Preface to the CLTM-CLTD 2024 Special Issue

This special issue features four invited papers from the 2024 edition of the MSc. and PhD. thesis contests, organized by CLEI, the Latin American Center for Computing Studies. CLEI's mission includes promoting the scientific growth of all computing fields across Latin America. To recognize these advancements and foster the region's graduate programs, CLEI has been hosting the Latin American Master Thesis Contest (CLTM) annually since 1993 and the Doctoral Thesis Contest (CLTD) since 2016. Both contests are held in conjunction with the Latin American Computing Conference (CLEI conference). The 2024 conference took place in Bahía Blanca, Argentina, and received numerous high-quality submissions for both the MSc. and PhD. contests. Post-conference, the authors of the best works were invited to submit original, unpublished papers to the CLEIej journal. These submissions went through another evaluation round, adhering to the journal's standard review process.