************************************************************************** Call For Papers: Special Issue on Blockchain Distributed and Parallel Databases (DAPD) An International Journal of Data Science, Engineering, and Management https://www.springer.com/journal/10619/updates/19089506 ************************************************************************** Call for papers: Blockchain---the unique technology powering Bitcoin---is flourishing into a wide spectrum of academic initiatives, industry innovations, consortium alliances, and a manifold of emerging commercialization opportunities. The multidisciplinary nature of blockchain research spans diverse disciplines ranging from computer science and engineering to political science, law, social sciences, public policy, banking and finance, and journalism, to name a few. Broadly speaking, blockchain platforms rooted in democratization and decentralization are classified into two categories: permissionless and permissioned. While in a permissionless manifestation the network is public, and anyone can participate without a specific identity, the permissioned setting is constrained to a set of known entities that may not fully trust each other. These platforms focus on the unique features of blockchain such as scale, fault tolerance, accountability, integrity, transparency, immutability, and provenance to support an ever-increasing range of distributed applications. This special issue aims to gather state-of-the-art research to advance the research and development frontier in the area of blockchain. The list of topics includes, but are not, limited to the following: Distributed consensus and fault-tolerant protocols design and analysis Security, privacy, confidentiality, and trust in blockchain Performance and scalability of blockchain systems Data partitioning and data replication in blockchain Blockchain-based applications and services Enhanced smart contract support in blockchain Data management services using blockchain Machine learning/artificial intelligence role in blockchain Blockchain in the edge and cloud computing Blockchain in the Internet of things (IoT) Governance and blockchain Provenance in blockchain Software engineering practices and life cycle management of blockchain Game theory and its applications to blockchain Blockchain social theory and societal impacts Experienced and industry innovations in blockchain Important Dates: Paper submission: July 31, 2021 Author Notification: October 15, 2022 Revised Papers Submission: January 15, 2022 Final Decision: March 15, 2022 Guest Editors: Mohammad Sadoghi, University of California, Davis (Lead Editor) Mohammad Javad Amiri, University of Pennsylvania Submission Instructions: The submitted manuscripts must be written in English and describe original research not published nor currently under review by other journals or conferences. Parallel submissions will not be accepted. All submitted papers, if relevant to the theme and objectives of the special issue, will go through a vigorous peer-review process. Submissions should (i) conform strictly to the Instructions for Authors available on the Journal website and (ii) be submitted through the Editorial Management system available at: http://www.editorialmanager.com/DAPD