Mathematical Foundations in Public Key Cryptography and Privacy Computing

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid evolution of digital society, driven by technologies such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and blockchain, has elevated the importance of security and privacy to unprecedented levels. Public-key cryptography continues to serve as the indispensable foundation for establishing the trust across open networks. Concurrently, the emerging paradigm of privacy computing, which encompasses techniques like secure multi-party computation and homomorphic encryption, holds immense promise for enabling collaborative analysis of sensitive data without sacrificing confidentiality. The enduring strength, operational efficiency, and future viability of these critical technologies are all deeply anchored in sophisticated mathematical foundations. Continuous advances in number theory, algebra, and combinatorics underpin secure cryptographic design against both classical and quantum threats.

This Special Issue aims to curate high-quality research at the intersection of advanced mathematics, cryptography, and privacy computation. We solicit submissions that introduce novel cryptographic primitives, present innovative privacy-enhancing protocols, or offer profound foundational analyses. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

1. The mathematical design and analysis of classical public-key cryptographic schemes and post-quantum cryptographic systems; 
2. Advanced cryptographic protocols and privacy-computing techniques, such as zero-knowledge proofs, secure multi-party computation, homomorphic encryption, and functional encryption, etc.; 
3. The mathematical theory underlying cryptographic functions; 
4. The foundations of classical and symmetric cryptography; 
5. Practical cryptographic applications in cloud computing security, IoT security, and AI security, etc.; 
6. Novel applications of cryptography in areas like federated learning, decentralized systems, etc. 

We welcome both theoretical advances and applied studies with a strong mathematical core, showcasing the profound role of mathematics as the essential engine powering the future of secure and private digital infrastructure.

Dr. Haining Yang
Dr. Xingfu Yan
Dr. Ye Su
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. Mathematics 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 2600 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.