Conference Quality Matters

Lance Fung, Chair, Conference Quality Committee 2018

Helen Ma, Event Manager IEEE

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Importance of Conference Quality

Preserve IEEE’s Reputation

Maintain IEEE Conference Publications’ Ability to be Indexed by partners

Avoid Legal Risks

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Impact on Conference, Author, IEEE

Three Pillars

Quality Sponsorship (TCS)

Quality Management (TPC)

Quality Publications (Submissions)

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What is TCS?

From IEEE Policy 10:

Technical Co-Sponsorship indicates direct and substantial involvement by the IEEE organizational unit solely in the organization of the technical program.

The IEEE organizational unit has no financial involvement in the conference.

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Key TCS policies (from 10.1.2)

An IEEE OU must approve (e.g. Society, Section)

The financial sponsor must be explicitly identified

IEEE organizational unit may assist in publicity

OU should encourage members to submit papers, attend conference

TCS does not guarantee that the papers are eligible for inclusion in the IEEE Conference Publications Program (Xplore)

The IEEE name may not be used in the conference title

The IEEE brand & IEEE OU brand may be used

Provides the OU with exhibit booth, table etc., at not cost, to promote IEEE membership and activities during the conference

www.ieee.org/documents/ieee_policies.pdf

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TCS Branding Best Practices

The sponsoring institution is clearly identified

If the IEEE logo is used, the Technical Co-sponsoring OU is clearly identified next to it

Complies with IEEE branding guidelines

Chapters comply with Society/Council guidelines Typically the Chapter is identified next to the

S/C logo

The type of IEEE involvement (TCS) is identified

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TCS is for conferences organized by:

Other IEEE OUs

Other professional societies

Universities

Other non-profit entities

TCS may not be granted to for-profit organizers

Commercial entities can act as supporters, patrons and “sponsors*”

* Not the IEEE definition of sponsor

Sponsoring OU should have significant technical involvement

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What is the purpose of the Conference?

Is the primary purpose to make money?

Pay to publish scheme?

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Is it a Predatory Publisher?https://clinicallibrarian.wordpress.com/2017/01/23/bealls-list-of-predatory-publishers/

UC Denver’s Jeffery Beall maintained a list of Predatory Publishers

Beall’s list is no longer maintained (but is archived)

Carefully review sponsors. Understand who they are!

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Warning Signs Registration fees and fee structure

Authorship based fees

Unusually high fees

Participants = Authors

Fees submit a paper are the only fees

Physical participation is not required

But sometimes remote participation may be appropriate

Inadequate time to present a paper

15+ minutes for presentation plus Q&A

Provision to publish papers in organizer’s journal

Predatory journal?

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Due Diligence

Before and After Approving TCS

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Technical Co-Sponsorship

Evaluate prior years’ conferences

Ensure good technical quality Review process

Review Criteria – does it include originality?

Acceptance rate

Work with the organizers As the Technical Co-sponsor, be involved in the

technical program

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Key points

Does the conference serve your community?

Compliance with IEEE policies and best practices

Consider IEEE’s value and reputation

TCS Fee $1000 base charge plus $15/paper

Paid by the conference or the TCS sponsor

Building a Technical Program

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The Technical Program Chair

Essential to the whole endeavour

Eminence ≠ (necessarily) effectiveness

Hierarchy to share load (time management!)Also allows training/successionInstitutional memory – what works, what doesn’t

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The Technical Program Committee

Responsible for the technical program

Soliciting:

Technical papers; Keynotes; Panels

Workshops, industry events, etc.

Chaired by a TPC Chair or Chairs

Reviewing

TPC + team of creditable reviewers

International members

Review Requirements

Ideally 3 reviews per paper (monitor…)

Don’t overload the reviewers

Plagiarism checking (Use Cross-Check)

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Reviewing Writing and Content Quality

Main Criteria – Does the writing quality interfere with the ability to understand the technical content? While it may not be perfect English, it must be comprehensible!

Fraudulent content are seriously dealt with Plagiarism

Machine-generated papers

Contributions and Basic Scientific Paper Content Hypothesis What contributions has the paper made?

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Plagiarism Checking

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IEEE now requires plagiarism checking of technical content

Option of conducting the check At submission / After review / On final submission

Early use saves effort later in the system Warn authors/reviewers of other forms of unethical

conductMultiple submission to different conferences Re-publication (also known as self plagiarism)

Tool is NOT a replacement for effective peer review!

Non-Presented Papers Conferences aren’t just for publication – you need attendees!

Registration is only a small part of the total cost of attendance

Other attendees dislike cancelled papers promised to them in the programme

Conference organisers may choose to suppress non-presented papers from Xplore

It is an option, but it is recommended

If you do so, you must advise authors from the start (call for papers)

The following is a good form of words:

IEEE reserves the right to exclude a paper from distribution after the conference, including IEEE Xplore® Digital Library, if the paper is not presented [by the author] at the conference.

