Dear Colleagues,
As the world continues to recover from the profound disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for innovative methodologies and interdisciplinary approaches to understand, rebuild, and sustain social trust has become increasingly critical. Social sciences and communication studies stand at the forefront of this transformation, offering new pathways for analyzing the dynamics of trust, community cohesion, and institutional legitimacy in times of crisis and recovery. Meanwhile, the accelerated shift toward digital communication presents both unprecedented opportunities for connectivity and significant challenges in fostering authentic trust and combating misinformation and polarization.
This special issue aims to explore the intersection of post-pandemic social trust, community, institutions, and digital communication. It seeks to highlight cutting-edge research, theoretical frameworks, and empirical studies that enhance our understanding of how trust is formed, eroded, and restored across different scales in the post-pandemic era. Topics of interest include:
• Dynamics of social trust and community resilience in post-pandemic societies
• Institutional trust and public confidence in governance and health systems
• Digital communication platforms and their role in shaping post-pandemic trust
• Misinformation, polarization, and trust repair in online environments
• Comparative analysis of trust restoration across cultures and regions
• Community-based initiatives and grassroots efforts to rebuild social capital
• The impact of remote work, virtual interaction, and digital divides on social trust
• Policy frameworks and strategies for strengthening institutional and interpersonal trust in the digital age
We welcome original research articles, case studies, and reviews that contribute to advancing the dialogue and practice in this dynamic and evolving field.
Manuscript Submission Information
Authors should submit their manuscripts for the special issue by emailing them as an attachment to specialissue@hillpublish.com or by using the online submission system. The manuscript should be submitted by one of the authors, and submissions by anyone other than the authors will not be accepted. Additionally, the submitted manuscript should include a cover letter that specifies the special issue to which the manuscript is being submitted.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). The submitted papers should be properly formatted and written in fluent English. All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Guidelines page.