Over the course of the last twenty years, research in data mining has seen a substantial increase in interest, attracting original contributions from various disciplines including computer science, statistics, operations research, and information systems. Data mining supports a wide range of applications, from medical decision making, bioinformatics, web-usage mining, and text and image recognition to prominent business applications in corporate planning, direct marketing, and credit scoring. Research in information systems equally reflects this inter- and multidisciplinary approach, thereby advocating a series of papers at the intersection of data mining and information systems research.

This special issue of Annals of Information Systems contains original papers and substantial extensions of selected papers from the 2007 and 2008 International Conference on Data Mining (DMIN'07 and DMIN'08, Las Vegas, NV) that have been rigorously peer-reviewed. The issue brings together topics on both information systems and data mining, and aims to give the reader a current snapshot of the contemporary research and state of the art practice in data mining.

Data mining applications range from commercial to social domains, with novel applications appearing swiftly; for example, within the context of social networks. The expanding application sphere and social reach of advanced data mining raise pertinent issues of privacy and security. Present-day data mining is a progressive multidisciplinary endeavor. This inter- and multidisciplinary approach is well reflected within the field of information systems. The information systems research addresses software and hardware requirements for supporting computationally and data-intensive applications. Furthermore, it encompasses analyzing system and data aspects, and all manual or automated activities. In that respect, research at the interface of information systems and data mining has significant potential to produce actionable knowledge vital for corporate decision-making. The aim of the proposed volume is to provide a balanced treatment of the latest advances and developments in data mining; in particular, exploring synergies at the intersection with information systems. It will serve as a platform for academics and practitioners to highlight their recent achievements and reveal potential opportunities in the field. Thanks to its multidisciplinary nature, the volume is expected to become a vital resource for a broad readership ranging from students, throughout engineers and developers, to researchers and academics.