-------- Original Message -------- Subject: The IEEE/ACM ToN paper submission process Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 13:24:22 -0400 From: Erich Nahum nahum@turing.acm.org Reply-To: Erich Nahum nahum@turing.acm.org To: SIGCOMM-MEMBERS@LISTSERV.ACM.ORG

This message is from Don Towsley, Editor-In-Chief of IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking --Erich

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Folks,

For several years the EiC of ToN has been making assignments of papers to the Editorial board once a month. This started way before I took over as EiC and there are several reasons for this. First, the task of making assignments is time consuming; doing once a month rather than either once a week or as papers are submitted requires a greater time commitment on the part of the EiC of ToN. Second, the number of papers that arrive each month is nearly the same as the number of Associate Editors. A monthly assignment makes the task of load balancing among AEs easier. Third, AEs can more easily plan for these assignments when they occur at a regular time each month.

I bring this to your attention because this process can be advantageous to prospective authors. My intention as EiC of ToN is to assign to AEs all papers submitted by the 25-th of a month during the first week of the following month. Feel free to to take advantage of this and use the extra time to further improve your submission.

I would also like to point out that approximately ten days go by between when a paper is assigned to an AE and we notify the authors of this assignment. This period allows for the identification of conflicts of interest and papers unsuitable for ToN. In most cases, however, AEs begin the review process immediately after they receive their assignments. So, please do not be alarmed by the delays that you perceive before you learn which AE has been assigned to your paper. In most cases the review process is already under way.

Last, I am working on how to reduce the delays before authors obtain a first decision. However, there is only so much that I can do. This consists of streamlining the review process. This includes identifying papers unsuitable for ToN and papers that clearly have no chance of making it through the review process as quickly as possible. Doing so reduces both the burden on AEs and on reviewers. I have some other ideas that I will report on at another time. It is really important that you do your part as well. In the end, the quality of the journal and the timeliness of the published papers depend on your willingness to review papers. So I ask you to PLEASE agree to review papers for the journal and when you do, to do so in a timely manner. Ultimately, your willingness to submit high quality papers and to review other submissions is the key to the success of ToN.

Finally, I am always looking for suggestions on how to improve ToN; please send me your comments.

Thanks

Don Towsley EiC, IEEE/ACM ToN ton@cs.umass.edu

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