• Special Issue: Fair and Explainable Decision Support Systems

EURO Journal on Decision Processes

Call for Papers

Special Issue: Fair and Explainable Decision Support Systems

https://www.journals.elsevier.com/euro-journal-on-decision-processes/call-for-papers/fair-and-explainable-decision-support-systems

This Special Issue aims at collecting contributions that focus on the various dimensions of algorithmic fairness, both from foundational and application perspectives. We therefore target works ranging from novel theoretical frameworks to model fairness (and tackle unfairness) in the general case, to the formalization of fairness issues in different applications (from decision making, operations research, resource allocation and policy making) using empirical approaches. Contributions dealing with different data-types, e.g., tabular, sequential, textual and, other complex data such as graphs, are particularly welcome.

Guest editors:

• Prof. Miguel Couceiro, Université de Lorraine, CNRS, LORIA, F-54000 Nancy, France. Email: [email protected]
• Luis Galárraga, Researcher, INRIA/IRISA, 263 Avenue du Général Leclerc, Building 12 F, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes, France. Email: [email protected]

Special issue information:

Motivation

Algorithmic decisions are nowadays being employed on a daily basis. They are carried out by mathematical models trained using machine learning techniques on data collected from past experiences. Well-known examples include decision support systems for loan grants, terrorism detection, prediction of criminal recidivism, and many other activities with social and economic impact on society. While ML-based decision systems generally attain good performance, they can be complex and opaque, not to mention that they are not infallible. This lack of transparency, together with the increasing evidence of biases and unfair outcomes in those systems, has raised several concerns within the scientific and legislative realms.

Most of the notions of fairness focus on the outcomes of the decision process, and they are inspired by several anti-discrimination efforts that aim to ensure that unprivileged groups (e.g. racial minorities) are treated fairly. As such, the problem of improving algorithmic fairness can be formulated as an optimisation one. However, certain dimensions of fairness do not fit into this setting, e.g., fairness through unawareness and counterfactuals. This raises a number of challenges for theorists, researchers, and practitioners.

This brings us to the underlying motivation of this Special Issue that aims at collecting contributions that focus on the various dimensions of algorithmic fairness, both from foundational and application perspectives. We therefore target works ranging from novel theoretical frameworks to model fairness (and tackle unfairness) in the general case, to the formalization of fairness issues in different applications (from decision making, operations research, resource allocation and policy making) using empirical approaches. Contributions dealing with different data-types, e.g., tabular, sequential, textual and, other complex data such as graphs, are particularly welcome.

Contents:

We welcome contributions (i) in the form of state-of-the-art original research papers, (ii) in the form of position papers that establish bridges between different frameworks, and (iii) discussion papers that highlight emerging trends in the topics outlined above. New methodologies, algorithmic tools, and implementations are also in the scope of this Special Issue.

Manuscript submission information:

You are invited to submit your manuscript at any time before the submission deadline of 1 May 2022. For any inquiries about the appropriateness of contribution topics, please contact Miguel Couceiro, University of Lorraine, CNRS, Loria, France ([email protected]) or Luis Galárraga, INRIA Rennes, France ([email protected]).

The journal’s submission platform (Editorial Manager) is now available for receiving submissions to this Special Issue. Please refer to the Guide for Authors to prepare your manuscript, and select the article type of “VSI: Fair decisions” when submitting your manuscript online. Both the Guide for Authors and the submission portal could be found on the Journal Homepage here:

https://www.journals.elsevier.com/euro-journal-on-decision-processes

Keywords:

Explainability, Fairness of decision, accountability of decisions, trust in decision system

Why publish in this Special Issue?

• Special Issue articles are published together on ScienceDirect, making it incredibly easy for other researchers to discover your work.
• Special content articles are downloaded on ScienceDirect twice as often within the first 24 months than articles published in regular issues.
• Special content articles attract 20% more citations in the first 24 months than articles published in regular issues.
• All articles in this special issue will be reviewed by no fewer than two independent experts to ensure the quality, originality and novelty of the work published.

 

Learn more about the benefits of publishing in a special issue: https://www.elsevier.com/authors/submit-your-paper/special-issues

Interested in becoming a guest editor? Discover the benefits of guest editing a special issue and the valuable contribution that you can make to your field: https://www.elsevier.com/editors/role-of-an-editor/guest-editors

EURO-Online login

Username:
Password: