23-28, 2020. The theme of the Annual Meeting is: “Information for a Sustainable World: Addressing Society’s Grand Challenges.” For more information visit: https://www.asist.org/am20/.

 The purpose of this contest is to nurture the culture of research in developing countries by recognizing the work of researchers in developing countries.

 Papers submitted to this contest can discuss research problems, policies, practical issues in or outside of LIS work settings, and case studies on any aspect of the 2020 ASIS&T Annual Meeting theme from a local and/or international perspective.

 Topics include, but are not limited to the following core areas:

• Role of information in changes in economic, social, scientific, political, and personal behaviors
• Production, storage, sharing, preservation, management, and consumption of data and information for benefitting individuals, communities, organizations, or society
• Role of the place, time, and the way in which data/information/knowledge is communicated in empowering individuals, communities, organizations, or society
• Information and individuals: Information behavior, information retrieval, human-computer interaction, social media use, information literacy, etc.
• Information use in, for, or by organizations: Information architecture, knowledge management, competitive intelligence, linked data and big data, digital curation, records and archives management, etc.
• Information society: Digital citizenship, cultural engagement, archival preservation, policy development, copyright, intellectual property, info-metrics, information access, etc.
• Information and emerging technologies: Cloud computing, digital libraries, automatic indexing, social tagging, classification, semantic web, database design, web usability, etc.

Judging Criteria: The IPC papers will be judged using the following criteria.

1. Originality of the research question
2. Ability to situate problem statement against existing literature
3. Rigor in research methods
4. Novelty and significance of research findings
5. Theoretical and/or practical implications and/or contributions
6. Quality of presentation and overall organization of information
7. Consistency in citations, references, and grammar

Eligibility & Information for Authors: All authors should be citizens of and reside in a developing nation. Winners of the 2013-2019 contests are not eligible. The papers should be original, unpublished, and submitted in English. We encourage submissions from librarians, information and network specialists, and educators involved in the creation, representation, maintenance, exchange, discovery, delivery, and use of digital information.

Style: Submissions should follow the Initial Submission Instructions at: https://www.asist.org/am20/submission-types-instructions/#papers.

ASIS&T Copyright Policy: ASIS&T will have the non-exclusive right to publish any of the papers submitted on its website or in print, with ownership and all other rights remaining with the author.

Deadline: Authors are invited to submit manuscripts, not to exceed 5,000 words, by April 30, 2020, via email to dpotnis@utk.edu as Microsoft Word attachment.

Notification: Winners will be notified by May 31, 2020.

Winners and Award: The IPC Committee will select three winners. We encourage all three winners to attend the 2020 ASIS&T Annual Meeting for sharing their research. The first-place winner will receive maximum of US $1,500 for offsetting the cost of attending and presenting their research poster at the 2020 ASIS&T Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, USA. In addition, all three winners will receive a two-year individual membership in ASIS&T. In case of multiple authors, the first author will be awarded the ASIS&T membership.

Poster Presentation: The first-place winner will be expected to present a poster (48” by 36” inches) based on their research paper at the SIG-III Reception at the 2020 ASIS&T Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, USA.  

We look forward to receiving your submissions. Please feel free to distribute this call for papers widely to your colleagues in developing countries. Thanks!

Sincerely,

International Paper Contest Committee