Policies & Procedures Manual and Operations Handbooks: Section 9

Updated July 2022

SECTION 9 -PUBLICATIONS

9.1 GENERAL

9.1.1 Definitions

In the following, the term ‘publications’ shall include magazines, journals, transactions, letters, digital publications, conference proceedings, books, derivative content delivery vehicles intended for delivery in any and all media, as well as any other content or collections of content published by the IEEE Computer Society. The terms ‘magazines,’ ‘journals,’ ‘transactions,’ and ‘letters’ shall be as defined in the IEEE Publication Services and Products Board (PSPB) Operations Manual. The term ‘periodical publications’ shall refer to magazines, journals, transactions, and letters and ‘individual publications’ shall refer to derivative and unique publications.

9.1.2 Logos

All Society publications are to bear the names and logos of both the IEEE Computer Society and the IEEE prominently in a manner appropriate to the medium in which it is presented.

9.1.3 Peer Review Process

Policies shall be established regarding various levels of peer review appropriate to different types of work. Some forms of content, such as (but not limited to) columns, editorials, blogs, and product reviews, may be published with minimal or no peer review. Review policies shall be developed by the Publications Board in conjunction with the responsible publications operations committee. The review policies should generally be typical of review policies of respected scientific, scholarly, and technical societies. The policies should provide for appropriate author appeals, but the anonymity of the reviewers should be maintained.

9.2 PUBLICATIONS BOARD

9.2.1 Membership

The Publications Board shall be chaired by the vice president for publications as provided in the bylaws, and shall consist of the following voting members: secretary, finance chair, Integrity Committee chair, Magazine Operations Committee (MOC) chair, Transactions Operations Committee (TOC) chair, the IEEE Computer Society’s representative to the IEEE Publications Services and Products Board (PSPB), and an additional three to six members-at-large (non-editors in chief [EICs]) with experience in publications such as serving as a former EIC or on a publications editorial board. The MOC chair and the TOC chair shall be elected annually by their respective EICs and shall not be current EICs for IEEE Computer Society publications. The other voting members shall be appointed by the vice president for publications. In addition, the president, executive director, all EICs, and the director of periodicals and special projects shall be ex officio, non-voting members of the Publications Board. MOC and TOC shall be referred to collectively as the operations committees.

9.2.2 Publication Review and Planning

The Publications Board shall:

1. review each of the Society’s periodical publications at least once every five years, based on the periodical review submitted to the IEEE Periodicals Review and Advisory Committee;
2. consider changes of scope and name, as appropriate, to ensure each publication is aligned with relevant changes in the field;
3. consider terminating or combining periodical publications when necessary;
4. plan for and recommend new publications to the Board of Governors;
5. consider ways to improve the content, quality, delivery, and format of the Society’s publications; and
6. provide a forum for the development of strategies and tactics for improving the financial posture and content impact of publications in light of the needs of their specific communities as well as the broader member, non-member, and institutional readership.

9.2.3  Finance Chair Responsibilities

1. The finance chair may assist in preparing and recommending annual page budgets and may consult and assist in preparing and recommending EIC budgets. The finance chair shall be responsible for presenting budgets to the operations committees and Publications Board. Consistent with the vice president responsibilities as stated in Section 5.7, the vice president for publications shall be responsible for presenting recommended budgets, including editorial page budgets, prices, and frequencies of periodical publications, to the Finance Committee and the Board of Governors.
2. The finance chair is responsible for presenting a complete annual report at the mid-year meeting of the Publications Board and Board of Governors. The annual report is a final financial report for the prior year, which summarizes the performance of each publication against its budget and includes explanations of variations. The report should be presented by the finance chair to the Publications Board. The vice president for publications shall provide the report to the Board of Governors and may additionally report on highlights.
3. The finance chair is responsible for advising EICs on managing their budgets, incurring expenses, and addressing their questions or concerns on financial matters, including requests for additional funding. The finance chair shall keep the vice president for publications informed of issues as they arise, and shall consult with other volunteers and staff as necessary to formulate solutions.
4. The finance chair shall review and advise the vice president for publications on new title proposals with regard to their financial outlook and impact.
5. The finance chair shall receive and evaluate any author requests for exceptions to IEEE and/or IEEE Computer Society policies regarding author page charges, including mandatory overlength page charges and open access fees. Authors are required to acknowledge these fees at the time of submission, thus they submit such requests only after acceptance.

