The USC Annenberg Press announced today the publication of a special edition of "Information Technologies and International Development," the online academic journal that focuses on the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in global economic development.

The special edition includes "The Mobile and the World," by Amartya Sen, the Harvard economist who won the 1998 Nobel Prize for his contributions to welfare economics, and "Some Thoughts on ICT and Growth," by Michael Spence, a professor at NYU's Stern School of Business who was awarded the Nobel Prize for economics in 2001. In all, 20 submissions from authors around the world are included in this issue of the journal.

The papers were selected from the 2009 "Harvard Forum II" on ICTs for development, which brought together eminent technologists, economists and communication researchers and practitioners at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University in September 2009. The discussion, sponsored by Canada's International Development Research Centre, examined developments in the field made since the first Harvard Forum in 2003.

In a note announcing the release, Dean Ernest J. Wilson III highlighted some of the journal's successes over the past year. "Our Web traffic has doubled, submissions have increased by 85%, and contributors to Annenberg Press represent 58 different countries," Dean Wilson wrote.

The journal was also ranked as the best source of research on ICTs for international development in a study conducted by Richard Heeks, who directs the University of Manchester's Centre for Development Informatics.