Journal updates

Scope:
This special issue of the Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications is devoted to new developments in the fields of continuous optimization and variational analysis presented at the Spring School and Workshop on Variational Analysis and Optimization 2025 (ICOVAO-25). Organized by the Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (VIASM), the Vietnam Academy of Sciences and Technology, and the Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 in Hanoi in March 2025, this event aimed at strengthening the collaboration between the optimization communities from Vietnam and the rest of the world, and at exposing young Vietnamese optimizers to the newest advances in the field. Contributions are expected from all participants on topics spreading from convex and nonconvex optimization, variational analysis, equilibrium problems, vector and set-valued optimization and (splitting) proximal point type algorithms to applications in different fields such as engineering, mathematical finances, machine learning and artificial intelligence, among others. Related papers from other experts in these fields are equally welcome.
 
Guest Editors
Sorin-Mihai Grad, ENSTA Paris/Polytechnic Institute of Paris (Palaiseau, France), sorin-mihai.grad@ensta.fr
Nicolas Hadjisavvas,University of the Aegean (Syros, Greece), nhad@aegean.gr
Felipe Lara, University of Tarapacá (Arica, Chile), flarao@academicos.uta.cl
Boris Mordukhovich,Wayne State University (Detroit, United States), boris@math.wayne.edu
Nguyen Van Tuyen, Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 (Phuc Yen, Vietnam), nguyenvantuyen83@hpu2.edu.vn
Nguyen Dong Yen, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (Hanoi, Vietnam), ndyen@math.ac.vn

Announcement date:  April 15, 2025
Submission deadline:   December 31^st, 2025      

 

Scope/Rationale:
In the past decades, copositivity gained popularity as a key concept for optimization, which can handle nonconvex, mixed-integer and polynomial optimization problems. On occasion of the 75th anniversary of copositivity (2027), we are aiming to cover the area in a comprehensive and concise way and expect this collection to become a major reference source for researchers and teachers in mathematics, computer science, engineering and economics. The purpose of this collection is manifold: to collect as many reliable historical facts about the early days of copositivity as possible, to present an overview of the diverse streams of research since then, and to provide an up-to-date survey of recent advances and future perspectives, with a scope as comprehensive as possible. In particular, we welcome submissions focusing on computationally tractable procedures, involving ideas from copositivity.


Tentative Schedule
Announcement Date: 1 March 2025                
Submission deadline: 31 March 2026                
First Round of Reviews: 30 September 2026            
Targeted Publication Date: 15 June 2027                

Guest Editors
Petra Renáta Rigó (Lead Guest Editor)  petra.rigo@uni-corvinus.hu
Immanuel Bomze immanuel.bomze@univie.ac.at
Mirjam Dür mirjam.duer@math.uni-augsburg.de
Marianna E.-Nagy marianna.eisenberg-nagy@uni-corvinus.hu
Tibor Illés illes@math.bme.hu

Note:  The issue will be based on invitation of selected contributors.
           Other submissions will be rejected or transferred to regular submissions.

Prof. Q. H. Ansari’s work significantly advances the fields of optimization, variational inequalities, and game theory, with particular contributions to non-smooth analysis, convex analysis, and fixed-point theory. 

His research has broad applications in economics, engineering, and applied mathematics, addressing both theoretical challenges and practical problems in these domains. The scope of his work spans vector optimization, set optimization, equilibrium problems, and abstract economies, making a profound impact on optimization theory and its interdisciplinary applications.

Honoring his work through this special issue acknowledges his impactful legacy and encourages further advancements in optimization and its diverse applications. The proposed special issue would focus on cutting-edge research in areas closely aligned with Prof. Ansari’s interests, including but not limited to:

• Variational Inequalities
• Nonsmooth Optimization
• Generalized Convexity and Monotonicity
• Fixed Point Theory and Applications
• Vector Optimization
• Set Optimization
• Applications of Optimization in Machine Learning and Engineering

Guest Editors:
Prof. Jen-Chih Yao, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
         Email:   yaojc@math.nsysu.edu.tw
Prof. Hong-Kun Xu, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, China
         Email:    xuhk@hdu.edu.cn
 

Announcement Date: October 15, 2024                                          

Submission deadline: March 15, 2025

Scope:
In recent decades, researchers have increasingly tackled with optimization challenges that defy resolution through conventional convex or monotonic frameworks, in view of applications in science, engineering and other disciplines. Consequently, novel methodologies are emerging in nonsmooth, variational, and convex analysis. This special issue aims to publish original high-quality papers centered around the broad area of convexity, monotonicity and their extensions, and variational analysis, in and beyond optimization. Thus, it sheds new light on classical results and opens new approaches to face ‘‘nonconvex problems’’ in both theoretical and practical scenarios. Some of the papers collected in the special issue will be presented at the XIV International Symposium on Generalized Convexity and Monotonicity, to be held on September 2-6, 2024, in Pisa, Italy. So that, other researchers working in the area will also be welcome to contribute.
 

