Deep Learning for Multimedia Processing and Information Retrieval

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid evolution of deep learning has profoundly transformed the fields of multimedia analysis and information retrieval. Whether it is pattern recognition or intelligent data indexing, deep learning-based approaches are now at the heart of modern decision-support systems.

Massive visual data from various sectors (including industry, multimedia, and healthcare) generate complex data volumes that require advanced methods for interpretation, classification, segmentation, and content extraction. At the same time, the increasing availability of heterogeneous and multimodal data demands intelligent information retrieval systems capable of extracting relevant knowledge efficiently and securely.

This Special Issue aims to bring together researchers and practitioners working at the intersection of deep learning, multimedia processing (image, audio, video, and text), and information retrieval. We seek high-quality original research and review articles addressing recent advances, novel methodologies, and emerging challenges in these domains.

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

• Image processing.
• Multimedia information retrieval (image, audio, video, and text).
• Deep learning models for image segmentation, classification, and detection.
• Multimodal learning combining images and any textual data.
• Vision–language models (VLMs) and multimodal foundation models for imaging.
• Information retrieval systems for data and knowledge bases.
• AI/ML approaches for content understanding.
• Multimodal and cross-modal indexing.
• Activity recognition and event-based multimedia indexing and retrieval.
• Conversational search and question-answering systems.
• Multimedia recommendation.
• Evaluation and benchmarking of multimedia retrieval systems.
• Retrieval and indexing of large-scale multimedia repositories.
• Ontology for information retrieval
• Applications of transformers and foundation models in imaging and retrieval.
• Benchmark datasets and evaluation methodologies for AI systems.
• AI-assisted diagnosis and clinical decision support systems.
• Explainable AI and trust in medical decision systems.
• Big data analytics for healthcare applications.
• Security and privacy of sensitive multimedia data.

Applications of Multimedia Processing and Information Retrieval:

• Healthcare and medical applications;
• One Health applications;
• Multimedia and sustainability;
• Cultural heritage and entertainment applications;
• Educational and social applications;
• Applications to forensics, surveillance, and security;
• Environmental and urban multimedia applications;
• Agricultural monitoring;
• Extended reality (AR/VR/MR) interfaces;
• Mobile interfaces and user interaction;
• Presentation and visualization tools.

We encourage submissions presenting theoretical advances, experimental studies, clinical validations, and real-world healthcare applications.

We look forward to receiving your valuable contributions to this Special Issue.

Dr. Mohamed Hamroun
Dr. Damien Sauveron
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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Information 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.

• deep learning
• multimedia processing
• information retrieval
• multimodal learning
• explainable AI
• vision–language models
• multimedia indexing
• healthcare
• multimedia data security