Journal Guide

The scope of the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing (JSTSP) is the Field of Interest of the IEEE Signal Processing Society: “The theory and application of filtering, coding, transmitting, estimating, detecting, analyzing, recognizing, synthesizing, recording, and reproducing signals by digital or analog devices or techniques. The term “signal” includes audio, video, speech, image, communication, geophysical, sonar, radar, medical, musical, and other signals.” The format of the journal allows the exploration, in depth, of a signal processing topic. This format allows the Society to not only provide issues on more mature signal processing topical areas, but also to explore new areas, particularly those at the nexus of other engineering disciplines that are dependent upon signal processing (e.g., biomedical engineering; language), as well as those not traditionally part of the engineering landscape (e.g., genetics; security; atmospheric prediction).

Additional Information
The Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing (J-STSP) solicits special issues on topics that cover the entire scope of the IEEE Signal Processing Society, as outlined in the SPS Constitution, Article II.

J-STSP only publishes papers that are submitted in response to a specific Call-for-Papers. These calls are listed on the JSTSP Upcoming Special Issues website, and instructions for submitting papers to a particular special issue can be found on the JSTSP Information for Authors webpage. The procedure for preparing and submitting a proposal for a special issue can be found on the Submitting a Proposal webpage. All special issue proposals are evaluated by our Senior Editorial Board for relevance, timeliness, technical merit, impact, and general interest to the Society.

Reproducible Research
The Transactions encourages authors to make their publications reproducible by making all information needed to reproduce the presented results available online. This typically requires publishing the code and data used to produce the publication's figures and tables on a website; see the supplemental materials section of the information for authors. It gives other researchers easier access to the work, and facilitates fair comparisons.

Supplementary Material
It is now possible to submit for review and publish in IEEE Xplore supporting supplementary material including Multimedia content such as speech samples, images, movies, code etc. A multimedia graphical abstract can also be displayed along with the traditional text. More information is available under Preparing Supplementary Materials at the IEEE Author Center.

Multi-disciplinary research in solid-state circuits using exploratory materials and devices for novel energy efficient computation beyond standard CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) technology. Focus is on the exploration of materials, devices and computation circuits to enable Moore’s Law to continue for computation beyond a 10 to 15 year horizon (beyond end of the roadmap for CMOS technologies) with the associated density scaling and improvement in energy efficiency. Examples of appropriate topics are research milestones in the integration of materials, devices and computation circuits based upon any of the following: Quantum electronic devices (e.g. tunneling), Spintronics and nanomagnetics, Straintronics (piezo-electric devices), Plasmonics, Functional materials, High fan-in, fan- out logic circuits, Reconfigurable and non-volatile computational circuits, Computational circuits comprehending the on-chip communication means.

Each issue of the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (JSAC) is devoted to a specific technical topic and thus provides to JSAC readers a collection of up-to-date papers on that topic. These issues are valuable to the research community and become valuable references. The technical topics covered by JSAC issues span the entire field of communications and networking. JSAC publishes only papers that are submitted in response to a Call-for-Papers. These calls are published in JSAC issues and other publications of the IEEE Communications Society as appropriate to the subject area of the call. Papers submitted for review for possible publication in a JSAC issue must be submitted to one of the Guest Editors listed in the Call-for-Papers. See "Information for Authors" found in any JSAC issue for additional instructions. Topics for JSAC issues are determined by the JSAC Editorial Board after review of proposals submitted by interested parties. All are invited to submit proposals. Instructions for submitting proposals are included in the Guidelines for Proposal preparation on the JSAC website. Recent issue themes included: Network Coding for Wireless Communication Networks, Wireless and Pervasive Communications for Healthcare, Network Infrastructure Configuration, Broadband Access Networks: Architectures and Protocols, Body Area Networking: Technology and Applications, Underwater Wireless Communication Networks, Game Theory in Communication Systems, Exploiting Limited Feedback in Tomorrow’s Communication Networks.

IEEE Latin America Transactions (IEEE LATAM) is an interdisciplinary journal focused on the dissemination of original and quality research papers / review articles in Spanish and Portuguese of emerging topics in three main areas: Computing, Electric Energy and Electronics. Some of the sub-areas of the journal are, but not limited to: Automatic control, communications, instrumentation, artificial intelligence, power and industrial electronics, fault diagnosis and detection, transportation electrification, internet of things, electrical machines, circuits and systems, biomedicine and biomedical / haptic applications, secure communications, robotics, sensors and actuators, computer networks, smart grids, among others.