9.2.4 Secretary Responsibilities

The secretary, under the direction of the vice president for publications, shall maintain Publications Board rosters, organize and support Publications Board meetings, draft meeting agendas, collect and archive meeting documents, draft meeting minutes, and conduct ballots. The secretary may assist the vice president for publications with other projects as requested.

9.2.5 Publications Handbook and Editor in Chief Manual

The Publications Board shall maintain a Publications Handbook and an Editor in Chief Manual, which shall set forth detailed procedures for the operation of the Society’s overall publication program. These manuals help ensure appropriate quality and continuity in the operation of the Society publications. Changes to publication procedures may be enacted by the Publications Board without the Board of Governors’ approval, so long as the proposed changes are consistent with the Society’s PPM and the IEEE’s relevant policies and procedures. However, all such changes to publication procedures shall be reported to the Board of Governors by the vice president for publications following the change. In addition, the vice president for publications is responsible for seeing that copies of the then-current manuals are distributed to each member of the Publications Board, TOC, MOC, and the Board of Governors at the beginning of each calendar year.

9.2.6 Mentoring Future EICs

The bylaws establish that the Publications Board is responsible for recommending EIC candidates to the president. To carry out this process, the Publications Board shall establish and maintain a mechanism for mentoring future EICs in order to produce a pool of candidates with experience that permits them to assume an EIC position.

9.2.7 Editor in Chief Appointments 

1. For publications solely sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society, EIC search committees shall be used to evaluate all applicants and nominees following the process defined in 9.2.8. Reappointment procedures shall follow the process defined in 9.2.9.
2. For jointly sponsored publications with steering or management committees, the steering or management committee shall appoint the EIC following the search process defined in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) for that periodical. The vice president for publications shall recommend Computer Society candidates for the steering or management committee representatives for appointment by the Computer Society president.
3. New publications shall abide by the policies spelled out for solely sponsored or jointly sponsored periodicals, as appropriate, with the following special circumstances.

a.  Any individual who formally proposes a new Computer Society publication shall not normally be eligible to apply for, nor shall be selected as, the inaugural editor in chief of such a publication.

b. If an EIC search committee seeks an exception to this policy, the chair of the search committee shall obtain approval from both the relevant Publications Board operations committee and the vice president for publications, prior to completing its process. In the event that the operations committee and the vice president for publications cannot agree on whether or not to grant an exception, the final decision shall rest with the Computer Society president after consultation with all parties.

c.  For jointly sponsored publications, the periodical’s MOU shall include a policy to address how the inaugural editor in chief is selected, which may or may not reflect the Computer Society’s policy.

9.2.8  Editor in Chief Search Process

1. The chair of the relevant operations committee shall establish an ad hoc EIC search committee for the open position with the approval of the vice president for publications. The search committee, as described in the “Guidelines for IEEE Computer Society EIC Search Committees,” consists of a chair, the outgoing EIC, and at least three members, and is typically constituted at least fourteen months in advance of the known vacancy. This time can be less in the case of extraordinary vacancies (e.g., the resignation, severe or prolonged illness, or death of an EIC). In such extraordinary situations, the vice president for publications, in concurrence with the Publications Board’s voting members, shall, as expeditiously as possible, recommend to the president for appointment an “acting” EIC, while the EIC search is conducted.The search committee shall develop a list of applicants through open solicitation, including recommendations from the corresponding operations committee. The committee shall solicit applications from people being mentored for EIC positions, from former or current associate editors, from people who have editorial experience outside of the IEEE Computer Society, and from those nominated as a result of the open solicitation. Nominations and applications may also be sought from technical communities, conferences, and other editorial boards. With respect to potential conflicts of interest (COIs), the search committee shall be referred to Section 2.6.2.A  of the IEEE PSPB Operations Manual.  Additional details regarding the handling of COIs are included in the “Guidelines for IEEE Computer Society EIC Search Committees.” If a significant level of influence exists, the search committee member should disclose the conflict of interest immediately and should not participate in the scoring or discussion of that particular candidate.
2. If the vice president for publications determines that the search committee will not be able to reach an objective decision, they may request approval from the president to appoint a new search committee.
3. As the search progresses, the search committee shall keep the vice president for publications aware of the candidates being considered. The functions of each body and officer need to be well understood by all involved: the search committee’s function is to identify and evaluate applicants, and to select and recommend candidates from the applicants; the relevant operations committee reviews those candidates and makes its recommendations to the Publications Board; the Publications Board endorses the candidates to the president; the president evaluates, in consultation with the past president and president-elect, selects, and appoints the EIC from the candidates brought forward by the search committee; and the Board of Governors reviews and consents to the appointment.
4. Each candidate shall prepare an application package including:

