Public Organization Review - Call for Proposals: Special Issue on AI & Digital Governance
Call for Proposals: Artificial Intelligence and Digitalization in Public Sector Innovation and Performance
Special Issue of Public Organization Review (POR)
The Public Organization Review (POR) invites article proposals for a special issue on “Artificial Intelligence and Digitalization in Public Sector Innovation and Performance.” This issue seeks to advance understanding of how artificial intelligence (AI) and digitalization is reshaping public administration by enhancing efficiency, supporting data-driven decision-making, and addressing critical governance challenges.
Focus of the Special Issue
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digitalization are rapidly transforming public sector operations by automating routine tasks, enabling advanced data analysis, and supporting informed decision-making. Governments and public organizations worldwide are leveraging digital technologies and AI to improve efficiency, manage public issues proactively, and deliver more personalized services. However, the integration of these also poses critical challenges, including ethical concerns, transparency issues, and the need to reskill the public workforce.
This special issue seeks to explore these opportunities and challenges by examining the impact of AI and digitalization on public sector governance, public administration, and management innovation and performance. We welcome proposals offering novel insights into AI’s role within public and nonprofit organizations, either through single-country studies or comparative analyses. Submissions should draw implications for policy and practice to guide effective integration of AI and digitalization in public administration.
We invite empirical research, theoretical contributions, and practical case studies that shed light on the implementation and impact of AI and digitalization. Selected articles will be published online first, followed by the print edition in December 2025.
Public Organization Review (POR) is a globally recognized journal with ESCI and Q2 status and is poised to achieve Q1 and ISI/SSCI indexing. POR publishes high-quality manuscripts that pass a rigorous double-anonymous review process and a selective acceptance rate of 15-20% from over 300 annual submissions. It serves as a premier platform for research in public administration, public policy, and governance.
Examples of Suitable Topics for the Special Issue:
The following list of sub-topics is only to indicate the breadth of sub-topics that will be considered for inclusion. The list does not exclude other related sub-topics.
AI and Public Sector Innovation and Delivery: Impacts of AI on efficiency, service quality, healthcare, education, social services, and citizen engagement. Digital Transformation of Public Service: Exploration of digital tools for reshaping service delivery models in the public sector governance, administration, and management. New or Sound Governance Platforms and Frameworks: Exploration of new forms of governance models and approaches designed to address the adoption of digital technologies and AI tools. AI and the Public Workforce: Effects on employment, skills, and HR management. Financial Resilience and Digitalization: Exploration of strengthening financial resilience using digital and AI technologies. AI for Decision-Making and Implementation: Research on data-driven policy formulation, adoption, and implementation. Evaluation of AI and Digitalization Performance: Methodologies for assessing the effectiveness, impact, and outcomes of AI and digitalization initiatives with a focus on developing relevant evaluation metrics and key performance indicators. AI's Ethical and Destructive Potentials: Superficiality risks, decision integrity, and governance challenges. Citizen Engagement with AI and Digitalization: Exploration of digital technologies and AI tools for social media analysis, public opinion tracking, and digital democracy. Digital Inclusion and Equity: Research on advancing a more inclusive and equitable societal transformation with digital technologies and AI tools. Economic and Regulatory Implications: AI’s impact on labor markets, costs vs. benefits, and regulatory challenges. Data Security and Citizen Privacy in the Age of AI and Digitalization: A review of the balance between leveraging public data and AI-driven technologies to enhance governance while safeguarding citizen privacy.AI in Public Safety and Crisis Management: Applications in law enforcement, emergency response, and real-time crisis management. Cybersecurity and Public Governance: Examination of the role of cybersecurity in ensuring safe digital interactions for citizens.AI for Environmental Sustainability: Solutions for environmental monitoring and sustainable development.AI and Digital Twins in Public Services: Applications of digital twin technology for public infrastructure and service optimization. Smart City Governance: Studies on how digitalization and AI technologies are transforming urban planning and management. Predictive Analytics and Proactive Governance: AI tools for predicting and shaping future governance scenarios. Cognitive applications and impacts of both AI and Digitalization on Humanity, culture, institutional foundations and functions, and the ways in which such impacts might transform the future of public administration, public policy, public management, organization change and design configurations, Impacts of Digitalization and AI technologies on the changing world order systems from the Unipolar Rule Based (?) Order to the Multipolar World Order System currently underway with special implications for the vast number of countries of the South around the BRICS Plus vis a vis the few nations of the North. How will the Twin Technologies of AI and Digitalization affect --positively and negatively--the educational institutions and their outcomes as well as ethics, public health, and human nature worldwide?
Considering the emerging nature of AI and government platforms, the guest editors are looking for both heavily researched and empirical works, as well as manuscript proposals providing insightful frameworks, theories, and policy suggestions with administrative and managerial implications. Additionally, we welcome case studies that offer practical insights into the implementation and impact of AI in public administration. This comprehensive approach allows for a thorough exploration of the topics.
Proposals and Manuscripts
Proposals should clearly and succinctly present: (1) a descriptive title; (2) a statement of purpose that includes a problem statement; (3) research questions; (4) a sound conceptualization with theoretical/literature grounding; (5) the ‘originality’ and significance of the paper; (6) a brief methodology statement that includes, for example, sources of data and tools and methods; and (7) the paper’s potential contributions to knowledge (generalizability). Proposals should be no more than 500 words.
Completed manuscripts should not exceed 35 pages double spaced (or 8000 words), inclusive of all tables, figures, and charts. APA style with third person writing is required. Style guidelines are on the POR website.
Timetable to Publication
Submission Deadline for Proposals: February 15, 2025]Notification of Acceptance: [March 1, 2025]Full Manuscripts Submission Due to POR: [June 30, 2025]Reviews Returned with Decision Options: [August 1, 2025]Final Revised Manuscripts Due: [October 1, 2025]Final Publication Decisions: [November 1, 2025]
The Special Issue will be published in POR: Articles will be published Online as they are accepted and in print, in December 2025.
Proposals should be submitted to any of the Guest Editors listed below, or the Editor-In-Chief. Full manuscripts must be submitted to POR Online. Questions about the substance or process for proposals, manuscripts, or the Special Issue should be submitted to the Guest Editors.
Editor-In-Chief of Public Organization Review (POR):
Ali Farazmand, Florida Atlantic University
Email: afarazma@fau.edu
Special Issue Guest Editors:
Michael Ahn, University of Massachusetts Boston
Email: Michael.Ahn@Umb.edu
Younhee Kim, Pennsylvania State University Harrisburg
Email: ykim@psu.edu
We look forward to your innovative contributions to this vital discourse on AI and Digitalization innovations in the public sector administration and management