The global data community, led by the World Data System of the International Science Council (WDS), organized the International Symposium on ‘Global Collaborations on Data beyond Disciplines’ on 23–25 September 2020 (https://ds.rois.ac.jp/article/dsws_2020/). This online conference was conducted whilst the world was in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic. The significance of multidisciplinary approaches to data management and of Open Data were comprehensively discussed by participants. Many presentations highlighted the close connection between data-oriented activities and society. Examples included mitigating against detrimental environmental changes, disasters, and health crises worldwide, including the large efforts to combat COVID-19. An overriding conclusion of the symposium is the vital role of data scientists in developing multidisciplinary data systems that can contribute to solving the pressing problems faced by society; in particular, the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that necessitates the integration of multiple sources of data. This proposed ‘Special collection’ will include article submissions that outline best practices for developing data systems and data analysis procedures from a multidisciplinary viewpoint. Contributions are not restricted to presenters at the symposium or to any specific region, rather the editors welcome submissions from anyone globally for whom the symposium themes resonate.

Guest Editors

Tomoya Baba (Research Organization of Information and Systems)

Rorie Edmunds (International Programme Office of the World Data System)

Elaine Faustman (University of Washington)

Masaki Kanao (Research Organization of Information and Systems)

Juanle Wang (China Academy of Science; Editorial Board of the Data Science Journal)