[AISWorld] Information Technology for Development: Incoming Editor-in-Chief Silvia Masiero

[Sajda Qureshi]

It is my honor and pleasure to announce that Dr Silvia Masiero is taking the helm of Information Technology for Development (ITD) as Editor-in-Chief. She is a professor of Information Systems at the Department of Informatics at the University of Olso; she belongs to a thriving research group which has been at the forefront of digitalization in public health in low- and middle-income countries since the 1990s, and is a cornerstone of the global HISP/DHIS2 community.

Silvia's research contributions are in the area of information and communication technology for development (ICT4D), with a focus on the role of digital platforms in socio-economic development processes, in which she has multiple peer-reviewed publications, books, book chapters and blogs. Currently her research contributions revolve around three areas:

  *   the role of digital platforms in socio-economic development
  *   the implications of digital identity systems (primarily India's Aadhaar) for social protection schemes and recipients' entitlements
  *   the adoption of ICTs in contexts of humanitarian emergency such as the current global refugee crisis.
She serves as Chair of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) 9.4 Working Group on the Implications of Information and Digital Technologies for Development, served as a member of the Association for Information Systems (AIS) Special Interest Groups and leadership in the Special Interest Group on Global Development. She is also a member of the ICT4D Collective. Her contributions to the field may be found on google scholar and ResearchGate. See: https://www.mn.uio.no/ifi/english/people/aca/silvima/index.html

Silvia Masiero is uniquely poised to take on the demands of this growing field and its leading Journal. ITD has a diverse global footprint, as can be seen in the Journal's metrics, which are very healthy: https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=journalMetrics&journalCode=titd20. ITD's Impact Factor is 4.8 for 2022, and its five-year Impact Factor 5.1. The Journal's rank by journal citation indicator is 10/62 in Development Studies and 26/163 in Information Science and Library Science, falling into the top quartile in both fields. Since the Journal's footprint is unique, the majority of citations for 2022 come from its own scholars and a handful of high impact journals such as the International Journal of Information Management (which has an Impact Factor [IF] of 21), Technological Forecasting and Social Change (IF 12), Technology in Society (IF 9.2) and Government Information Quarterly (IF 7.8). In previous years, a number of journals in economics, development studies and management information systems have cited ITD papers. Nobel Laureates in Economics Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo cite ITD papers, in particular, Blumenstock's (2012) ITD paper on the use of AI/ML tools for poverty mapping in Rwanda (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02681102.2011.643209).

Ross Fulton, on behalf of the journal's proprietor, the Commonwealth Secretariat, said, "It has been an immense privilege for the Commonwealth Secretariat to work with Professor Sajda Qureshi as Editor in Chief of ITD over the past two decades. She has not only developed the journal to become the leading resource in its field but, through it and her wider work, has been instrumental to the development of ICT4D and related disciplines, thereby benefitting the people of the Commonwealth and the wider world. We very much look forward to working with Dr Masiero on this next phase of the journal's life."

Taylor and Francis continue to publish the ITD Journal for the Commonwealth Scretariat and will work to ensure that ITD continues to reach as many scholars as possible worldwide.