1) a letter of institutional/employer support for this editorship, should the position be offered.

2) a plan or vision statement that details the prospective course of action that the applicant projects to take with respect to the publication. This plan shall include:

• the applicant’s perspective of the publication including challenges and opportunities,
• the tasks of the EIC to meet the challenges and to exploit the opportunities,
• the objective milestones associated with the intermediate and final accomplishment of these tasks,
• the projected schedules for the accomplishment of these milestones,
• the projected organization that will accomplish these tasks, and
• the funding requirements to accomplish these tasks.

3) a resume, including publications and editorial experience.

5. These materials, in addition to the qualifications listed in IEEE PSPB Operations Manual 2.4.3, are necessary conditions for an applicant to be considered as a candidate.

6. The search committee shall use the standard “scoring matrix” described in the Publications Handbook to ensure that its members consider all relevant experience and abilities of each candidate and to ensure that these are treated similarly for all candidates.

7. The search committee shall recommend two or more candidates to the operations committee. In exceptional cases, where the search committee can recommend only one candidate after an exhaustive search, the president may grant permission to proceed, provided that the committee documents its attempts to find other qualified candidates in the final report.

8. After the search committee completes its evaluation and selects its top candidate(s), it prepares the committee’s final report. The report — which shall remain confidential and should only contain identifying information of the recommended applicant(s) — includes an overview of the search process and the candidate(s) for the EIC position, along with the scores and key strengths of the recommended candidate(s).

9. The report, along with the dossiers of the recommended candidate(s), shall be securely distributed electronically to the members of the relevant operations committee at least 15 days before the meeting at which the recommendations are to be considered. The operations committee shall maintain the confidentiality of the information. In extraordinary circumstances, the chair of the relevant operations committee may waive or reduce the time allotted for operations committee review. The operations committee chair shall present the search committee’s findings and recommendations in executive session (either in person or remotely). Those included in the executive session are the members of the operations committee, and the vice president for publications. If a meeting cannot be scheduled, the operations committee chair shall ensure that feedback is solicited and any concerns are documented for review by the Publications Board executive committee.

10. The Publications Board executive committee shall review the recommendations of the operations committee and endorse both, one, or none of the candidates. On behalf of the Publications Board, the vice president for publications shall inform the president of its recommendation in confidence. The president then confers with the past president and president elect on the recommendation. (No public disclosure of the candidates’ identities shall be made until after the new EIC has been notified of his/her appointment.)

11. As provided in the bylaws, the final step in the process occurs when the president selects an appointee from the candidates brought forward by the Publications Board and presents the appointment to the Board of Governors for concurrence. This presentation shall include a copy of the appointee’s plans. The vice president for publications shall provide a written executive summary of the search process to the Board of Governors. The Board of Governors may consent to the appointment of the president’s appointee, in which case the president shall make the appointment. If the Board of Governors refuses consent, then the Board may bring forward a second candidate that has been recommended by the search committee. If the president is unable to identify an acceptable appointee from those candidates presented, the Board of Governors shall be informed and a new search initiated.

12. EICs may be appointed for a maximum of two consecutive terms for a given position. A first term is three years and a reappointment is for a two-year term. For a new publication, at the discretion of the vice president for publications, the first three-year term of office of the EIC shall begin with the appearance of that publication.

9.2.9 Reappointment of an Editor in Chief

1. An EIC who is serving his/her first term is eligible for reappointment. The chair of the relevant operations committee shall confirm his/her willingness to serve a second term at least fourteen months before the end of the first term. If the EIC is not willing to serve a second term, the process defined in 9.2.8 shall be followed for selecting a new EIC.

