Aims and Scope

The past decade has seen profound transformations in the nature of public service delivery. The digital and smart revolutions have changed the structure, processes and content of public service delivery. These are being challenged further now by the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on public services. The societal and economic convulsions produced by the COVID-19 pandemic have also increased the impact of these transformations. This special issue of Global Public Policy and Governance (GPPG) is dedicated to exploring these transformations and their impact for theory and practice. It sits alongside GPPG’s recent call for a special issue on the global governance of emerging technologies.

Given the interdisciplinary nature of this field, this special issue welcomes contributions from different academic fields and especially, but not exclusively, inter-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary work. We also welcome both empirical and theoretical/conceptual papers that add value to our discipline.Systematic literature reviews are welcome if they add substantively to theory and do not just summarise past work. Submissions can be from both established researchers and new researchers, including doctoral students.

Paper submission is welcome on any theme, but papers on the following themes would be particularly opportune:

• The implications of digital and AI transformation for the co-design of public services and the co-creation of value through public service delivery.

• Evaluation of artificial Intelligence applications and innovations in service design and service delivery, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The ethical challenges of digital and AI transformation for public services.

• The challenges to public administration and management theory from digital and AI transformation.

• Innovative approaches to citizen engagement and participation through digital and AI transformation.

• The role and impact of gender on digital and AI transformation for public services.

• The impact of digital and AI transformation upon public service management and evaluation (including performance and quality evaluation).

• Inter-organisational and/or inter-personal working in the era of digital and smart services.

• Comparative studies of digital and AI transformation in public services (on either a cross-national or a cross-sectoral basis).

• Systematic literature reviews that develop theory

Submission Process

Initial submissions should take the form of a 500 – 1000 word paper proposal. This should specify the topic and its significance, the approach taken, and the paper’s potential contribution to theory and practice. This should be submitted to stephen.osborne@ed.ac.uk by 30 November 2021.

These proposals will be evaluated by the editorial group and a maximum of 10 - 12 papers will be selected for development. Authors will be advised if their proposal is going forward by mid-January 2022. The decision of the Editorial Team will be final. An online workshop to review the papers will be held in April/May 2022.

Authors will revise their full papers following this panel/workshop and submit them to the Editorial Manager of GPPG by 1st July 2022 at the latest. There will then be a formal double-blind peer evaluation process before the final selection of 7 – 8 papers for the special issue is made. The review process is organized by the guest editors via the Editorial Manager of GPPG. Final decisions are expected to be made before the end of 2022.

If other papers are reviewed that are deemed to be of a publishable standard but for which there is no space in the Special Issue, these will be passed onto the Editor-in-Chief of GPPG with a recommendation for publication in the regular issues of the journal (though the final decision here will be by the Editor-in-Chief).

The format of research papers should comply with the styles of GPPG, with APA reference style and a word limit of 10,000 words. More details are available at: https://www.springer.com/journal/43508

Initial enquiries about the suitability of a paper proposal can be made to any of the editors of the Special Issue.

Important Dates

30 November 2021——Proposal submission (stephen.osborne@ed.ac.uk)

Mid-January 2022——Admission decisions announced

April/May 2022——Online workshop

1 July 2022——Full paper submission (Editorial Manager of GPPG)

Guest Editors

lStephen Osborne (University of Edinburgh) stephen.osborne@ed.ac.uk

lMaria Cucciniello (University of Edinburgh) maria.cucciniello@ed.ac.uk

lGreta Nasi (Bocconi University, Milan) greta.nasi@unibocconi.it

lEdwina Zhu (University of Bristol) yida.zhu@gmail.com