Cognitive Science and Technology

About Cognitive Science and Technology

About Cognitive Science and Technology

Cognitive Science and Technology is a peer-reviewed book series published by Springer Singapore (Springer Nature). It is not a journal: it is a serial of scholarly books — authored monographs, edited volumes, and conference proceedings — devoted to research at the intersection of computational intelligence and cognitive science. The series carries the print identifier ISSN 2195-3988 and the electronic identifier ISSN 2195-3996 (E-ISSN), and its books are published in both print and eBook formats with individual ISBNs and DOIs.

The series' defining ambition is genuine interdisciplinarity. Artificial intelligence was founded jointly by computer scientists and psychologists, but the series' editorial statement argues that AI stagnated around symbolic approaches, that computational intelligence often stayed at the level of metaphor (neural, fuzzy, evolutionary, physical), and that cognitive science often kept computational modeling as a loose metaphor rather than a rigorous method. The series exists to publish work that is truly at home in both worlds: volumes must meet the standards and conventions of the hard disciplines (computing and engineering) and the social and health sciences (linguistics, psychology, neurology, philosophy). Every volume is reviewed by experts with formal qualifications on both sides of that divide.

Since its launch in the mid-2010s, the series has built a substantial catalogue spanning neuroergonomics, assistive technology, autonomous vehicles, cognitive computing, virtual humans in education, and the proceedings of the International Conference on Cognitive and Intelligent Computing (ICCIC). Its books are indexed by Scopus, giving the series strong discoverability in the scholarly record.

Aims and Scope

The series aims to publish work at the intersection of computational intelligence and cognitive science that is genuinely interdisciplinary rather than merely multidisciplinary. The editorial bar is explicit: a volume must conform to the standards of both the computing/engineering disciplines and the cognitive disciplines (linguistics, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, human-factors research), while retaining the flexibility to explore new methodologies and paradigms. Manuscripts are evaluated by reviewers qualified on both sides of the interdisciplinary nexus, with a history of collaboration across it.

Topically, the series covers the full breadth implied by its title. Recurring topics include computational intelligence, machine learning and neural networks, artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology and mathematical models of cognitive processes, neurosciences, human–computer interaction and user interfaces, robotics and mechatronics, computer vision and pattern recognition, data mining and knowledge discovery, cyber-physical systems and the Internet of Things, biomedical engineering, and assistive and augmentative technologies. The unifying thread is the cognitive dimension: how intelligent behavior — human or artificial — can be understood, modeled, and engineered.

The series publishes three kinds of books: authored monographs that develop a sustained argument or method; edited volumes that collect expert chapters on a theme; and conference proceedings, notably the ICCIC proceedings, which capture the state of the art as presented at that meeting. All appear under Springer's standard academic production values with full bibliographic metadata.

Publication Details

• Publication type: Peer-reviewed scholarly book series (not a journal)
• Publisher: Springer Singapore (Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd); some volumes issued under the Springer Cham imprint
• Series ISSN (print): 2195-3988
• Series E-ISSN (electronic): 2195-3996
• Series home: link.springer.com/series/11554
• Frequency: Irregular — multiple books per year in active periods
• Language: English
• Formats: Hardcover, softcover, and eBook; each book carries its own ISBNs and DOI (10.1007/...)
• eBook packages: Intelligent Technologies and Robotics; Computer Science; Engineering (varies by volume)
• Indexing: Indexed by Scopus
• Open access: Published under Springer's standard subscription model; no author-side article processing charge for book chapters

As a book series, Cognitive Science and Technology does not receive a Journal Impact Factor or journal quartile ranking. Its standing is reflected in its publisher, its series editor, its Scopus indexing, and the citation record of its volumes.

