Editorial Notes: Changes in Presence

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Abstract

PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments was founded by Nat Durlach, Thomas A. Furness, and Thomas B. Sheridan in 1992. Since then, it has become the foremost scientific journal in the field, helped by the support of its Editorial Board and members of the editorial office staff. The world of scientific publishing has changed significantly in the past 15 years, both with respect to demands on academic researchers for high quality publications and with respect to the economics of publishing (caused by, among other things, the growth and diffusion of internet-based material). One major problem currently faced by the journal is the length of time consumed between submission of a paper and its publication: it is now roughly 18–24 months. We feel that this is unacceptable, especially given the existence of other outlets that authors can use for publication. In response to these problems, a number of major changes are being made. First, the structure, composition, and functioning of the Editorial Board is being changed. The new system will make use of a new set of Associate Editors (AEs), each of whom will be responsible for a specific topic area covered by the journal. The decision as to which AE a given submission will be assigned will be made by the Editors-in-Chief. The AE will then be responsible for shepherding the given submission through the whole editorial process (selecting reviewers, ensuring that reviews are completed in a timely fashion, communicating with authors about suggested revisions, monitoring progress of the revisions, etc.) and preparing recommendations to the Editors-in-Chief. Communication by an AE with an Editor-in-Chief or the Managing Editor will be welcome during any stage of the review process. Although the amount of work required by an AE for a given submission may in some cases be substantial, it is estimated that no AE will be responsible for more than 4–6 papers per year. The overall purpose of this new structure is to speed up the review process while maintaining (or improving) the overall quality of the journal. With respect to speed of processing, our goal is to reduce the time period between submission and response back to the author (accept, reject, modify) to less than 6 weeks, and to reduce the time period between submission and publication (assuming no more than two weeks consumed by preparation of authors’ revisions) to roughly 6 months. The identities of the AEs are listed in the masthead of this issue, and brief profiles of each will be presented in our next issue. The second major change concerns the financing of the journal’s editorial operation. In order to provide funding to the editorial office that will permit realization of our goals for the journal, it is necessary to augment the funds we receive from our publisher with page charges. Specifically, we have decided to raise the mandatory page charge to authors to $40 per page (resulting in a total page charge of $320 for an 8-page paper). We regret having to make this increase, but it is necessary to do so if the journal is to continue in anything like its present form. Also, this charge appears to be relatively modest compared to the charges being imposed by many other journals. The third change concerns the identity of the Editorsin-Chief. Nat Durlach, who has played a central role in the journal ever since its inception in 1992, will vacate this role and assume that of General Advisor to the journal effective with issue 16:4. Joining Mel Slater as CoEditor-in-Chief in place of Nat Durlach will be Janet Weisenberger of Ohio State University. Details about Janet’s interests and background can be found in the profile located at the end of these notes. Everyone associated with the journal feels very fortunate that Janet is willing to accept this role (she already has made major contributions to the journal as an informal, behind-thescenes, Editor-in-Chief). We invite all readers of PRESENCE for their support in the effort to overcome the above-mentioned problems. Among the ways support can be provided are the following: