TSUSC Special Issue/Section Proposals

How to Propose a Special Issue to IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Computing

IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Computing solicits special issue (SI) proposals from members of the computer science and engineering community, who serve as guest editors (GEs) if their proposal is accepted.

Please read the IEEE Computer Society’s Guest Editor Guidelines for detailed information on GE responsibilities and SI workflows. Additionally, please review the following information specific to TSUSC.

A TSUSC SI must have at least two GEs, and usually no more than three. An additional “Corresponding TSUSC Editor” (CTE) will be added by the editor-in-chief (EIC). The role of the CTE is to support the GEs in their day-to-day operations, to supervise the SI (enforcing the conflict-of-interest policy, assessing reviewer suitability, and managing the review process), and to serve as a reference point for the GEs on the EIC.

When proposing an SI to TSUSC, please consider that the domain and topics of interest must meet the journal’s scope (please check the scope of the journal carefully; anything outside the scope will not be accepted). GEs should be senior researchers in the topic of the proposed SI and must have extensive high-quality publication records in journals covered by the scope of the proposed SI.

The following items must be provided as part of a TSUSC SI proposal:

1. Call for papers (CFP): Please use the TSUSC CFP template. The CFP consists of three pages: a schematic CFP, a page with GE bios and photos, and an abstract page. In the bio, proposers must list at least three published papers related to the proposed special issue.

• The schematic CFP page should include the GEs’ names, submission deadline, topics/areas, and submission guidelines. Please refer to the template as an example. A tentative date of publication should be proposed; however, exact dates will be provided if the proposal is successful considering the current TSUSC publication schedule. The policies about the submission of extensions of previous conference papers, as well as the minimum percentage of new technical material present in the journal submission, must be clearly stated in the CFP and follow TSUSC’s author guidelines.
• The GE bio and photo page should be no longer than 200 words. Please include in each bio the URL of a personal website. Please highlight the publications related to the SI.
• The abstract of the SI should be between 300 and 500 words.

2. A two-page resume of each GE (PDF format), including a URL to an online, full up-to-date resume of each GE. Each GE should explicitly declare being aware of the IEEE and Computer Society (CS) policies and procedures as found in the IEEE and CS websites, with respect to conflicts of interest (COIs).
3. A one-page document describing the proposed topic (PDF format). The document should outline the relevant nature of the topic and state that the technical coverage of the proposed SI is not covered by a current IEEE journal and is within the scope of the CS and TSUSC. Proposals with topics that are only marginally related to the CS (and its intended goals and scope) will be declined.

All proposal materials must be sent to the EIC (eicsust@gwu.edu) and the TSUSC Special Issues Co-Chair, Xiaokang Zhou (zhou@kansai-u.ac.jp) for evaluation. The EIC will notify the proposers whether the proposal is accepted or rejected.

The paper acceptance rate must be highly competitive; ultimately, it is the GEs' responsibility to ensure that a sufficient number of high-quality submissions are received. If high-quality manuscripts cannot be included in the SI due to space constraints or a longer-than-expected review time, they could be considered for publication in a regular issue of TSUSC. The GEs and CTE will continue to review these manuscripts. An SI with fewer than 10 submissions or fewer than three accepted papers will be moved to the technical track group of submissions.