Experiences of Editorship with Springer

1. Experiences of Editorship with Springer Massimo Mecella (mecella@dis.uniroma1.it) Assistant professor – PhD in Computing Science & Engineering School of Information Engineering, Computer Science and Statistics

2. Some data about me (1) • Graduated in Computing Engineering [Ingegneria Informatica] in 1998 • Started PhD course in Computing Engineering in 1999, earned in early 2002 • 3 out of the very first 5 papers (in 2000) were produced following the Springer LNCS Author Stylesheet (cf. http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-12-73062-0) • SEBD 2000 • TES 2000 • A contributed chapter in a monograph • My first experience as publishing chair of a conference in 2001 (CoopIS 2001) –http://www.springer.com/computer/database+management+%26+information+retrieval/book/978-3-540-42524-3 Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

3. Some data about me (2) • Different positions in the years 2002 – 2006 • Assistant professors since 2006 • My first experience as author of a book (again with Springer) – cf. http://www.springer.com/computer/database+management+%26+information+retrieval/book/978-3-642-13570-5 • As of today, author of about 130 publications (conferences, journals, chapter in books, etc.) • About 45% of them are published with Springer • Cf. DBLP entry @ http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/pers/hd/m/Mecella:Massimo.html • Current h-index = 27 (cf. http://scholar.google.it/citations?user=x844E6sAAAAJ) and look at the most cited paper  Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

4. Outline and objectives of this talk • A very informal and friendly storytelling of experiences when you publish • Not advertisement, many concepts and ideas applicable as well to many other publishing scenarios • Just to give the feeling that if you have a good idea, publishing is nowadays not so complex (not a barrier) • Outline • Publishing a paper (conference / journal) • Publishing as volume editor • Publishing as journal – special issue editor • Publishing as book author Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

5. Publishing a paper Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

6. Process of a conference paper [1] • Submission • Choose the right target for your ideas/paper • Start working on-time, last-minute submissions rarely get the expected outcomes  • Nowdays the most of conferences require submission already in the camera-ready format, with a limited number of pages • Respect them, it is helpful in organizing your paper in the right way • Save time wrt. writing more that it cannot appear in the (possible) camera ready • Use the provided stylesheets, LaTeX personally is preferable • Allows splitting the file in multiple parts, each one assigned to a different authors … Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

7. Process of a conference paper [2] • … parts sharable on a SVN server / Dropbox for collaboration … • … multiple authors can work contemporary without interfering • Not possible with Word • If the paper is accepted • Prepare the camera ready • It is usually validated by professional services of the publisher • Copyrigth transfer form Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

8. With Springer • The LaTeX template is available and nicely manageable • One of the most used • Professional services check your camera ready and come back to your for approval before the final publication • Camera ready easily uploadable Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

9. Editorship of a volume Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

10. Process of an edited volume [1] • Tipically you are invited to serve this role • Publishing chair of a conference • Workshop chair of a conference • … … • Set up a process for collecting all contributions (in case you are responsible for this) • Set-up an upload facility (ftp server, SVN server, etc.) for the authors of single contributions • Provide clear instructions on what is needed (e.g., additional packages, format of the figures, etc.) • Leave to youself an appropriate time for compiling all the volume (it may require a considerable amount of time) Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

11. Process of an edited volume [2] • In addition you have to write/prepare … • A volume introduction/preface • Indexes () • Cover matters • … • … all of which require considerable time Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

12. With Springer • I did two times: in 2001 for CoopIS and in 2008 for BPM Workshops • Set-up of a server for the authors/chairs • In 2001 – collection of about 30 contributions, and I provided for about 10 days between the deadline to authors and the one for sending the volume to Springer • In 2008 – divide et impera approach: each workshop prepared its part, and then we workshop chairs prepared the final sub-volume (including their indexes). Again about 10 days between the deadline to workshop chairs for their sub-volume and the one for sending the volume to Springer Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

13. Editorship of a Journal – special issue Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

14. Process of a special issue [1] • Currently I am managing one, cf. Journal on Data Semantics – Special Issue on Knowledge-intensive Business Processes (KiBP), deadline 31 March 2013 • Cf. http://www.dis.uniroma1.it/~kibp2012/special-issue.shtml and http://www.springer.com/computer/database+management+%26+information+retrieval/journal/13740 Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

