[Commlist] Call for Papers: Trust and the Digital Society

/Call for Papers: Trust and the Digital Society , a Special Issue of the 
Journal of Trust Research/
https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/trust-and-the-digital-society/ 
<https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/trust-and-the-digital-society/>
Trust is the latest shared societal resource to be disrupted by digital 
innovation on a global scale. Concerns abound regarding growing distrust 
in institutions, practices, and professions which were highly trusted. 
More and more people have less confidence than before in journalism, 
science, vaccines, schools and universities, otherwise fair and reliable 
public institutions. Political polarization creates tensions in 
interpersonal trust relations, and sometimes tears friendships, and even 
families apart. While skepticism and distrust can also be understood as 
liberal democratic virtues, online they are all too often subject to 
‘weaponization’ at the hands of trolls, online influencers, dishonest 
politicians and sock puppet accounts connected to authoritarian state 
sponsored disinformation campaigns. In online environments, where 
outrage often leads to higher levels of ‘engagement’, these dynamics 
feed into new ‘coalitions of distrust’ forming across and between 
different groups united by their shared antagonism of ‘the mainstream’. 
On the other end of the spectrum, we also see an increase of 
‘overconfidence’ in untrustworthy actors. Throughout history, people 
have often placed trust in questionable hands, but what distinguishes 
the present is the scale at which this occurs online, where 
accountability is frequently lacking. The rise of the sharing economy 
has made it common to trust strangers with our homes, cars, and personal 
belongings, often without fully considering the risks involved. 
Similarly, the growing presence of generative AI has led many to trust 
the output of these systems without hesitation in their daily lives. 
Trust is fluid, and there are just too many opportunities for it to flow 
into unwarranted places: the untrustworthy seem to be increasingly 
trusted, while the trustworthy aren’t.
Thus, trust has become one of the central concepts in the digital 
society. On the one hand, the trustworthiness of our information 
infrastructures, such as platforms, AI, and encrypted communications 
emerged as a central concern (trust in technology). On the other hand, 
trust relations in the digital society, such as trust in expertise, 
science, news, or public institutions have been fundamentally disrupted 
(trust by technology). In each case we may be facing a slightly 
different formulation of the same fundamental questions:
*Trust in technology:* First, what makes these new digital innovations 
(un)trustworthy? What mix of regulation, transparency, accountability, 
oversights, technical design, business models will provide the greatest 
confidence that our new digital infrastructures can deliver on their 
promises, while keeping the best interest of their users and of the 
society in mind?
*Trust by technology*: Moreover, how does digital innovation shape trust 
in the digital society? What are the dynamics that shape trust relations 
vis-à-vis other people, institutions, technologies, etc.? How do the 
different components of trust change and transform due to digitization: 
the circumstances of the one who trusts, the characteristics of the one 
to be trusted, the environment in which trust emerges (or not).
/Scope of the Special Issue/
This Special Issue, an outcome of the Amsterdam Trust Summit 2025, 
invites submissions that address these questions. In particular, we 
encourage submission addressing the following themes:
*Theories of trust and distrust in the digital society*: Theoretical and 
empirical work on technology-related risks, uncertainties, and harms as 
well as benefits and new dynamics, and both new and revisited models of 
trust and distrust in and as mediated by digital technology.
*Trust dynamics around emerging technologies*: Trust processes and 
changes in trust over time related to specific technologies, such as AI, 
platforms, self-driving cars, blockchains, as they are developed, 
implemented, and negotiated across various societal domains. These 
domains include journalism, science, the justice system, education 
systems, economic transactions, labor, finance, supply chains, public 
institutions, interpersonal relations, and epistemic frameworks.
*Individual trusting behaviors and impacts around technology*: Work 
focusing on extending trust theory regarding the antecedents, processes, 
and consequences of trusting behavior vis-à-vis technology, as well as 
shifts in trust behaviors through technology mediated relations.
*Trustworthiness safeguards of socio-technical infrastructures*: 
Empirical and doctrinal research around trustworthiness and regulation, 
self-regulation, trust and safety teams, technical designs and 
architectures of trustworthiness, and trustworthiness by markets and 
competition.
*Narratives of trust and distrust in popular culture*: Research that 
addresses the issue of trust and distrust in media and social media 
conversations, conspiracy thinking and the prevalence of conspiracy 
theories, the rise and impact of fake news, as well as misinformation 
and disinformation in (social) media content. We expect work in this 
area to not only document these narratives but also critically analyze 
their construction, circulation, and effects.
*Methods of studying trust in the information age*: This theme invites 
contributions that critically reflect on how emerging or technologically 
facilitated methods can provide new insights into trust itself. 
Methodological work focusing on various research methods, such as 
quantitative trust research, including surveys and questionnaires, 
experiments, statistical modelling, network analysis, content analysis, 
network modeling, time series analysis, computational methods (textual, 
audiovisual); qualitative trust research, including interviews, case 
studies, ethnography, qualitative content analysis, think aloud studies; 
and interdisciplinary approaches to study trust in the fields of 
psychology, sociology, political science, communication science, 
neuroscience, economics etc. We especially welcome work that 
demonstrates how these methods uncover dynamic, contextual, or 
previously inaccessible dimensions of trust.
As we face growing challenges in understanding trust amidst 
technological mediation and disruption, this Special Issue aims to shed 
light on these issues. The contributions that will be featured are 
intended to explore diverse perspectives on how trust is mediated and 
reshaped by technological infrastructures, and whether and how we can 
deal with these developments. By engaging with the complex 
socio-technical and political interplay between individuals, 
institutions, and technologies, we hope this issue will inspire further 
research and offer meaningful insights into the limitations and 
safeguards of a trustworthy digital society.
/Timeline/
*Full papers due: December 1st, 2025*
Review period: December 2025 - August 2026.
Final acceptance deadline: August 31st, 2026
Planned publication date: Late 2026 (Issue 2)
*Guest Editorial Team*: Prof. Dr. Balazs Bodo, Dr. Linda Weigl, Dr. 
Monika Simon, Dr. Tomasz Zurek, Prof. Dr. Theo Araujo - Trust in the 
Digital Society Research Priority Area at the University of Amsterdam
*Journal of Trust Research* specializes in dedicated research on trust 
in general and organizational trust in particular, thereby serving the 
needs primarily of scholars and secondarily practitioners. The unique 
features of JTR as a focal point for an inter-disciplinary, 
cross-cultural, cross-level, context-rich, process-oriented, and 
practice-relevant research Journal will appeal to the broadest 
readership, especially those who believe in such values as the 
indicators of high quality research. It is is a hybrid open access 
journal that is part of the Taylor & Francis 
https://www.tandfonline.com/openaccess/openselect 
<https://www.tandfonline.com/openaccess/openselect> publishing program, 
giving you the option to publish open access. If you choose to publish 
open access in this journal you may be asked to pay an Article 
Publishing Charge (APC). You may be able to publish your article at no 
cost to yourself or with a reduced APC if your institution or research 
funder has an https://www.tandfonline.com/openaccess/members 
<https://www.tandfonline.com/openaccess/members> with Taylor & Francis. 
If you choose not to publish open access in this journal, there is no APC.

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