The journal aims to promote and communicate advances in big data research by providing a fast and high quality forum for researchers, practitioners and policy makers from the very many different communities working on, and with, this topic.The journal will accept papers on foundational aspects in dealing with big data, as well as papers on specific Platforms and Technologies used to deal with big data. To promote Data Science and interdisciplinary collaboration between fields, and to showcase the benefits of data driven research, papers demonstrating applications of big data in domains as diverse as Geoscience, Social Web, Finance, e-Commerce, Health Care, Environment and Climate, Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry, life sciences and drug discovery, digital libraries and scientific publications, security and government will also be considered. Occasionally the journal may publish whitepapers on policies, standards and best practices.