Organized by the WHO EPI-WIN Infodemic Management team, coordinated by Manlio De Domenico, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Italy, and Pier Luigi Sacco, IULM University, Italy, and Harvard University, USA, with kind collaboration of the following journals: Big Data & Society, Health Security, The International Journal of Intelligence, Security and Public Affairs, the Pan American Journal of Public Health and Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal.
Overview
The global community is facing a major challenge as a highly infectious virus is spreading globally with more than 21.5 million cases and 766,000 deaths as of August 17, 2020. At the same time, a deluge of information, including misleading or false content is spreading even faster through the internet, social networks and the media, dangerously altering risk perceptions and disseminating false information about the disease, potential cures, and probable sources. There is an increasing awareness that the surge of excessive, false or misleading information may pose new and serious threats to global health that should be adequately tackled through major research efforts and carefully targeted, evidence-based policy interventions.
Due to its consequences at the global scale and its analogies with the transmission mechanisms of a pandemic, the term “infodemic” is used to denote a rapid, large-scale dissemination of all kinds of health information and misinformation through a variety of media and informational channels. This overabundance of information – some accurate and some not – makes it harder for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when needed. When an infodemic occurs during an epidemic, its potential threat for public health is significantly amplified. The COVID-19-related infodemic must be regarded as a global threat, and there is an increasing awareness that a whole new field of research is needed to cope with it, and with future similar threats sparked by new, major health-related crises – a field that, among other things, requires a novel, complex synthesis of specialist knowledge from many different existing disciplines, and that can be termed “Infodemiology”.
The infodemic and the spread of health misinformation is a global and multifaceted phenomenon, calling for both specific theoretical frameworks and applied tools for measurement and analysis, as well as for the coordination of public health institutions, policy makers, information professionals, researchers, journalists, Information Technology experts, digital platforms and the entire civil society in containing its negative effects by means of evidence-based joint efforts and policies.
What is an infodemic?
An infodemic is an acute outpouring of information, including potentially misleading or inaccurate information that, in a digital, hyper-connected society such as the present one, is likely bound to accompany every epidemic or acute health crisis. This overabundance of information makes it harder for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when needed. The severity of the crisis and the related high social levels of alarm, fear and anxiety have contributed to a massive flow of information in the form of news media, scientific publications, and social media commentary. This abundance of information also includes misinformation, disinformation and rumors, which may lead to confusion, disorientation and risky or improper behavior, and ultimately to mistrust in governments, experts, researchers, and the media. These outcomes may seriously endanger the effectiveness of the response and of public health measures. While some false information is merely confusing without an explicit manipulative intent, other false health messages can be hazardous for public health, especially insofar as it leads people to react in ways that favor the spreading of the contagion or jeopardize the efficacy of the containment measures and adherence to guidelines validated by experts.
Why an infodemic-themed set of journal special issues is needed now?
The scale of the infodemic and the complexity of the required response makes this topic of high importance and concern for public health and government response. Governments need to properly prioritize not only pandemic responses but also infodemic ones, providing reliable information, while at the same time building on solid and scientifically tested methods, facts and analytics, in designing policy interventions, and in constantly checking and updating them through a close monitoring of the informational flows and trends and of their impacts with respect to policy targets.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has declared that the world needs to respond to the infodemic, and WHO has established a COVID-19 emergency response pillar for infodemic management. WHO has partnered up with UN agencies and all sectors of society, and proposed a holistic approach to infodemic management which applies evidence-based interventions that bring understandable, localized and validated information to citizens, to support positive health-seeking behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the UN Secretary General António Guterres has launched the UN Communications Response Initiative against misinformation.
Such a massive, multi-layered response needs to build upon high-level coordination and collaborative approaches but also political, technical and scientific commitment. In this regard a rigorous scientific coverage of interrelated issues would be able to handle it in view of the many interdisciplinary angles, methods and techniques, geographical perspectives and temporal scales that are to be considered. For this reason, the WHO has launched an unprecedented collaboration between several scientific journals which, in view of their aims and scope, may serve as a useful platform of dissemination of high quality, relevant scientific knowledge on infodemic-related issues. All together, these journals are furthering a global research effort toward understanding the science in infodemiology. All together, the contributions published in this first round of publication will allow for a broad framing of the scientific evidence and knowledge from past and current experience in managing infodemics in health emergencies; discuss theoretical and analytical approaches to infodemic monitoring and evidence-based interventions with a view of building a new toolbox for the growing discipline; provide examples of experience from the field response, and of how countries adapted their response to risk communication and misinformation; and sketch a first comprehensive picture of the main challenges and of the key lessons learnt for policymakers.
Journal-specific calls
Big Data & Society (BD&S) [English]
BD&S is a peer-reviewed SAGE journal with the SSCI Impact Factor of 4.577 that publishes interdisciplinary work in the social sciences, humanities and computing and their intersections with the arts and natural sciences about the implications of Big Data for societies.
