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The big data revolution is here — and with Frontiers in Big Data_, it’s Open Access_

— By Louisa Wood

The time is now for big data — and Frontiers in Big Data provides a centralized pool of peer-reviewed, cutting-edge knowledge to drive the big data revolution. Headed by leading experts, this new open-access journal includes six sections:

• Medicine and Public Health, led by Thomas Hartung, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, US

• Data Mining and Management, led by Huan Liu, Arizona State University, US

• Cybersecurity and Privacy, led by Elena Ferrari, University of Insubria, Italy, and Murat Kantarcioglu, University of Texas at Dallas, US

• Data-Driven Climate Sciences, led by John Kimball, University of Montana, US

• Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, led by Kristian Kersting, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany

• Big Data Networks, led by Nick Duffield, Texas A&M University, US

Big data, big problems, big solutions

Big data is changing our lives. From climatic challenges to reforms in healthcare, big data is touted as the solution to many of the world’s most complex and persistent problems.

‘Big data’ is a relatively new, catchall term for any dataset considered to be of exceptionally large volume. Every day huge quantities of data are downloaded, uploaded and shared – from mobile phones and credit card readers to satellites that monitor the environment. These devices are amassing so much data that in 2012-2013 alone, the total information collected dwarfed all prior data recorded by human civilization.

But it is not only quantity that matters. Improved statistical and computational methods are essential for transforming raw data into valuable insights that can be used for real-world applications.

“Advancements in novel computational techniques are what really makes the big data revolution possible,” states Professor Huan Liu.

Science driven by big data

With data volumes exceeding the petabyte and exabyte level across many scientific disciplines, big data is becoming an increasingly integral aspect of scientific research. This enormous data availability — it would take 223,000 DVDs to hold a single petabyte, while one exabyte can hold more than 36,000 years’ worth of HD-quality video — coupled with new data analytics is changing established epistemologies across all the sciences.

Frontiers in Big Data will help researchers in this move to data-driven science. As a multidisciplinary, open-access hub of information on data-driven solutions, the journal will identify ground-breaking discoveries and communicate these to academics, policy-makers, industry and the public worldwide.

“We need the widest possible access to important research, which promotes science quality and provides the best overall return on research investment,” says Professor John Kimball.

“Data-intensive science has transformed our approach to research. At Frontiers we are embracing the move to big data-driven science as a tool to boost the rate of scientific progress,” says Felix Ohnmacht, Manager of Frontiers in Big Data.

As an open-access journal, big data solutions published in Frontiers in Big Data will be freely and universally available — empowering researchers, citizens and companies to rapidly and efficiently combine knowledge and so drive the big data revolution.

Frontiers in Big Data welcomes high-quality article submissions and Research Topic proposals related to big data, data-driven sciences and their various applications and forms. Visit the journal website for further information and follow @FrontBigData on Twitter.

Stay tuned for our six-week series in which our chief editors discuss topical issues in big data research.