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Non-Presented PapersDifferent IEEE societies have different approachesSome require the presentation always to be by an authorSome allow medical exceptionsSome allow visa exceptions

You must have a fair, auditable process

Paper should be presented by someone familiar enough with the content to answer questionsDoesn’t really have to be an author for that criteria

Beware video presentations (even by attending authors!)They aren’t popular with attendees

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Final Step – Submission for Xplore

Should be completed within 30 days

Remove non-presented papers if needed

Remove out of scope papers if conference themes covered beyond IEEE Scope Only submit papers/sessions which are within IEEE Scopes

Double check on quality of papers

NOTE: It is not the TPIC’s role to provide a peer review Peer review is the conference’s responsibility

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Sponsorship & Engagement

Goal: Run High Quality Conferences!

Vet Conferences Carefully Before Granting TCS

Don’t Grant TCS and then ignore

Require and Maintain Direct and Substantial Involvement

Pay attention to inquiries from MCE Staff

Communicate with the sponsoring OU

Don’t promise that content will be included in Xplore®

Report any suspicious activities to conference-quality@ieee.org

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Lessons from China

Experience with Quality Issues

Rapid increase in volume

Associated issues as shown in previous slides

172 conference proceedings from 2009-2011 were

rejected for publication in Xplore

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IEEE Responses

New Conference Approval Policies

Joint Volunteer / Staff Team in Place

Hired Support Staff in Beijing Office

Tracking, Analyzing and Following Up on complaints

Screening 10% of Incoming Content

Coaching to Change Behavior

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What has been done?

Conference Anthology Project

Conference Organizer Leadership Training

Pre-screening project

Effort by Section leaders

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Conference Anthology Project

Goal: harvest good papers from rejected conferences and publish them in a unique, anthology-style “conference super-publication

Inspect 172 conference publications previously rejected for publication in Xplore,

Conference organizers given written criteria for scope and writing

Organizers re-screen individual papers

Technical Program Integrity Committee (TPIC) reviews re-submitted conference materials27

Pre-Screening Project

Start from August 2015, free service

Provide conference organizers an opportunity to have the peer reviewed and accepted papers of their conference screened prior to the conference to get an assessment of paper quality (written English) and scope.

Grades are provided as guidance for the conference organizer to evaluate each paper for the acceptability of the conference program

11 section sponsored conferences attended the project

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Effort by Section Leaders

Beijing Section Practice Established Conference Committee for reviewing

and supervision of conference quality Require approval document from local

government/leading organization Sign Chinese version MOU with Beijing Section Require approved conference to submit working

process report Set up black list for those who had bad history on

IEEE conference or in China academic area 29

Effort by Section Leaders

Harbin Section Practice Request "International Conference Review Record Form“ for more

information on the conference TPC

Background checking and communication with “Key Person”, normally the Conference chair/TPC chair

Provide good and bad paper samples for the organizer and to monitor the conference paper quality

Communication with organizer for TPQ, make sure organizers understand the key points of a Good Conference

Request at least 12 months preparation

Extra concern on language (e.g.. Randomly select accepted abstracts for language checking)

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Section Leaders Paying Attention To:

Background of Key Person: Conference chair, TPC Chair etc

Academic level of the sponsor organization

Conference scope

Number and quality of TPC member

History of the conference

Similar conference around the same time

Special person in TPC for language checking

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Significant Improvement 8 Total Conferences Rejected 2013

All Sponsored

9 Total Conferences Rejected 2014 8 Sponsored, 1 Non-Sponsored

4 Total Conferences Rejected 2015 2 Sponsored, 2 Non-sponsored

2 Total Conferences Rejected 2016 All Non-Sponsored

3 Total Conferences Rejected 2017 1 Sponsored, 2 Non-Sponsored

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Staff and Volunteers at MCE, Conference Committee, CQC, TPIC are

here to help

Helen Ma helen.ma@vip.163.comLance Fung L.Fung@murdoch.edu.au

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Useful Links

▸All Information: http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/organizers/index.html

▸ICX：http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/organizers/conf_app.html

▸Quick Links to Required Forms : http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/organizers/conference_organizer_quick_links.html

▸Conference Organizer Toolkit: http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/organizers/conference_organizer_toolkit.html

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Useful Tools

▸PDF eXpress

http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/publishing/pdfexpress.html

▸IEEE Copyright Form

http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/copyrightmain.html

▸CrossCheck

In 2012, the PSPB approved policy that requires all IEEE content to be screened for possible plagiarism

http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/crosscheckmain.html

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Questions?

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