Contributions may include, but are not limited to the following topics:
* Algorithms for fixed point, (quasi-) variational inequality and optimization problems;
* Quadratic optimization problems;
* (Quasi-) Variational inequalities, equilibrium problems and related topics;
* Robust optimization;
* Set optimization;
* Vector optimization.

Guest Editors:
Riccardo Cambini, University of Pisa, riccardo.cambini@unipi.it
Fabian Flores-Bazan, University of Concepcion, faflores@udec.cl
Nicolas Hadjisavvas, University of the Aegean, nhad@aegean.gr
Rita Pini, University of Milano – Bicocca, rita.pini@unimib.it

Timing:
Submission deadline: March 31,  2025
Targeted Publication Date: December 2025
 

Computational optimization plays a pivotal role in contemporary artificial intelligence (AI) research and development, becoming an essential tool for enhancing the efficiency and performance of these systems. As the volume of data and the complexity of AI algorithms continue to grow, the ability to optimally allocate computational resources, minimize processing time and energy consumption, and improve the quality of modeling and predictions becomes critically important. Therefore, investigating and developing new methods of computational optimization directly impacts the pace of scientific progress in the AI field and facilitates the broader implementation of artificial intelligence technologies across various aspects of life.

Submission deadline:   31 December  2024

Guest editors:
Roland Hildebrand (Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble)
Engeny Burnaev (Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Russia) 
Martin Takac (MBZUAI )
Alexander Gasnikov (Moscow institute of Physics and Technology) 

The scope of this Special Issue is to commemorate our colleague Andrea Bacciotti, from Politecnico di Torino (Italy), who untimely passed away in summer 2022.

The research of Andrea Bacciotti focused mainly on the study of stability and of the stabilization of Control Systems giving a big contribution to the field. He also contributed to the study of global and local controllability and he had national and international collaboration. Andrea was also devoted Scholar who did welcome and encouraged many young people. For this Special Issue we thus asked for the contribution of some of his former students and collaborators, as well as people of the broader Control community. If the Special Issue we are proposing is accepted, we plan to circulate a call for papers among a wider circle of active researchers mostly but not exclusively in the field of nonlinear control systems.

Submission deadline               15^th July 2024

Guest Editors
Laura Poggiolini (Università degli Studi di Firenze), <laura.poggiolini@unifi.it>
Luciano Pandolfi (Politecnico di Torino),  <luciano.pandolfi@formerfaculty.polito.it>
Franco Rampazzo (Università degli Studi di Padova)  <rampazzo@math.unipd.it>
Lionel Rosier (Université du Littoral Cote d'Opale),  <lionel.rosier@univ-littoral.fr>
 

This special issue is devoted to presenting new developments in the fields of continuous optimization and variational analysis.
Contributions are expected, in particular, in the areas of convex and nonconvex optimization, nonsmooth optimization, minimax problems, quadratic programming, fractional programming, stochastic optimization, variational inequalities, equilibrium problems, vector and set-valued optimization, (splitting) proximal point type algorithms, (generalized) monotone operators, and equally welcome are investigations on concrete applications in economics, finance, engineering, computer sciences and machine learning, among others, that can be modeled as optimization problems (in the largest sense) and/or solved by means of numerical optimization. This special issue is related to the Chilean-Peruvian Conference on Optimization and Variational Analysis 2024 (ChiPOVA-2024).

Sorin-Mihai Grad (Lead Guest Editor): ENSTA Paris, France,
                          Email:  sorin-mihai.grad@ensta-paris.fr
Yboon Victoria García Ramos,  University of the Pacific, Lima, Peru.
                          Email:   garcia_yv@up.edu.pe
Felipe Lara, University of Tarapacá,  Arica, Chile.
                          Email: felipelaraobreque@gmail.com

The special issue on "Recent Advanced techniques for nonlinear and Optimization Problems" focuses on the intersection of various techniques   for nonlinear, variational and Optimization Problems by exploring cutting-edge research in methods and applications. The area encompasses a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from nonlinear and optimization problems monitoring, and performance analysis to real-world applications in various domains such as industrial, financial, and engineering.  The main scope of this special issue is to provide a comprehensive platform for researchers and scientists to present original work, share insights, and contribute to the evolving landscape of nonlinear and optimization problems. The significance lies in advancing our understanding of techniques for nonlinear and optimization problems, fostering innovation on the subject, and addressing complex challenges across diverse fields.

