Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science
Organisational Matters
This page describes the proposed organisation of EPTCS at the time of
writing. It is not meant to be a formal set of rules, but rather a
collection of guidelines.
Goal and Basic Principles
EPTCS is an open access electronic publication.
Anyone ought to be able to access the full content of EPTCS without
the need for payment, registration or subscription in any form.
Publication in EPTCS is free.
We do not charge authors or workshop organisers for electronic
publication in EPTCS in any way.
EPTCS publishes refereed scientific content of quality only
The refereeing and the quality control is entirely delegated to the
organisation of workshops, conferences or Festschrifts (events) that
publish in EPTCS. It the task of our editorial board to judge whether
a given event can be trusted to to select scientific papers of quality
only.
EPTCS publishes original work only.
Authors submitting papers to events publishing in EPTCS may only
submit original work, and may not submit the same material for
publication elsewhere prior to either rejection of their submission or
publication of the material in EPTCS.
However, full versions of extended abstracts published in EPTCS, or
substantial revisions, may later be published elsewhere.
The scope of EPTCS is theoretical computer science, broadly construed.
The Editorial Board and the Application Process
The members of the editorial board—called "editors"—decide on
applications by events to publish their proceedings in EPTCS.
Applications are decided upon by consensus of the editors involved in
that application—where "involved" is defined below—and need
ratification by the editor in chief.
An event that wants to publish its proceedings as an issue of EPTCS
needs to fill in the application
form at http://apply.eptcs.org/,
thereby selecting at least one editor to start the evaluation process.
Alternatively, the contact with an event is initiated by an EPTCS
editor. Either possibility defines a set of editors initially involved.
In the unusual case where only one editor is involved, this editor
needs to involve at least one other editor.
Editors involved in an application make a judgement call as to
whether this is a clear-cut case or not.
In clear-cut cases, which may be the majority of all cases, the editors
involved decide whether to approve the application or not.
This decision needs ratification by the editor in chief, who may also
decide it is not a clear-cut case after all.
In less clear-cut cases, the editor(s) involved may decide to involve more
editors, whose expertise is appropriate to decide on the event in question.
In particularly hard cases, or cases that may set a precedent, they
may involve the entire editorial board.
At any time, any EPTCS editor may involve themselves or another EPTCS
editor in a particular application.
An editor may also withdraw their involvement in an application,
provided they pass on their responsibility to another editor; after
this moment they can only be reinvolved by their own doing.
In the end an application is decided upon by consensus of the editors
involved, subject to approval by the editor in chief.
In case consensus is not reached, the decision is taken by majority
vote of all EPTCS editors.
It is the task of the editor in chief to streamline the decision
process, arranging for adequate software if needed, to administer
which applications have been approved and - for applications where
this matters at all - which editors are involved in an application.
The editor in chief shall also communicate (negative) decisions to the
event in question, thereby respecting the confidentiality of
individual editors that may be responsible for this decision.
Membership of the editorial board expires after 3 years.
In case of active, well-functioning editors, their membership
can (but is not necessarily expected to) be extended without formality
or procedure.
Editors may retire at any time.
However, they are expected to handle the applications they are
involved in until their natural conclusion.
New editors are appointed by the editor in chief, based on input from
the advisory board.
The Advisory Board
The task of the advisory board is overseeing the evolution of EPTCS
and advising the editor in chief in setting its direction.
A particular point where input from the advisory board is expected is
in the selection of members of the editorial board, new members of the
advisory board itself, and the selection of a new editor in chief when
this position becomes vacant.
Membership of the advisory board expires after 4 years, but can be extended.
New members are are appointed by the editor in chief, based on input
from the advisory board.
Board members may retire at any time.
It is the responsibility of the advisory board to ensure that all
active research areas within theoretical computer science are covered
by the editorial board.
In case of a lack of covering, an additional editor shall be proposed.
It is also the task of the advisory board to appoint
a new editor in chief when that function becomes available.
If the editor in chief wishes to retire, the advisory board shall get
a year's notice, thus giving this body time to find a suitable replacement.
The advisory board oversees the evolution and guides the direction of
EPTCS.
It does so primarily by giving advice to the editor in chief.
Members of the advisory board in that capacity are not burdened with
meeting specific milestones other than the selection of board members
and editor in chief as described above.
They are not individually responsible for the fate of EPTCS and cannot
be blamed if certain goals are not being met.
Nevertheless, by remaining on the advisory board they signal an
approval of the mission and methods of the organisation in general.
The Editor in Chief
It is the personal responsibility of the Editor in Chief (EiC) to
ensure a smooth operation of EPTCS.
The EiC shall streamline the decision process of the editorial board
in handling applications of events to publish in EPTCS.
This includes arranging for adequate software if needed,
administering which applications have been approved and—for
applications where this matters at all—which editors are
involved in an application.
The EiC shall create a process that ensures that the proceedings of
events publishing in EPTCS shall appear online in a timely and
efficient manner.
This includes setting up the CoRR overlay, and maintaining the EPTCS
webpages. It also includes maintaining an EPTCS LaTeX style file
and interacting with authors and event organisers as required.
The EiC shall arrange for all content to be published in EPTCS to be
double checked to satisfy the requirements listed at
http://info.eptcs.org/.
It is first of all the responsibility of event organisers to perform
this check; the checking arranged for by the EiC is merely to double
check that the event organisers did their job.
The EiC may hire staff to assist in any or all of the tasks above.
If money is needed for any of this, the EiC shall arrange appropriate
funding.
The EiC is a member of the editorial board as well as the advisory board.
eptcs@eptcs.org