Call for Papers for a Special Issue on State of the Art in Assistive Technology

In 2025, the Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe (AAATE) marks its remarkable 30^th anniversary. To commemorate this milestone, the Technology & Disability journal invites contributions to a special issue dedicated to the State of the Art in Assistive Technology.

About Assistive Technology:

Assistive Technology  (AT), as defined by the World Health Organization, is an umbrella term for assistive products and their related systems and services. Assistive products help maintain or improve an individual’s functioning related to cognition, communication, hearing, mobility, self-care and vision, thus enabling their health, well-being, inclusion and participation. While this definition includes environmental modifications (e.g., ramps), our special issue focuses solely on assistive technologies for personal use.

Scope of the Special Issue:

We seek contributions in the form of Scoping Reviews or other types of reviews, which will summarize and evaluate the existing research landscape in various AT domains. The selected topics include but are not limited to:

• Human-Computer Interfaces in AT
• Accessibility options for PCs and mobile devices
• AT for personal mobility and transportation
• AT for dexterity and hand manipulation
• AT for cognition enhancement
• AT for wellbeing
• AT for interpersonal communication (AAC)
• AT for deafness and hard-of-hearing
• AT for print-disabled users
• AT for way-finding
• AT outcomes
• AT policy and service delivery
• AT models

Editorial team:

Dominique Archambault, Université Paris 8-Vincennes-Saint-Denis
Pedro Encarnação, Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Georgios Kouroupetroglou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Silvio Marcello Pagliara, Università di Cagliari

Guidelines for Contributions:

Articles should establish the state of the art of the chosen AT topic and identify research gaps following the Scoping Reviews (as described here or here, for example) or another literature review methodology. . They should have a maximum of 25000 characters, including spaces and excluding the reference list. Each submission should adhere to the following structure:

• Abstract: Overview of the topic, rationale, objective, methods, and analysis.
• Introduction: Background, rationale, and objective statement.
• Methods: Description of the methodology, search strategy, study selection, data collection, and synthesis.
• Conclusion: Identification of gaps, future research directions, and a defined research agenda.
• Support/Funding
• Acknowledgements
• References

Articles will go through the Technology & Disability standard peer-review system.

Key dates for the preparation of the Special Issue are:

• Article proposal submissions / expression of interest: June 30th, 2024
• Article submission: January 15^th, 2025
• Notification of Peer Review Results: March 15^th, 2025
• Submission of Revised Versions: April 15^th, 2025
• Notification of Second Round of Peer Review Results: May 15^th, 2025
• Final Version Submission Deadline: May 31^st, 2025
• Publication Date: September 2025

How to Submit a Paper Proposal / Expression of Interest:

Interested contributors are invited to apply for a specific topic, providing background information on their expertise in the chosen field. We encourage collaboration between research groups, and in cases of multiple applications for the same topic, preference will be given to collaborative proposals. If collaboration is not feasible, the editorial team will select submissions based on expertise and alignment with the AAATE core values (please refer to https://aaate.net/):

• Human-centredness
• Inclusiveness
• Social responsiveness
• Interdisciplinarity
• Collaboration

Submit your proposal to 30yearsTDspecialissue@aaate.net.

Deadline for paper proposal submissions / expression of interest: June 30^th, 2024

Join us in celebrating three decades of innovation and progress in the field of Assistive Technology. Together, let's shape the future of AT research and practice.

For inquiries and submissions, please contact the editorial board at 30yearsTDspecialissue@aaate.net.