International Conference for Academic Disciplines (Florence 2013) April 21, 2013

In our mission to promote multidisciplinary education on a global setting, we receive numerous invitations to host our conferences in various places. Sometimes, we are asked to celebrate particular scholars. Of these, one name stands out both in frequency and stature. How could the International Journal of Arts and Sciences not honor Leonardo da Vinci, the father of multidisciplinary education? we have been asked.

Renaissance humanism saw no mutually exclusive polarities between the arts and the sciences, and Leonardo's artistic work is as impressive and innovative as his studies in science and engineering. His studies were recorded in 13,000 pages of notes and drawings, which fused art and natural philosophy (the forerunner of modern science), made and maintained daily throughout his life. His notes and drawings displayed an enormous range of interests and preoccupations, some as mundane as lists of groceries and people who owed him money and some as intriguing as designs for wings and shoes for walking on water. Leonardo, a man of great ingenuity, was the quintessential multidisciplinary scholar.

The historic centre of Florence attracts millions of tourists each year. It was declared a World Heritage Site UNESCO in 1982. Due to Florence's artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Florence is believed to have the greatest concentration of art in the world. Thus, cultural tourism is particularly strong, with world-renowned museums such as the Uffizi selling over 1.6 million tickets a year. Florence is also an important city in Italian fashion. The city exerts a strong influence in the fields of art, culture and politics.

Our conference has three main aims.

The first aim is to provide opportunities for academics from a range of disciplines and countries to share their research both through the conference podium and our double-blind refereed publications. All our conferences are inter- and multi-disciplinary.

The second aim of the Conference Series is to provide opportunities for academics to receive informal in-depth feedback through discussions, and to enable them to establish contact with professionals in other countries and institutions. The informal setting allows for discussing different points of view. Even in an increasingly networked world of internet and satellite conferences, there is no substitute for personal interaction—what Edward R. Murrow calls "the last three feet of communication." It is individuals, not data streams, who must ultimately build the connections that in turn create lasting international research partnerships.

The third aim of the Conference Series is to introduce academics to educational premises in locations that are suitable for study abroad programs and which may meet their students’ educational needs. IJAS draws its inspiration from the Fulbright Program, an integral part of the United States' foreign educational relations, where face-to-face exchanges have proven to be the single most effective means of engaging international publics while broadening dialogue between academics and institutions.

We invite abstracts, papers, and proposals in any of the following tracks: (i) Social Sciences and Humanities, (ii) Business and Economics, (iii) Teaching and Education, and (iv) Technology and Science.

The accepted submissions will be clustered around their common topics and areas of interest. As is typical of multidisciplinary conferences, the final program - released about three weeks before the conference - will mirror the research agendas of the delegates rather than a pre-conceived list of arbitrary topics. The program will consist of consecutive one-hour sessions running in parallel in several conference rooms, from about 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Each oral presentation will be 15 minutes or less in duration unless a delegate requests otherwise.

It is up to each delegate how much to submit or publish. Some authors may publish only an abstract in the proceedings. Others may prefer to publish a full-length manuscript in the journal.

Delegates may also attend a conference without submitting or publishing any research in their role as audience members.

Authors may deliver their work during the conference either as (i) a regular presentation, (ii) a poster session, (iii) a panel, or (iv) a workshop.

The most important dates to remember are as follows: (i) Submit your abstract online at http://www.research.net/s/Florence2013 until February 15, 2013; (ii) Pay the registration fee by February 25, 2013; (iii) The conference will run from April 22-25, 2013; (iv) Email your formatted manuscript to ManuscriptSubmission@gmail.com by July 1, 2013; and (iv) The proceedings and journal will be published in December 2013.

Within a few days of receiving your online abstract submission, we will notify you of the reviewers' acceptance or rejection, for the conference.

If we inform you that it is an acceptance and you would like to publish your research, follow the model format here and email us your formatted document in Microsoft Word.

Abstracts and summarized articles will be published in the proceedings.

Full length manuscripts may be published in a refereed journal format. The review process for the journal is slower and more demanding in its standards. Although both the proceedings and the journal are refereed, research that meets the refereed standards for the conference may not meet the refereed standards for the journal.

Our articles are accessed through Google Scholar and Proquest. The journal is indexed in (i) WorldCat, (ii) Ulrich's serials directory, and (iii) Cabell's directories of Educational Curriculum & Methods and Educational Psychology and Administration.

There is no page limit on articles. We welcome both short and lengthy submissions. We don't impose a financial penalty on lengthy manuscripts.

Each registered author, irrespective of whether he or she submits a formatted abstract or paper, will receive a Certificate of Participation.

Official Website: http://www.openaccesslibrary.org/firenze.html