2. If the EIC is willing to serve a second term, the chair of the relevant operations committee shall establish an ad hoc committee, with the approval of the vice president for publications, to evaluate the EIC’s performance. The EIC shall prepare and submit his/her dossier as defined in 9.2.8 and include his/her accomplishments during the past year.

3. The evaluation committee shall seek input from the periodical’s editorial board, a subset of authors, and the IEEE Computer Society publications’ staff and prepare its report with a recommendation on whether to reappoint. The report, along with the EIC’s dossier, shall be securely distributed electronically to the members of the relevant operations committee and Publications Board at least 15 days before the meeting at which it will be considered (normally the first meeting of the year). In extraordinary circumstances, the chair of the relevant operations committee can waive or reduce the allotted time for review. If a meeting cannot be scheduled, the operations committee chair shall ensure that feedback is solicited and any concerns are documented for review by the Publications Board executive committee.

4. The evaluation committee’s recommendation on reappointment and the relevant operations committee feedback shall be presented to the voting members of Publications Board at least 15 days before the meeting at which the reappointment will be considered. If the evaluation committee recommends reappointment, and the relevant operations committee feedback is positive, the Publications Board executive committee is asked to endorse the reappointment. If after consultation with the past president and president-elect, the president elects to reappoint the EIC for a second term, the reappointment shall be presented to the Board of Governors for their consent. If there is no agreement on reappointment, then a search committee shall be appointed and shall follow the procedures in 9.2.8 for seeking and recommending additional candidates. The current EIC may be considered as one of the candidates.

9.2.10 Editorial Board Member Selection Process

Editorial Board member roles shall be defined in the IEEE Computer Society’s Editor in Chief Manual. New Area Editors, Associate Editors, Column and Department Editors (magazines), and Associate Editors in Chief for each periodical shall be appointed by the respective EICs with the consent of the Publications Board, utilizing the following procedures:

1. The EIC shall send to the Publications Board email alias a paragraph explaining the need for and justifying the nomination, along with the completed Editorial Board Member Nomination Form specified in the IEEE Computer Society Editor in Chief Manual. The form shall contain the following:

a)  The candidate’s contact information, professional memberships, professional website, areas of expertise relevant to the publication, and role on the editorial board.

b)  The candidate’s declaration of no conflict of interest and declaration of no previous misconduct or ethical problems.

c) The candidate’s list of all editorial positions covered in the past 10 years and list of positions covered at grant/funding institutions in the past 10 years.

d)  The candidate’s technical biography, similar to what appears at the end of a paper: at most 10 to 20 lines describing the nominee’s main qualifications and accomplishments. Emphasis should be given to the candidate’s qualifications that are relevant to his or her duties as an Editorial Board member.

e)  Selected list of relevant publications (maximum of 10).

2. Publications Board members have 14 days to provide advice on the proposed appointment. Staff shall ensure that nominees are not on the current IEEE Prohibited Author List. If no concerns are raised, the nomination is considered approved. If concerns are raised, the EIC shall either address the concern, retract the nomination, or request approval from the Publications Board’s voting members through a vote.

9.2.11 Editorial Workshops

The Publications Board, with support of the publications staff, will organize EIC planning, orientations, and leadership sessions as necessary.

9.2.12 Evaluation Procedures for Periodicals

It is the duty of the Publications Board to review publications and decide their fate. If the review of a publication determines that it is no longer viable, then the Publications Board has the responsibility to recommend to the Board of Governors that it should be either closed, merged with another publication, or dealt with in some other way so that it neither detracts from the Society’s reputation nor becomes a drain on the Society’s resources.

The evaluation of publications shall use the criteria below:

1. Objective criteria. Examples of items to be evaluated include current and projected financial health (net revenue and contribution margin), current and projected circulation, subscriber retention, peer review and publication cycle times (submission to first decision and final acceptance to publication), submission and acceptance rates, citation indices, and usage in all digital collections.

2. Subjective criteria. Examples of items to be evaluated include the scope and breadth of coverage, a sampling of readership opinion, a sampling of authors’ opinions, and editorial overlap with other publications.

