20 Years of Data Science: An Editorial

Abstract

The Data Science Journal published its first issue in April 2002. It was a novel journal title for the time. Society was just beginning to recognize the potential of Jim Grey's fourth paradigm of dataintensive science (Hey et al. 2009). Francis 'Jack' Smith (2023), the journal's first editor-in-chief, notes that CODATA's Executive Board recognized that 'this title might be misunderstood. However, the majority felt that it was up to CODATA to ensure that it became understood.' Jack argues that over time the journal 'did just that'. We agree that the journal has contributed substantially to the 'science of data'. We also find, now living in the fourth paradigm with ever more pervasive and invasive data and rapidly growing computing power, that 'data science' is being used to refer to many types of scientific and technical work unforeseen when the journal launched.