Abstract

Information diplomacy is an emerging concept that bridges information science, public diplomacy, and global communication. Although increasingly cited in scholarly and policy discourse, the term lacks definitional clarity and theoretical consensus. A systematic mapping of its explicit usage across disciplines is needed to support conceptual coherence and guide future applications.

This scoping review aims to identify, analyze, and synthesize existing definitions, frameworks, and applications of the term information diplomacy in scholarly and gray literature. The review will explore how the concept has been articulated across domains such as international relations, information policy, and communication, focusing exclusively on sources that explicitly use the term information diplomacy, while noting conceptual intersections with related terms such as data diplomacy, library diplomacy, and knowledge diplomacy.

Sources will be included if they explicitly use the phrase information diplomacy in the title, abstract, or main text. All publication years will be considered. Materials must be available in English and may include peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, reports, and institutional documents.

Searches will be conducted in Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus, supplemented by gray-literature searches of organizational repositories (e.g., WHO, UNESCO, IFLA) and reference-list screening.

Two reviewers will independently chart data using a piloted extraction form, capturing publication characteristics, definitions, theoretical framings, and contextual domains. Data will be synthesized thematically and visually mapped to illustrate conceptual relationships.

The review will produce a synthesized typology of definitions and frameworks for information diplomacy, reveal disciplinary and contextual variations, and identify conceptual gaps to inform future research, pedagogy, and policy development.

Keywords

Information Diplomacy, Soft Power, Information Studies, Public Policy, International Communication, Intercultural Communication

Date of this Version

10-28-2025

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