Algorithmic Foundations for Blockchain-Enabled AI, Data Governance, and Secure Distributed Systems

Dear Colleagues,

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI), data governance frameworks, decentralized architectures, and blockchain technologies has opened up a broad landscape of algorithmic challenges and opportunities. Modern systems increasingly rely on automated decision-making, distributed data exchange, and trust-enhancing mechanisms across diverse contexts, including mobile environments, cross-organizational ecosystems, and edge-enabled infrastructure. These developments raise fundamental questions about privacy, security, transparency, scalability, efficiency, and responsible data use.

Blockchain and decentralized approaches offer promising foundations for trustworthy computation, transparent data management, and resilient coordination. However, their practical application, especially when combined with AI and data governance requirements, depends on novel algorithms that can deliver provable correctness, efficient performance, and adaptability across heterogeneous and resource-constrained environments. The design, analysis, and validation of such algorithms are central to advancing both foundational research and real-world impact. 

This Special Issue invites original research and surveys that develop, analyze, and evaluate algorithmic models, methods, and frameworks at the intersection of blockchain, AI, data governance, and secure distributed systems. Contributions that address formal analyses, optimization, protocol design, performance evaluation, and practical implementation are all welcome. Submissions that demonstrate experimental validation, benchmarking, or case studies in relevant application domains, including blockchain-based mobile systems, are strongly encouraged.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Algorithmic models for privacy, security, and trust in distributed and decentralized systems.
• Blockchain algorithms for data integrity, consensus, and lightweight cryptography.
• AI-aware algorithm design, including secure learning, federated and decentralized intelligence.
• Algorithms for data governance and data protection, including access control, compliance, and accountable data use.
• Resource-efficient protocols and algorithms for blockchain-based mobile and edge environments.
• Optimization and algorithmic trade-offs in decentralized coordination and decision-making.
• Formal analysis and provable properties of blockchain-AI systems.
• Performance evaluation, benchmarking, and simulation algorithms for secure distributed infrastructures.
• Algorithmic frameworks for trustworthy autonomous and agent-based systems.
• Cross-domain applications and empirical algorithm studies in blockchain-enabled contexts.

This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive and inclusive platform for algorithm designers, systems engineers, and researchers to develop state-of-the-art algorithmic approaches for blockchain-enabled, AI-driven, and data-governed secure systems, including distributed and mobile applications. By bringing together foundational algorithms, system-level designs, and applied studies, this Special Issue seeks to foster new insights into privacy, security, trust, and responsible data use in emerging decentralized and intelligent computing environments. We look forward to your contributions to this topical and impactful research area. 

Dr. Mansoor Ahmed
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Algorithms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.