IEEE JOURNAL OF
SELECTED TOPICS
IN SIGNAL PROCESSING
A PUBLICATION OF THE IEEE SIGNAL PROCESSING SOCIETY
Procedure for Submitting Special Issue Proposal
- Identify a suitable topic for the special issue. Any topic within the Scope of the Signal Processing Society is appropriate, although special preference is given to new and emerging areas. Approval for subjects that have already been the focus of special issues in other journals will be difficult to obtain. Keep in mind that a typical issue of J-STSP will consist of about 170-190 printed pages, corresponding to about 14-16 papers of 12 pages each plus the editorial and guest editor bios. A topic must be broad enough to capture a sufficient number of submissions to support this size of an issue, but not so broad that the acceptance rate is unacceptably low. Recognizing that such things are difficult to predict, a target acceptance rate would be in the 35-50% range, which suggests that 30-50 submissions is optimal.
- Assemble a team of 3-5 Guest Editors (GEs), with one individual identified as the Lead GE. The GEs should be established researchers in the focus area of the special issue, or a closely-allied discipline. At a minimum, the GEs should have several years of post-Ph.D. experience, and a signficant track record of relevant technical publications. We follow the SP Society's suggested qualifications for guest editors of special issues -- basically, the qualifications are the same as that of an associate editor for the Transactions: someone who has at least 5-6 years of post-Ph.D. experience (e.g., the equivalent of an associate professor with tenure in academia). It is also desirable for the GE team to be technically and geographically balanced.
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Submit a PDF file containing the following information to the Editor-in-Chief, Vikram Krishnamurthy.
- A cover letter that introduces the topic of the proposed special issue and places it in the context of the Signal Processing Society (note that note all of the members of the editorial board who review the proposal will be experts in your topic area). The letter should describe why the proposed topic is timely, why it is of interest to the society's readership, what the current state-of-the-art is in the area, what open problems have yet to be addressed, research groups around the world who would be potential contributors to the special issue, etc.
- A draft single-page Call-for-Papers that summarizes the scope of the proposed special issue, lists the specific topics to be covered, gives a suggested timetable for paper submission and review (the actual timetable will be negotiated with the Editor-in-Chief upon approval of the proposal), and provides contact information for the GEs.
- A one-half page bio-sketch for each of the guest editors, similar to those that appear with a published Transactions paper. The bios should be careful to identify aspects of the guest editors' backgrounds that are relevant to the topic of the special issue.
Proposal Approval Process
Upon receipt, the Editor-in-Chief circulates the proposal to the Senior Editorial Board for their comments. Depending on this feedback, the proposal may be approved, rejected (with appropriate supporting reasons), or returned to the GEs for additional information. Usually this process will take no more than 2-3 weeks.
