We invite contributions to Journal of Physics A:  Mathematical and Theoretical dedicated, special issue on 

"Modelling and inference in the dynamics of complex interaction networks: advance approximation techniques"

Guest Editors: Manfred Opper, Yasser Roudi and Peter Sollich

There is a close relationship between statistical inference and the statistical physics of “disordered systems”, which can be characterized as large systems of simple units linked by a complex network of interactions. While this relationship is by now well established, there has in the past few years been significant new work on the development of methods for statistical inference using concepts and approximations that have their roots in statistical mechanics. One of the main reasons for this wave of interest lies in the recent and ongoing developments in many areas of experimental biology, finance and other areas, where very large data sets are becoming available but there is a shortage of modern theoretical techniques for analysing them.

In the past, as well as the initial years of the current wave, the main interaction between statistical physics and statistical inference has been in the area of developing equilibrium tools and analysing data sets in an equilibrium framework. This means coming up with efficient methods for building stationary and equilibrium probability distributions over the state of the system under investigation, on the basis of recorded experimental or other empirical data, and to analyse such distributions for gaining insight into the system. However, more recently, the interest in the community has shifted more towards dynamic models.

The purpose of the proposed special issue is to gather original research articles as well as pedagogical review articles both on the theoretical aspects of the interface between statistical inference and the physics of non-equilibrium disordered and complex systems, and on applications to real data.

Editorial Policy

All contributions will be refereed and processed according to the usual procedures of the journal.

Guidelines for preparation of contributions

The issue will be open for submissions from 1st March 2015 to 1st September 2015 and articles will appear in regular issues of the journal and in an online collection.

There is no strict regulation on article size, but as a guide the preferable size is 15–30 pages for contributed papers and 40–60 pages for reviews. Further advice on publishing your work in Journal of Physics A may be found at iopscience.iop.org/jphysa. 

Contributions to the special issue should be submitted by web upload via ScholarOne Manuscripts https://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/jphysa-iop as manuscript type ‘special issue article’ for the issue ‘Modelling and inference in the dynamics of complex interaction networks’. Please see the website for further information on electronic submissions.