Online media have brought about numerous changes in scholarly practices, including, but not limited to gathering data, finding relevant literature, making research and results accessible, organising collaboration, communicating with colleagues and students as well as creating fruitful learning environments.

The interdisciplinary conference “Science and the Internet”, to be held August 1-3, 2012 in Düsseldorf, brings together researchers and practitioners from multiple disciplines (e.g. information science, computer science, sociology, communication and media studies, linguistics, educations studies, legal studies, etc.) working on the following or related issues:

• How is the research process transformed through the use of digital infrastructures?

• How can the challenges of the public availability of (large scale) scientific data be met?

• How do scholars make use of social networking platforms, (micro-)blogs, wikis, or websites?

• How does the Internet affect scholarly publishing (e.g. Open Access, unpublished manuscripts, blogs)?

• How has the Internet changed the practice and relevance of citations and of receiving reputation?

• How do teaching styles or beliefs and use of the Internet mutually influence each other?

• Do Web 2.0 platforms offer opportunities to advance public understanding of science?

• What is the role of ethics, policies, and legal regulation in academic use of the Internet?

• What theoretical and practical implications do the aforementioned considerations have for science and the Internet?