15. Process of a special issue [1] • Typically, after having the idea, you need approval from a journal editorial board • Invited papers from a successful workshop • Due to your visibility in the community • … … • Preparing a call-for-paper (with clear instructions for authors about submission procedures, length of papers, etc.) • Set-up a review committee • Continuosly solicit submissions Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

16. Process of a special issue [2] • After defining the final set of accepted papers, provide a suitable introduction to the special issues • Tipically in this case you are not involved in formatting issues, all is managed by the journal editorial officers Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

17. Author of a Book Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

18. Process of authoring a book [1] • Define a precise idea • Make a proposal to the editorial office ( e.g., Ralf Gerstner - http://www.springer.com/computer?SGWID=0-146-19-73132-0 ) • If accepted, start to write the book • Tipically it requires more than one year to produce it • Deliver the chapters in the initial 6 months • Have enough time for revising all the material at least two times, and read it over and over • Make it read by at least a colleague / external person, they can provide very very useful comments Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

19. Process of authoring a book [2] • Pay attention to many editorial / stilistic issues (e.g., in the case of multiple authors of different chapters, look&feel of the figures, format of the captions, etc.) – they seem the minor point, but indeed have a great impact on the whole work and feelings to the readers • The book is tipically revised by the publisher (assignment to a couple of anonymous reviewers) in order to improve it … in the meanwhile produce all type of needed indexes (a lot of work ) • Apply the revision and enjoy your masterpiece • Practical suggestions • Share all the material (especially if the book is multi-authored) on some cloud storage / SVN server, very helpful to know what the others are writing without sending emails over and over Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

20. With Springer • The LaTeX template for monograph is very effective and allows a very nice production of books • E.g., commands for preparing the items of indexes, etc. • The reviewing process is fast and effective Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

21. Some hints on “when a book ?” [1] • Publishing a book makes sense • A very successful project, in which many concepts can be abstracted and provide general insights on the subjects • B. Pernici (ed.), Mobile Information Systems – Infrastructure and design for adaptivity and flexibility, Springer, April 2006 (The MAIS Project book) - http://www.springer.com/computer/communication+networks/book/978-3-540-31006-8 • R. Baldoni, G. Chockler (eds.), Collaborative financial infrastructure protection – Tools, abstractions, and middleware, Springer 2012 (on the basis of the COMIFIN project) - http://www.springer.com/computer/communication+networks/book/978-3-642-20419-7 Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

22. Some hints on “when a book ?” [2] • As a wrap-up of many years of research in the field • G. Viscusi, C. Batini, M. Mecella, Information systems for eGovernment – A Quality-of-Service perspective, Springer 2010 (based on my and Viscusi’s PhD on eGovernment, the EG4M project, some years of research and practical experiences in the Italian PA, etc.) - http://www.springer.com/computer/database+management+%26+information+retrieval/book/978-3-642-13570-5 • C. Batini, M. Scannapieco, Data Quality – Concepts, methodologies and techniques, Springer 2006 (based on Scannapieco’s PhD on data quality, the DaQuinCIS project, some years of research, etc.) - http://www.springer.com/computer/database+management+%26+information+retrieval/book/978-3-540-33172-8 • When a textbook makes sense • G. Alonso, F. Casati, H. Kuno, V. Machiraju, Web services – Concepts, architectures and applications, Springer 2004 - http://www.springer.com/computer/database+management+%26+information+retrieval/book/978-3-540-44008-6 • M. Weske, Business Process Management – Concepts, languages, architectures, Springer 2012 - http://www.springer.com/computer/information+systems+and+applications/book/978-3-642-28615-5 Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer

23. What to bring home (i.e., concluding remarks) • Nowadays, researching involves also a good amount of dissemination and publishing • Intermediate results • Interesting outcomes of projects • … • You may like or not, but publish or perish is the reality  • Exploit all the possibilities for increasing your visibility and disseminating your outcomes Massimo Mecella – Editorship with Springer