Introduction to normative multiagent systems

This article introduces the research issues related to and definition of normative multiagent systems. It also describes the papers selected from NorMAS05 that are part of this double special issue and relates the papers to each other. Guido Boella received the PhD degree at the University of Torino in 2000.He is currently professor at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Torino. His research interests include multi-agent systems, in particular, normative systems, institutions and roles using qualitative decision theory.He is the co-chair of the firstworkshops on normative multi-agent systems (NorMas05), on coordination and organization (CoOrg05), and the AAAI Fall Symposium on roles (Roles05). Leendert van der Torre received the Ph.D. degree in computer science fromErasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in 1997. He is currently a Full Professor at the University of Luxembourg. He has developed the so-called input/output logics and the BOID agent architecture. His current research interests include deontic logic, qualitative game theory, and security and coordination in normative multiagent systems. Harko Verhagen received his Ph.D. degree in computer and systems sciences from Stockholm University (Sweden) in 2000 and is currently an associate professor at the department. His research has focussed on simulation of organizational behaviour, simulation as a scientific method, the use of sociological theories in multiagent systems research and more in particular theories on norms and autonomy.