Updated November 2025
9.1 GENERAL
9.1 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 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, while ‘individual publications’ shall refer to derivative and unique publications. The ‘Publications Board’ refers to all Editors in Chief (EICs) and members of the Publications Board Executive Committee (which comprises the voting members of the Publications Board as described in section 9.2).
9.1.1 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.
9.1.2 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. The Publications Board Executive Committee shall develop review policies in conjunction with the responsible publications operations committee—Magazine Operations Committee (MOC) or Transactions Operations Committee (TOC). The review policies should generally be typical of review policies of respected scientific, scholarly, and technical societies. The policies should provide for appropriate appeals by authors, but the anonymity of the reviewers should be maintained.
9.2 PUBLICATIONS BOARD
9.2.1 Membership
The Publications Board Executive Committee shall be chaired by the vice president for publications as provided in the bylaws. It shall consist of the following voting members: Integrity Committee chair, MOC chair, 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-EICs) with experience in publications such as having formerly served as an EIC or on a publication’s 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 vice president for publications shall appoint the other voting members . In addition, the president, executive director, all EICs, and the director of publications 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 Executive Committee shall:
9.2.3 Publications Handbook and EIC Manual
The Publications Board Executive Committee shall maintain a Publications Handbook and an EIC Manual, which shall outline 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's publications. Changes to publications procedures may be enacted by the Publications Board Executive Committee 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 publications’ procedures shall be reported to the Board of Governors by the vice president for publications following the change. Additionally, the vice president for publications is responsible for ensuring that copies of the current manuals are distributed to each member of the Publications Board Executive Committee, the TOC, the MOC, and the Board of Governors at the beginning of each calendar year.
9.2.4 Mentoring Future EICs
The bylaws establish that the Publications Board Executive Committee is responsible for recommending EIC candidates to the president. To carry out this process, the Publications Board Executive Committee shall establish and maintain a mechanism for mentoring future EICs to build a pool of candidates with the experience necessary to assume an EIC position.
9.2.5 Editor in Chief Appointments
9.2.6 Editor in Chief Search Process
a. the applicant’s perspective of the publication including challenges and opportunities,
b. the tasks of the EIC to meet the challenges and to exploit the opportunities,
c. the objective milestones associated with the intermediate and final accomplishment of these tasks,
d. the projected schedules for the accomplishment of these milestones,
e. the projected organization that will accomplish these tasks, and
f. the funding requirements to accomplish these tasks.
5. Before sharing these materials with the search chair, staff will submit the candidates’ names to the IEEE Legal and Compliance team to vet the candidates. Additionally, staff will check publicly available sources to rule out potential misconduct incidents outside of IEEE publications. Should any negative results be found through these vetting processes, the candidate’s package will be withdrawn for consideration by the vice president for publications.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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).
10. The report, along with the dossiers of the recommended candidate(s), shall be securely distributed electronically to the members of the relevant operations committee as soon as possible after the search committee has approved the report. 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. The operations committee chair shall ensure that feedback is solicited and any concerns are documented for review by the Publications Board Executive Committee.
11. The respective chairs of MOC and TOC shall review the feedback from the operations committee for which the EIC candidate(s) would serve. The chairs will cast their vote on behalf of the relevant operations committee along with the other members of the Publications Board Executive Committee to endorse both, one, or none of the candidates. On behalf of the Publications Board Executive Committee, 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 selected candidate’s identities shall be made until after the new EIC has been notified of their appointment.)
12. As provided in the bylaws, the final step in the process occurs when the president selects an appointee from the candidates presented by the Publications Board Executive Committee and submits 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 ask the president to bring forward a second candidate whom the search committee has recommended. 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.
13. EICs may be appointed for a maximum of two consecutive terms for a given position. A first term is two 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 term may be for up to three years, and the term of office of the EIC shall begin with the launch of that publication.
9.2.7 Reappointment of an Editor in Chief
9.2.8 Rescinding an Editor in Chief Appointment
In some circumstances, there may be a need to rescind an EIC’s appointment due to poor performance, failure to uphold IEEE’s publishing policies, or misconduct. When such cases arise, the following process shall be implemented as soon as it is practicable to do:
9.2.9 Editorial Board Member Selection Process
Editorial Board member roles shall be defined in the IEEE Computer Society’s EIC 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:
9.2.10 Editorial Workshops
The Publications Board Executive Committee, with support of the publications staff, will organize EIC planning, orientations, and leadership sessions as necessary.
9.2.11 Evaluation Procedures for Periodicals
It is the duty of the Publications Board Executive Committee to review publications and decide their fate. If the review of a publication determines that it is no longer viable, then the Publications Board Executive Committee 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:
9.2.12 Editor in Chief Budget Policy
The IEEE Computer Society and the EIC’s host institution shall supply the support required to perform the functions of the EIC. The Computer Society will provide the necessary resources 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 host 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 items described below when the home institution funds are insufficient to support these activities. All such expenditures must comply with all applicable IEEE travel and expense policies.
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. For editorial board meetings, the preference is to hold these virtually throughout each year. Should an EIC wish to budget some funding for an annual 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 vice president for publications, 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 committee in accordance with the procedures defined in the Publications Handbook. With the approval of the president, the vice president for publications appoints a publications election chair to manage the election process.
The MOC and TOC chair candidates should read the MOC/TOC chair job description and be willing to fulfill the duties as described below (9.3.2). 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 Executive Committee 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 Executive Committee, but no quorum is required.
To be qualified as a candidate for a chair position, a nominee shall declare any potential/perceived conflicts of interest to the publications election chair at the time they express their interest in standing as a candidate, and meet all of the following requirements:
9.3.2 Duties
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 Executive Committee 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 Executive Committee 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 issues such as 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
Scope statements are a formal component and identifier of each IEEE publication. As such, each scope and any subsequent changes must adhere to IEEE PSPB policies and be approved by all relevant governance bodies. 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 typical handling of advertising is the domain of the IEEE Computer Society Sales and Marketing team, but should concerns arise, the director of publications 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 computing-related products and services such as hardware, software, and consulting services s; 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, CBD-based products, 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 is available in the IEEE Editorial Style Manual, provided in the Publications Handbook. .
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 as well as those provided by the IEEE Intellectual Property Rights Office.
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
9.8.3 Periodicals