| On 29 October 2024, ACLED completed a review of all Islamic State actors in the dataset to standardize their naming conventions. Over 59,000 events previously coded with “Islamic State (COUNTRY)” as an actor have been updated to specify the relevant Islamic State “province” or group. This change facilitates a more nuanced and granular analysis of Islamic State activities across various regions. |
Key Changes
Correction Period and Scope
All data have been updated to reflect the standardized naming convention of Islamic State actors.1A full list of ACLED’s country and time period coverage is available here.
Publication date
The data improvements were published on 29 October 2024.
Summary of changes
The Islamic State actors that were previously coded as “Islamic State (COUNTRY)”—where the country designation indicated the actor’s country of origin or the location of events—have now been updated to reflect specific Islamic State “provinces” or groups responsible for those events or active in the respective regions. For example, “Islamic State (Afghanistan)” has been updated to “Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP).”
In cases where there is insufficient information to identify a specific Islamic State “province” or group, a generic “Islamic State (IS)” designation replaces the former country-specific coding. For example, “Islamic State (Switzerland)” has been updated to the more generic “Islamic State (IS).”
This review is part of ACLED’s ongoing efforts to enhance the tracking of Islamic State actors, thereby improving the functionality and usability of our data. Further enhancements will be announced on an ongoing basis.