Topics of Interest: Contributions to this special issue may include, but are not limited to, the following topics:
•    Derivative free-optimization and applications
•    Multi-objective and inverse multi-objective optimization.
•    Operator splitting methods
•    Set Optimization
•    Robust optimization
•    Variational Analysis in Structured Optimization
•    Inertial iterative techniques for fixed point, variational inequality, and optimization problems

Guest Editors:

• Qamrul Hasan Ansari, Department of Mathematics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India
•   Daya  Ram Sahu, Department of Mathematics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005 India
• Hong-Kun Xu, School of Science, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, China

This special Issue is in honour of the 10^th year anniversary of the Gaspard Monge Program in Optimization (PGMO) an industrially sponsored research program covering many different aspects of optimization theory. From an applicative viewpoint the program has, in particular, an interest in “energy related” problems. The latter, understood in a large sense, can be characterized by the presence of uncertainty, large scale, combinatorial aspects, nonsmoothness and non-convexity. The just mentioned features depending on the nature of the investigated models. Energy problems are of societal importance. As a result, the research in optimization carried out through PGMO can be understood to have real-life impact. In terms of mathematical optimization disciplines the scope of this SI is large as indeed a great many features can be found in problems from practice. We can thus cover:

• Stochastic programming
• Combinatorial optimization
• Nonsmooth and variational analysis
• Algorithmic developments
• Decomposition approaches   

Guest Editors:

• Wim van Ackooij ( wim.van.ackooij@gmail.com )   
• Grégoire Allaire ( gregoire.allaire@polytechnique.fr )
• Antonin Chambolle ( antonin.chambolle@ceremade.dauphine.fr )
• Sourour Elloumi ( sourour.elloumi@ensta-paris.fr )
• Stéphane Gaubert ( stephane.gaubert@inria.fr )
• Nadia Oudjane ( nadia.oudjane@edf.fr )
• Claudia Sagastizabal (sagastiz@unicamp.br)

       
Submission deadline:30 June, 2024

Professor Boris Teodorovich Polyak was born on May 4, 1935 and passed away on February 3, 2023. This SI is dedicated to his memory and celebrates his fundamental achievements in Optimization, Control, and Their Applications. Professor Polyak was a world leader in these domains being a founder of several scientific schools. In particular, he was the first who thought on acceleration of the Gradient Method by suggesting a momentum idea (Heavy Ball Method).  He proposed several variants of the subgradient method, which form the basis of the modern theory of Nonsmooth Optimization.  His interpretation of Modified Lagrangians paved a way for proper understanding of this technique. Several, by now classical, notions of modern Optimization, such as, uniformly convex functions, gradient-dominated functions, sharp minimum, and many more, were proposed in his papers.  Finally, his famous book “Introduction to Optimization” (1983) fixed the state of art for the first period in the development of Optimization Theory and highlighted the most interesting directions for further research.

Guest Editors:
Boris Mordukhovich, Wayne State University, boris@math.wayne.edu
Arkadi Nemirovski, Georgia Institute of Technology, nemirovs@isye.gatech.edu
Yurii Nesterov, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, nesterov@core.ucl.ac.be

Submission deadline:  September 30, 2023

We are pleased to announce this Special Issue of the Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications (JOTA) related to the 19th Workshop on Advance in Continuous Optimization (EUROPT 2022) which highlighted timely topics and challenges in continuous optimization through 13 thematic streams. The special issue aims at highlighting significant developments that have been presented at the workshop.
At least one author of each paper must have attended "EUROPT 2022" at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, July 29-30, 2022.
The short program of the workshop is available at: https://sites.fct.unl.pt/europt2022/files/europt2022-program.pdf

Guest Editors:
Paula Alexandra Amaral, paca@fct.unl.pt
Giancarlo Bigi, giancarlo.bigi@unipi.it
Miguel F. Anjos, Miguel.F.Anjos@ed.ac.uk
Sonia Cafieri, sonia@recherche.enac.fr

Submission Deadline:31 March 2023

Guest Editors:

Tibor Illés, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary 
Florian Jarre, University of Düsseldorf, Germany
Etienne de Klerk, University of Tilburg, The Netherlands 
Goran Lesaja, Georgia Southern University, USA and US Naval Academy, USA

We are pleased to announce the Special Issue of the Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications (JOTA) in honor of Professor Cornelis (Kees) Roos’ 80th and Professor Florian A. Potra’s 70th Birthday. The Special Issue is also related to the US Naval Academy Optimization & OR Conference that was organized June 2-4, 2021 to mark the occasion of Prof. Roos’ and Prof. Potra’s birthdays.
 

We invite contributions within the broad scope of the Special Issue. The contributions that are directly or indirectly related to the work of Prof. Roos and Prof. Potra are especially encouraged.
 

Submission Deadline: January 31, 2022