Mining big data

Big Data is a new term used to identify datasets that we can not manage with current methodologies or data mining software tools due to their large size and complexity. Big Data mining is the capability of extracting useful information from these large datasets or streams of data. New mining techniques are necessary due to the volume, variability, and velocity, of such data. The Big Data challenge is becoming one of the most exciting opportunities for the years to come. We present in this issue, a broad overview of the topic, its current status, controversy, and a forecast to the future. We introduce four articles, written by influential scientists in the field, covering the most interesting and state-of-the-art topics on Big Data mining.