Human-Centered, Explainable and Trustworthy AI for Cybersecurity, Privacy and Cyber Resilience

Dear Colleagues,

We invite original research, comprehensive reviews and case studies that contribute to the theoretical and practical advancement of HCAI in the security and privacy domains. We are particularly interested in submissions that bridge the gap between algorithmic innovation and human-centric design. 

*Scope and Purpose of the Special Issue: This Special Issue examines the design, implementation and evaluation of artificial intelligence systems for cybersecurity and privacy through human-centered lens, with particular emphasis on explainability, usability, trust calibration and governance. As AI-enabled systems become increasingly embedded in security operations, their effectiveness depends not only on technical performance but also on their alignment with human cognition, decision-making processes and organizational workflows. This issue seeks to advance a paradigm in which AI augments rather than replaces human expertise, ensuring that automated systems remain interpretable, accountable and operationally viable in high-stakes environments. By bridging research in AI security, human–computer interaction, usable privacy and responsible AI, the Special Issue contributes to the development of cyber-resilient systems that are both technically robust and socially responsive.

*Goal of the Special Issue: The goal of this Special Issue is to explore the intersection of human–computer interaction (HCI), artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. We aim to address the critical challenges of building AI-driven security tools that support meaningful human oversight, manage user privacy in an age of mass data collection and foster resilience against sophisticated cyber threats. By prioritizing the human experience, we can develop security solutions that are not only technologically superior but also ethically sound and practically usable for security professionals and end-users alike.

*Tentative Topics of Interest (for the Special Issue): AI literacy; human–AI collaboration in operational settings, accessibility and neurodiversity in security interfaces; HCAI for critical infrastructure protection; immersive or simulation-based training; ethics and bias in AI security; cognitive load in cyber defense and countermeasures; human–AI collaborative defense; XAI for threat detection; privacy-preserving for human-in-the-loop systems; HCAI for quantum machine learning; trust, accountability and privacy in the automated security systems; adversial ML and human perception; user-centric privacy and security controls.

Dr. Naresh Kshetri
Dr. James Hutson
Dr. Sneha Sudhakaran
Guest Editors

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. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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.

• HCAI
• cybersecurity
• explainable AI (XAI)
• usable security and privacy
• trustworthy ML
• privacy-preserving
• human–AI collaboration
• ethical AI