Editorial Leadership

The series editor (editor-in-chief) is Professor David M. W. Powers, Professor of Computer Science and of Computer and Cognitive Science, associated with Flinders University in Australia (and a visiting professor at Beijing University of Technology). Professor Powers' research framework takes language, logic, and learning as the cornerstones of a broad cognitive-science perspective on artificial intelligence and its applications. He is a pioneer in parallel logic programming, natural language learning, unsupervised learning, and the evaluation of learning; he was the founding president of ACL SIGNLL and initiated the CoNLL conference. His career has spanned Telecom Paris, the University of Tilburg, the University of Kaiserslautern, and Macquarie University, alongside industry work and startup commercialization.

The choice of series editor is itself a statement of the series' intent: Powers is one of the few researchers equally at home in formal computational work and in cognitive science, and his editorial hand enforces the series' signature requirement that volumes satisfy both the engineering and the cognitive-science communities. Volume-level editing is handled by the editors of each book — for example, Chang S. Nam for the neuroergonomics volume, or Amit Kumar, Gheorghita Ghinea, and Suresh Merugu for the ICCIC proceedings.

Selected Volumes

The catalogue illustrates the series' range. "Calculus for Cognitive Scientists" by James K. Peterson (2016) offers a self-study program intertwining mathematics, computer science, and cognitive science — an early statement of the series' pedagogical as well as research ambitions. "Autonomy and Unmanned Vehicles" (2018), by Somaiyeh MahmoudZadeh, David M. W. Powers, and Reza Bairam Zadeh, treats real-time decision-making, situational awareness, and motion planning for autonomous underwater vehicles, bridging computational intelligence and robotics.

"Assistive Augmentation" (2018), edited by Jochen Huber, Roy Shilkrot, Pattie Maes, and Suranga Nanayakkara, explores technologies that extend human ability — with an emphasis on enabling rather than fixing — spanning human–computer interaction, biomedical engineering, and information systems. "Neuroergonomics: Principles and Practice" (2020), edited by Chang S. Nam, brings neuroscience into the design of work systems and human–machine interfaces, exemplifying the series' hard-science-meets-human-science mandate.

"Teaching Skills with Virtual Humans" (2021), by Marissa Bond, David M. W. Powers, and Parimala Raghavendra, presents a case study of the Thinking Head Whiteboard — a social-tutor system using life-like virtual humans to teach children, including children with autism — and distills best-practice guidelines for educational interventions. The ICCIC proceedings — the International Conference on Cognitive and Intelligent Computing held in Hyderabad, India (2021, 2023, 2024 editions) — appear as multi-hundred-page volumes of peer-reviewed papers on computational intelligence, machine learning, data mining, and cyber-physical systems, edited by Amit Kumar, Gheorghita Ghinea, Suresh Merugu, and (for 2021) Takako Hashimoto.

Peer Review and Quality Standards

The series' quality control is distinctive and worth understanding. Beyond Springer's standard book peer review, the series imposes its dual-standards requirement: every volume must satisfy expert reviewers from both the computational/engineering side and the cognitive-science side. This is a demanding bar — a technically brilliant machine-learning manuscript that treats its psychological claims carelessly will not pass, nor will a psychologically sophisticated manuscript with unsound computational methods. For readers, this means a volume in Cognitive Science and Technology has been vetted against two disciplinary yardsticks, which is rare in academic publishing.

Conference-proceedings volumes additionally pass through the conference's own peer-review process (the ICCIC program committees) before Springer publication. All books receive full production treatment: copyediting, indexing, DOI registration, and inclusion in Springer's eBook packages and discovery platforms.

Indexing, Discovery, and Citation

The series is indexed by Scopus, which indexes its books and (for proceedings volumes) their chapters, giving authors and readers citation tracking through the standard bibliometric tools. Discovery runs primarily through Springer Nature Link (link.springer.com), where the series home page (series 11554) lists all volumes with tables of contents, abstracts, and purchase or institutional-access options. Each book has its own DOI in the 10.1007/... family, and each chapter within edited volumes and proceedings is individually addressable.