9.2.13 Editor in Chief Budget Policy

The IEEE Computer Society and the home institution of an EIC together shall supply the support required to perform the functions of the EIC. The Computer Society will provide the resources required to produce each publication, including the tools and staff for peer review, production, and governance and operations. For additional activities, the EIC should use funds from the home institution or other available sources in preference to the funds of the IEEE Computer Society where a choice is possible. The IEEE Computer Society shall provide limited funding for the following when the home institution funds are insufficient to support these activities:

Travel policy: Each EIC shall have budgeted funding for the EIC or the EIC’s designee to travel to the IEEE Panel of Editors meeting annually. In addition, each EIC shall have budgeted funding for the EIC or the EIC’s designee for travel to an EIC meeting with staff editors and to an editorial board meeting. Each EIC shall have budgeted funding to hold an annual editorial board meeting. If an EIC chooses to hold an editorial board meeting, the EIC is encouraged to hold it at a major conference that is normally attended by many members of the editorial board, and for which travel support can readily be obtained from sources other than the IEEE Computer Society.

Publication-specific expenses: When identified by an EIC and endorsed by the finance chair, some publication-specific expenses can be included in the budget. Among the items that qualify as publication-specific are travel of some editorial board members to a meeting for a specific purpose, assistance to associate editors, and special activities for particular publications that are not generic to all publications.

9.3  OPERATIONS COMMITTEES 

9.3.1  Membership

The voting membership of the Magazine Operations Committee (MOC) and the Transactions Operations Committee (TOC) shall be, respectively, the current EICs of all wholly owned Society magazines, journals, transactions, and letters). EICs of cosponsored publications managed by the Computer Society shall be ex officio non-voting members of their respective operations committee.

The MOC and TOC chairs shall be elected annually by the current voting members of their respective operations committees in accordance with the procedures defined in the Publications Handbook. A chair shall serve no more than two consecutive terms.

The MOC and TOC chairs shall represent the respective operations committee they serve, and their votes on publications-related motions considered by the Publications Board shall represent the members of MOC and TOC. MOC and TOC chairs shall poll their members in a timely manner on motions to be brought forward to the Publications Board, but no quorum is required.

To be qualified as a candidate for a chair position, a nominee shall meet all of the following requirements:

1. The nominee shall have served in the past as an editor in chief for a Computer-Society-sponsored periodical for a full two terms. No current editor in chief of any Computer Society periodical or of any non-IEEE-sponsored periodical is eligible unless the EIC’s term will have ended before the term as an operations committee chair starts.

2. The nominee shall not have had any previous misconduct or ethical complaints that were validated, or have been included on the IEEE Prohibited Authors List.

3. The candidate selection is based on the candidate information and position statements.

4. The nominee shall have participated in at least one IEEE Periodicals Review and Advisory Committee review.

5. The nominee shall be a current Computer Society and IEEE member.

9.3.2  Duties

1. The operations committees are responsible for the operational aspects of their publications — dealing with insufficient or overabundant backlog, soliciting manuscripts, refereeing processes, copy editing processes, monitoring the timeliness of publication, and other issues.

2. The operations committees will encourage publications with common technical interests and overlapping scopes to (a) sponsor joint publications and explore ways to collaborate that might help in reducing backlog and publishing manuscripts with minimum delay, and (b) provide useful, complementary coverage of important topics for the reader.

3. The operations committees will establish an effective interface between the EICs and other activities of the Society.

4. The operations committees will assist the Publications Board and the periodical EICs in recognizing outstanding technical leaders and achievers (EICs, Editorial Board members, guest editors, quality referees, authors of outstanding manuscripts, etc.) and assist the EICs and the vice president for publications in submitting the necessary documentation for nominating candidates for the various IEEE and IEEE Computer Society awards.
5. The operations committees will evaluate and endorse search committee recommendations, and they are a key part of the approval and appointment process.

9.4  INTEGRITY AND PLAGIARISM

The IEEE Computer Society is committed to ensuring that its publications contain material that is properly identified as the work of its authors, and has been vetted through a proper peer review process as defined by the IEEE PSPB. To that end, a dedicated member of the Publications Board is appointed to promote integrity in Society publications and to enforce the IEEE and IEEE Computer Society policies regarding plagiarism; author, reviewer, and editor misconduct; and improper publication of material.

