Epistemology, Methodology and Ontology of a Post-Digital Social Inquiry

Dear Colleagues,

The post-digital condition—characterized by the convergence of pervasive digital infrastructures, generative artificial intelligence, and the emergence of quantum-based models of computation—demands a radical rethinking of how social knowledge is produced, validated, and interpreted. This Topic Collection aims to explore the epistemic, methodological, and ontological implications of this transformation, bringing together interdisciplinary contributions that interrogate the foundations and futures of social inquiry in an increasingly hybrid human–machine ecosystem.

The focus of the Topic Collection is to critically examine how new computational paradigms reshape the assumptions, tools, practices, and interpretive processes through which social scientists understand the world. While digital sociology, computational social science, and science and technology studies have addressed aspects of this transition, significant gaps remain regarding the integration of generative AI models, probabilistic/quantum logics, and emerging hybrid methodologies within coherent frameworks of social research.

The scope includes theoretical, methodological, empirical, and ethical reflections on knowledge production under conditions of automation, algorithmic mediation, and post-human inference. We particularly welcome contributions that illuminate how data imaginaries, interface-based interactions, and simulation logics influence the formation of evidence, the construction of social facts, and the researcher’s positionality.

The purpose of the Topic Collection is to foster a cross-disciplinary dialogue capable of advancing a new agenda for post-digital social research—one that can critically address the transformations in inference, representation, and explanation introduced by intelligent and probabilistic machines. Contributions may address foundational questions, propose innovative methodological frameworks, or present empirical cases illustrating how AI-augmented and quantum-informed models reshape the practices of social investigation.

This Topic Collection supplements the existing literature by bridging domains that are often examined separately: digital epistemology, algorithmic governance, qualitative–computational hybrid methods, human–AI interaction, and the ontological implications of quantum modelling. By connecting these strands, the collection intends to provide a comprehensive and integrative platform that advances the debate on how social sciences can remain empirically rigorous, theoretically grounded, and ethically responsive in a world where inference itself is increasingly automated, distributed, and probabilistic.

Submissions may take the form of research articles, conceptual papers, or reviews, in accordance with the categories accepted by Societies.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Gabriella Punziano
Prof. Dr. Felice Addeo
Dr. Angela Delli Paoli
Dr. Giuseppe Masullo
Collection 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 collection website. Research articles, review articles as well as conceptual papers 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 double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Societies 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 1400 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.

• post-digital society
• generative artificial intelligence
• quantum social inquiry
• epistemology of AI
• hybrid methodologies
• algorithmic mediation
• data imaginaries
• digital and computational sociology
• ontology of social research
• knowledge production