Libraries acquire the series through Springer's eBook packages — volumes variously appear in the Intelligent Technologies and Robotics, Computer Science, and Engineering packages — or as individual print and eBook purchases. To cite a chapter: author(s), year, chapter title, in [editors] (eds.), [book title], Cognitive Science and Technology, Springer Singapore, pages, DOI. To cite a whole book, use the standard book format with the book's ISBN.

For Authors: Publishing in the Series

Springer welcomes book proposals for the series through its standard proposal process. Prospective authors should prepare a proposal describing the book's aims, its intended readership on both sides of the disciplinary divide, a detailed table of contents, the competition, and sample material. The proposal is evaluated by the series editor and external reviewers against the series' dual-standards criterion — the single most important thing a proposer must demonstrate is that the manuscript will genuinely satisfy both computational and cognitive-science readers.

Monograph authors should expect a writing and production timeline typical of Springer books (proposal review, manuscript delivery, peer review, production), while proceedings editors work to the conference calendar. There is no author-side fee for standard publication; open-access book options are available through Springer's OA programs for authors who want them. The series' Scopus indexing and Springer distribution make it an attractive venue for interdisciplinary work that might fall between the stools of single-discipline journals.

Why the Series Matters

The intellectual problem the series addresses has only grown more pressing since its launch. As AI systems become more capable and more widely deployed, the need for researchers who understand both the computational machinery and the human mind — its capabilities, its limitations, its ethics — becomes acute. Single-discipline venues systematically under-serve that need: computer-science venues undervalue the cognitive science, and psychology venues undervalue the engineering. By insisting that every volume clear both bars, Cognitive Science and Technology creates a protected space for the kind of work the AI era most needs — work that is technically sound and cognitively serious at once.

For graduate students and early-career researchers working across the AI–cognitive-science boundary, the series' catalogue is also a practical syllabus: from the mathematical foundations (Peterson) through methodology (Nam's neuroergonomics) to applications (assistive augmentation, autonomous vehicles, virtual humans), it maps a coherent curriculum for the interdisciplinary researcher.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Cognitive Science and Technology a journal?

No. It is a peer-reviewed book series published by Springer Singapore. It publishes monographs, edited volumes, and conference proceedings — not journal issues — and therefore has no Journal Impact Factor.

Who is the series editor?

Professor David M. W. Powers (Flinders University, Australia), a researcher in artificial intelligence and cognitive science who was the founding president of ACL SIGNLL and initiated the CoNLL conference.

What are the series ISSNs?

2195-3988 for the print series and 2195-3996 for the electronic series. Each book additionally carries its own ISBNs and DOI.

Is the series indexed?

Yes — the series is indexed by Scopus, and its books are discoverable through Springer Nature Link and library eBook packages.

What makes this series different from other AI or cognitive-science book series?

Its dual-standards requirement: every volume must meet the scholarly standards of both the computing/engineering disciplines and the cognitive disciplines (linguistics, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy), as judged by reviewers qualified on both sides.

What kinds of books does the series publish?

Authored monographs, edited volumes, and conference proceedings — for example, the proceedings of the International Conference on Cognitive and Intelligent Computing (ICCIC).

Do authors pay to publish in the series?

No author-side fee applies to standard publication; the series is published under Springer's subscription model, with open-access options available for authors who choose them.

How do I cite a chapter from a series volume?

As a book chapter: author(s), year, chapter title, in [editors] (eds.), [book title], Cognitive Science and Technology, Springer Singapore, page range, and the chapter or book DOI (10.1007/...).

Where can I browse the full catalogue?

On Springer Nature Link at the series home page (link.springer.com/series/11554), which lists every volume with its table of contents and bibliographic details.