The special theme proposal on “Infodemic @ Scale” seeks to provide a space for original research articles (up to 10k words) and commentaries (up to 3K words) in the area of infodemiology, big data, and COVID-related dis/misinformation studies.
Guest editors:
- Anatoliy Gruzd, Canada Research Chair and Associate Professor at Ryerson University and Director of Research at the Social Media Lab.
- Manlio De Domenico, Head of the Complex Multilayer Networks (CoMuNe) Research Unit at the Center for Information Technology of Fondazione Bruno Kessler.
- Pier Luigi Sacco, Professor of Cultural Economics, IULM University Milan; Co-Director of the Computational Human Behavior (CHuB) Lab of Bruno Kessler Foundation, Trento, and Senior Researcher, metaLAB (at) Harvard.
- Sylvie Briand, Director of Infectious Hazards Management Department at WHO.
Full papers/commentaries are not required at this stage. We expect to have a decision on whether the special theme proposal is selected by the end of October 2020. All accepted special theme content will be waived Article Processing Charges and will be published open access.
If you are interested in contributing to this BD&S special theme proposal on “Infodemic @ Scale”, please complete the form by Sept 8, 2020.
The International Journal of Intelligence, Security, and Public Affairs [English]
The journal’s main goal is to investigate and study intelligence for decision making in a broad sense. It is a meeting point for academics and professionals to tackle rigorously a wide range of subjects in this interdisciplinary field, including issues related to the practice of intelligence in democratic societies. The journal aims to disseminate original research articles (double-blind peer-review policy) on matters related to intelligence applied to security, defense, business and the financial-economic environment. In the context of the Joint Call for Papers, the International Journal of Intelligence, Security, and Public Affairs is particularly interested in receiving submissions dealing (but not limited) to the following topics:
- Public Health Intelligence
- Intelligence for early warning, situational awareness on infodemics, and infodemics management
- Intelligence and strategic communications
- Disinformation activities and propaganda from state and non-state actors
- COVID-19 disinformation narratives and propaganda
- Regional and country case studies on misinformation/disinformation
- Assessment and evaluative research on infodemics
- Societal resilience to infodemics and disinformation
- Education and training on public health intelligence and infodemics management
We look forward to receiving your contributions. The journal publishes research articles (6,000 words). Research notes might also be considered for publication. Please contact Dr. Rubén Arcos (ruben.arcos@urjc.es) for additional information and questions, and if you are interested in submitting your work for consideration. Deadline for full submissions: 12 October 2020.
Health Security [English]
Health Security is a peer-reviewed journal providing research and essential guidance for the protection of people’s health before and after epidemics or disasters and for ensuring that communities are resilient to major challenges. It offers important insight into how to develop the systems and solutions needed to meet these challenges. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Health Security covers research, innovations, methods, challenges, and ethical and legal dilemmas facing scientific, military, and health organizations. The Journal is a key resource for practitioners in these fields, policymakers, scientific experts, and government officials. Health Security is under the editorial leadership of Editor-in-Chief Thomas V. Inglesby, MD, Director, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The journal will accept research papers (up to 4K words), practice reports (up to 4K words), and commentaries (up to 2K words) submitted by October 31, 2020 for consideration. Please contact Dr. Tara Kirk Sell (tksell@jhu.edu) for questions or for optional review of abstracts.
Pan American Journal of Public Health (PAJPH) [English, Spanish and Portuguese]
The Pan American Journal of Public Health (PAJPH) is a free, open access, peer-reviewed, trilingual journal, published uninterruptedly since 1922 as the flagship scientific and technical periodical publication by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Its mission is to serve as an important vehicle for disseminating scientific public health information of international significance, mainly in areas related to PAHO's essential mission to strengthen national and local health systems and improve the health of the peoples of the Americas. The journal aims to bridge the gap between policy-makers, researchers, health professionals, and practitioners. The journal will accept original research papers, systematic reviews, special reports and brief communications (please check the Instructions for authors) submitted by October 30, 2020 for consideration. Please contact Dr. Damian Vazquez (vazquezd@paho.org) for additional information and questions.
Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal (EMHJ) [English, Arabic and French]
Established in 1995 EMHJ is the peer-reviewed flagship monthly journal of the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean. The journal aims to improve health across the Region through the publication of quality research, with an emphasis on public health and focused on strategic health priorities. The EMHJ strengthens public health knowledge, policy, practice and education. Its wide dissemination supports health policy decision-making and enables researchers, practitioners and professionals to remain well informed of developments in public health. Please contact Dr. Ahmed Mandil (mandila@who.int) EMHJ Deputy Executive Editor or Mr Phillip Dingwall (dingwallp@who.int) EMHJ Managing Editor for questions. Deadline for full submissions: 15 November 2020. Submission guidelines for authors are available here.