The Electronic Library Editor-in-Chief Will Lead Panel on Social Media for Health Research at ASIS&T

The Electronic Library

Following last year's panel on advancing ethical and responsible practices across academic publishing, our Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Jeonghyun (Annie) Kim, is returning to ASIS&T this year to lead a follow-up panel focused on the responsible and rigorous use of social media data in health research. 

Social media platforms have long been recognized as important venues for health communication; people use these platforms to seek health information, share experiences with disease symptoms and medication effects, and find peer support. For this reason, many studies in the field of information science have leveraged social media data to explore health-related behaviors and communication patterns. However, little discussion has been devoted to identifying ways to address the limitations of social media data while amplifying its value and impact for advancing health research.

This year, Dr. Kim will lead a panel titled “Ensuring scientific rigor and ethical practice in health research using social media data” at the upcoming ASIS&T (https://www.asist.org/am2026/am26), which will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, from November 6 through 10, 2026. This panel, sponsored by ASIS&T SIG HLTH, will explore strategies to address bias, strengthen methodological rigor, and navigate ethical challenges in using social media data in health research. 

The panel brings together researchers with deep expertise and a strong record of high-quality scholarship in this area, including Dr. Heejun Kim of the University of North Texas, who just joined the Electronic Library’s editorial team as Associate Editor; Dr. Lu An of Wuhan University; Dr. Daqing He of the University of Pittsburgh; Dr. Sanghee Oh of Sungkyunkwan University; and Yuxiang (Chris) Zhao of Nanjing University. 

The panel's focus is especially relevant to The Electronic Library’s editorial scope, which includes “social media interaction and analysis” and “health communication” among its core research areas.