The Interdisciplinarity Problem in Detail

The series' editorial statement offers a diagnosis of three fields that is worth unpacking, because it explains the publishing gap the series was created to fill. Artificial intelligence, founded by computer scientists and psychologists working together, drifted over the decades toward a predominantly symbolic, logic-based paradigm — powerful in its domain, but disconnected from the subsymbolic and embodied aspects of cognition. Computational intelligence — neural networks, fuzzy systems, evolutionary computation — broke away to explore those alternative metaphors, but often stayed at the level of metaphor: biologically inspired without being biologically accountable. Cognitive science, formed around the promise that computational modeling could unify linguistics, psychology, and philosophy, frequently kept computation as a loose metaphor rather than a rigorous modeling discipline, partly because single-discipline cognitive scientists lacked the engineering depth to make the models bite.

Meanwhile, user-centered systems and human-factors research — which should inform the design of physical and information systems — too often remained siloed in sociology and psychology, with engineers lacking human-factors skills and social scientists lacking technological ones. The result was a structural hole in the publishing landscape: genuinely bilateral work had no natural home. Journals in computer science would strip out the cognitive-science contribution as "soft"; journals in psychology would strip out the engineering as "mere implementation." The series' answer — requiring every volume to satisfy qualified reviewers from both sides — is an institutional fix for an institutional problem, and it is the reason the series reads differently from its competitors: its books are written for two audiences at once, and held to both audiences' standards.

The ICCIC Conference and Its Proceedings

A distinctive feature of the series is its relationship with the International Conference on Cognitive and Intelligent Computing (ICCIC), held in Hyderabad, India. The series publishes the conference's proceedings as full book volumes — substantial works in their own right. The 2021 proceedings (Volume 2 alone runs to over 700 pages) were edited by Amit Kumar, Gheorghita Ghinea, Suresh Merugu, and Takako Hashimoto; the 2023 proceedings (two volumes, over 1,000 pages in Volume 1) and the 2024 proceedings continued under Kumar, Ghinea, and Merugu.

The ICCIC volumes show the series' scope in action: papers on computational intelligence, machine learning, artificial intelligence, data mining and knowledge discovery, cyber-physical systems, and the Internet of Things, all selected for their cognitive or intelligent-computing dimension. For researchers, these proceedings volumes function as an annual survey of the field; for the series, they provide a steady stream of rigorously peer-reviewed content that keeps the catalogue current. The proceedings' inclusion in Springer's Computer Science and Intelligent Technologies and Robotics eBook packages ensures they reach both academic and institutional readers.

For Librarians: Acquiring the Series

Libraries should treat Cognitive Science and Technology as a monographic series under ISSN 2195-3988 (print) / 2195-3996 (electronic), with series authority control linking to individual book records under their ISBNs. The most economical acquisition route is through Springer's eBook packages: volumes appear variously in the Intelligent Technologies and Robotics, Computer Science, and Engineering packages, so collection-development librarians should check package contents against the series home page rather than assuming uniform coverage.

The series is relevant to collections in computer science, artificial intelligence, robotics, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, human–computer interaction, and biomedical engineering — a breadth that argues for cross-departmental consultation before purchase decisions. Because the series is Scopus-indexed, usage and citation data are available through the standard bibliometric tools for justifying renewals.

More Frequently Asked Questions

When did the series launch?

The series launched in the mid-2010s under Springer Singapore, with early volumes such as "Calculus for Cognitive Scientists" (2016) establishing its interdisciplinary template.

Does the series publish conference proceedings?

Yes — notably the proceedings of the International Conference on Cognitive and Intelligent Computing (ICCIC), published as full book volumes with Springer's production values.

Can I propose a book to the series?

Yes. Springer accepts book proposals for the series through its standard proposal process; the key evaluation criterion is the dual-standards test — the manuscript must satisfy expert reviewers from both the computational/engineering and the cognitive-science sides.

A Final Note for Readers New to the Series

If you are encountering Cognitive Science and Technology for the first time, the series home page on Springer Nature Link is the best starting point: browse the volume list, read the series description, and sample a chapter from a volume close to your interests. Whether you come from the engineering side or the cognitive-science side, you will find the other half of each book challenging in the best way — which is exactly what the series was designed to do.