Call for papers: Special Issue of the Semantic Web Journal on Scalable Semantic Graph Systems

Call for papers: Special issue of the Semantic Web Journal on

Scalable Semantic Graph Systems

As the standard RDF query language, SPARQL has set the tone for RDF systems, but because SPARQL's underlying semantics is essentially relational, the graph-oriented nature of RDF data has received little attention. Even first-class mechanisms for inquiring about the most basic graph features (e.g., in-degree, out-degree, s-t path discovery) are absent from mainstream systems. However, these graph features are of fundamental importance for solving many real-world problems related to networks. Databases organized around semantic graphs have also been emerging as a branch of the NOSQL movement, some based on RDF/SPARQL, but others seeking to support more robust or generalizable graph operations. Scaling to web-scale is an inherent challenge in all of these areas.

We solicit original papers addressing the technical issues in exploitation of the graph-oriented nature of semantic data, focusing on handling real-world, webscale graphs. Particular topics of interest include:

* Graph-centric reasoning and inference

* Query languages or extensions to query language for supporting graph-oriented analysis

* Query optimization in semantic graph databases

* Theoretical foundations for computability, complexity, and/or scalability of handling graph-oriented data

* Alternative or augmented representations of RDF (or otherwise "semantic") graphs

* Performance evaluation and benchmarks for graph-oriented systems

* Surveys of existing, relevant technology

* Meaningful metrics for graph-oriented data that can be computed in a scalable way

* Database structures or design for supporting graph features

* Interaction with HPC systems (RDBs, column stores, key-value stores, map-reduce methods), and hybrid graph-relational systems

Submissions

Deadline: March 30, 2014

Submissions shall be made through the Semantic Web journal website at http://www.semantic-web-journal.net. Note that you need to request an account on the website for submitting a paper. Please indicate in the cover letter that it is for the "Scalable Semantic Graph Systems" special issue.

Submissions are possible in all standing paper type of the journal, see http://www.semantic-web-journal.net/authors for descriptions: full research papers, surveys, linked dataset descriptions, ontology descriptions, application reports, tool/systems reports.

Guest Editors

Cliff Joslyn (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)
Bill Howe (University of Washington)
Eric Goodman (Sandia National Laboratories)
Spyros Kotoulas (IBM Ireland)

The editors can be reached by emailing cliff.joslyn@pnnl.gov.

Guest Editorial Board

The following list is subject to extension.

to be announced