9.4.1  Chair of the Committee on Integrity

The vice president for publications shall form a Committee on Integrity and designate one of the members of the Publications Board as the chair of the committee.

9.4.2  Committee on Integrity

The chair of the Committee on Integrity, with the approval of the vice president for publications, shall appoint Society members to serve on the committee.

9.4.3  Duties

The Committee on Integrity shall implement IEEE and IEEE Computer Society procedures that address complaints concerning plagiarism; author, reviewer, and editor misconduct; and improper publication of material. The committee shall take actions to promote the integrity of Computer Society publications, such as developing educational materials for prospective authors.

9.5  SCOPE STATEMENTS FOR PUBLICATIONS

The current scope statement for each publication shall be included on the publication’s website. Scope statements shall be reviewed and, if necessary, refreshed during the periodical review process.

9.6  ADVERTISING IN IEEE COMPUTER SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS

Advertising may be accepted in Society publications. The director of periodicals and special projects has full discretion to accept or reject any advertising. Guidelines for determining acceptable and unacceptable advertising are:

Acceptable:

* Products or services of direct interest and usefulness to members. Examples include electronics and electrical materials,     components, and systems; positions available and wanted.

* Products that in consensus are deemed socially valuable and that complement the members’ research and/or business needs, or a vocational bent. Examples include technical or high-technology hobbies (audio equipment, photographic equipment), auto rental companies, and airlines.

Unacceptable:

* Tobacco, liquor, get-rich-quick schemes, venture capital available, questionable educational opportunities, and diploma mills.

* Any advertisement presented in a format or illustrated in a manner not in keeping with the professional image of Society publications.

* Any advertisement suggesting or implying age, gender, or other types of discrimination.

9.7 PUBLICATIONS COPY EDITING POLICY

IEEE Computer Society publications are intended to focus on the needs of the reader. Both technical and copy editing at some level for author-submitted technical material are essential in producing an understandable, readable, and technically accurate article in the style of the publication. Technical editing typically occurs prior to acceptance and involves the authors, reviewers, and EIC. Copy editing occurs after acceptance and centers on grammar and style to ensure consistent handling of content in the publication. Both processes are intended to improve understandability and to ensure consistency of style and correct grammar. A set of general guidelines shall be developed and incorporated in the Society’s Publications Handbook. They shall necessarily be general in nature because of the diversity of situations encountered.

9.8  REUSE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The IEEE Computer Society is committed to the exchange and dissemination of technical information. This may be accomplished through the publication of conference proceedings and periodicals. The secondary use of intellectual property from the publications shall follow the guidelines given in this section.

9.8.1  Copyright Policy

With the exception of open access content, the IEEE requires that all technical, educational, and professional publications of the IEEE  be copyrighted by the IEEE. The IEEE Computer Society follows IEEE’s open access policies. In the case of jointly sponsored conferences, IEEE recognizes the right of another qualified sponsor to hold the copyright and administer all copyright matters on behalf of the IEEE and its authors, provided that such right shall be the subject of written agreement between the IEEE and the qualified sponsor. Except in the case of a conference that is sponsored and maintains its own permanent administrative office, a conference is not considered a sponsor and may not hold a copyright to IEEE material.

9.8.2  Conference Proceedings

1. The IEEE Computer Society shall collect the accepted papers for every conference it sponsors and cosponsors and shall have the right to place them in its digital collections, according to policies set by the IEEE Computer Society.

2. Conferences may not offer individual papers or collections of papers for reuse without the written permission of the IEEE, in accordance with the IEEE copyright policy.

3. Revenues generated from the inclusion of proceedings in the Digital Library or other collections shall be distributed in accordance with the policies set by the Finance Committee and the Board of Governors.

9.8.3  Periodicals

1. The IEEE Computer Society invests heavily in the development of the content published in periodicals and shall control the reuse of this content.

2. Individual papers or collections of papers from the IEEE Computer Society periodicals shall not be posted on servers other than the official Society dissemination servers, except as permitted by IEEE’s Author Posting Policy.

3. Any reuse of intellectual property from periodicals in collections shall require the written permission of the IEEE.