1. (IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation)
Status Report
AdCom IROS’04
Alessandro De Luca, Editor-in-Chief
presented by Bill Hamel, RAS VP Publication Activities
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Sendai, Japan - 3 October 2004
AdCom Meeting

2. Highlights transition from T-RA smoothly completed in August 2004
T-RO submissions are going up
T-RO acceptance rate is going down (quality stays high)
2003 impact factor data: T-RA again top in robotics and record high
T-RO reviewing times continue to be short
end-users needs are being addressed
rapid posting of accepted papers in IEEE Xplore (before publication of issue)
submissions of multimedia material on the way
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Sendai, Japan - 3 October 2004
AdCom Meeting

3. Submissions to T-RO/T-RA
Robotics papers in T-RA have been classified based on Editor handling (Automation = P. Luh + N. Viswanadham; Robotics: the others).
The resulting data (242; 228; 235; 261; 342; 380; 281) were decreased by a 5% (=Automation papers handled by other Editors).
transition in 2003: T-RA for 3 Q only, T-RO starts in last Q
robotics submissions are going up (beating 2002, w/o special issues!)
2004 T-RO + T-ASE forecast = 585 ( ) papers
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Sendai, Japan - 3 October 2004
AdCom Meeting

4. Global indices of T-RA/T-RO
Acceptance rate:
1998 = 28%
1999 = 23%
2000 = 34%
2001 = 30%
2002 = 31%
2003 = 27,6% (T-RA only)
2003 = 20,0% (T-RO only)
25,9%
2004 = 23,3% (T-RO up to 3 Q)
Impact factor:
T-RA #1 in Robotics for years
2003: #4 over in Automation & Control
#20 over 205 in EE Engineering
Impact Factor=the average number of times articles published in the previous two years were cited in a particular year.
Cited Half-Life= the number of years, going back from the current year, that account for 50% of the total citations received by the journal in the current year.
Thompson ISI determines groupings. Not all pubs are in all groups.
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Sendai, Japan - 3 October 2004
AdCom Meeting

5. T-RA/T-RO reviewing times
At date 10/01 5/02 10/02 9/ / /04 9/04
IROS01 ICRA02 IROS02 ICRA03 IROS03 ICRA04 IROS04
Rvw > 9 mo
Rvw 6-9 mo
Rvw 3-6 mo
Rvw 0-3 mo
Total in Rvw
Data refers to papers in first review cycle . Times are from date of submission.
T-RO data updated as September 26, Average is 2,5 months (rounding with months from submission, rather than days)
Average < 3 months !
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Sendai, Japan - 3 October 2004
AdCom Meeting

6. T-RO in IEEE Xplore Rapid posting (active from start) Links to T-RA
(for cont’ed access)
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Sendai, Japan - 3 October 2004
AdCom Meeting

7. Multimedia in T-RO
authors can submit multimedia material (videos) with their papers
multimedia are "playable" files (.midi, .mov. .mpeg, .wav, etc.) or more complex "dataset" files (e.g., raw data with programs to manipulate them)
review process linked to paper: multimedia possibly rejected even if paper is accepted
T-RO will start as soon as possible (following IEEE guidelines) at no additional costs
Multimedia in IEEE Xplore
(downloadable next to paper)
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Sendai, Japan - 3 October 2004
AdCom Meeting

8. T-RO in Manuscript Central
T-RO plans to move
to MC v3 in 2005
cost estimation by IEEE fits the budget allowed by RAS-VP Finances (19 K US$ for first year, 11.5 K US$/year at site established)
T-RO will continue to monitor usage by T-ASE to anticipate problems
3 months to go on line, including testing
configuration requirements document in preparation by T-RO EiC
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Sendai, Japan - 3 October 2004
AdCom Meeting