IEEE Micro addresses users and designers of microprocessors and microprocessor systems, including managers, engineers, consultants, educators, and students involved with computers and peripherals, components and subassemblies, communications, instrumentation and control equipment, and guidance systems. Contributions should relate to the design, performance, or application of microprocessors and microcomputers. Tutorials, review papers, and discussions are also welcome. Sample topic areas include architecture, communications, data acquisition, control, hardware and software design/implementation, algorithms (including program listings), digital signal processing, microprocessor support hardware, operating systems, computer aided design, languages, application software, and development systems.

IEEE MultiMedia contains technical information covering a broad range of issues in multimedia systems and applications. Articles discuss research as well as advanced practice in hardware/software and are expected to span the range from theory to working systems. Especially encouraged are papers discussing experiences with new or advanced systems and subsystems. To avoid unnecessary overlap with existing publications, acceptable papers must have a significant focus on aspects unique to multimedia systems and applications. These aspects are likely to be related to the special needs of multimedia information compared to other electronic data, for example, the size requirements of digital media and the importance of time in the representation of such media. The following list is not exhaustive, but is representative of the topics that are covered: Hardware and software for media compression, coding & processing; Media representations & standards for storage, editing, interchange, transmission & presentation; Hardware platforms supporting multimedia applications; Operating systems suitable for multimedia applications; Storage devices & technologies for multimedia information; Network technologies, protocols, architectures & delivery techniques intended for multimedia; Synchronization issues; Multimedia databases; Formalisms for multimedia information systems & applications; Programming paradigms & languages for multimedia; Multimedia user interfaces; Media creation integration editing & management; Creation & modification of multimedia applications. The primary goal of the magazine is to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners to present new findings and discuss experiences with multimedia systems and applications. In addition, the magazine keeps readers informed of the state of the art in the multimedia arena, including technical trends and research directions.

As currently defined, IEEE Network covers the following areas: 1. network protocols and architectures, 2. Protocol design and validation, 3. Communication software and its development and test, 4. Network control and signalling, 5. network management, 6. Practical network implementations including local area networks, (LANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs), and wide area networks, (WANs), 7. Switching and processing in integrated (voice/data) networks and network components, 8. Micro-to-host communication.

IEEE Pervasive Computing explores the role of computing in the physical world–as characterized by visions such as the Internet of Things and Ubiquitous Computing. Designed for researchers, practitioners, and educators, this publication acts as a catalyst for realizing the ideas described by Mark Weiser in 1988. The essence of this vision is the creation of environments saturated with sensing, computing, and wireless communication that gracefully support the needs of individuals and society. Many key building blocks for this vision are now viable commercial technologies: wearable and handheld computers, wireless networking, location sensing, Internet of Things platforms, and so on. However, the vision continues to present deep challenges for experts in areas such as hardware design, sensor networks, mobile systems, human-computer interaction, industrial design, machine learning, data science, and societal issues including privacy and ethics. Through special issues, the magazine explores applications in areas such as assisted living, automotive systems, cognitive assistance, hardware innovations, ICT4D, manufacturing, retail, smart cities, and sustainability. In addition, the magazine accepts peer-reviewed papers of wide interest under a general call, and also features regular columns on hot topics and interviews with luminaries in the field.

IEEE-RITA covers technological applications and research in education including design and research in new learning tools that focus on teaching and learning. The scope includes learning applications, methods, materials and new experiences as they relate to engineering learning. The journal maintains a consistent focus on the IEEE environment inside Electrical Engineering, Electronic Technology, Telecommunications and Computer Science. Main areas include technological applications and research in Education covering the design and research in new learning tools, techniques and materials that focus on teaching and learning as well as learning applications, methods and materials and new experiences of engineering learning, always focusing on the teaching/learning of the IEEE fields inside Electrical Engineering, Electronic Technology, Telecommunications and Computer Science and Engineering.

The IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L) publishes peer-reviewed articles that provide a timely and concise account of innovative research ideas and application results, reporting significant theoretical findings and application case studies in areas of robotics and automation.

IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine is a unique technology publication which is peer-reviewed, readable and substantive.  The Magazine is a forum for articles which fall between the academic and theoretical orientation of scholarly journals and vendor sponsored trade publications.  IEEE Transactions on Robotics and IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering publish advances in theory and experiment that underpin the science of robotics and automation.  The Magazine complements these publications and seeks to present new scientific results to the practicing engineer through a focus on working systems and emphasizing creative solutions to real-world problems and highlighting implementation details. The Magazine publishes regular technical articles that undergo a peer review process overseen by the Magazine's associate editors; special issues on important and emerging topics in which all articles are fully reviewed but managed by guest editors; tutorial articles written by leading experts in their field; and regular columns on topics including education, industry news, IEEE RAS news, technical and regional activity and a calendar of events.

IEEE Security & Privacy’s primary objective is to stimulate and track advances in security, privacy, and dependability and present these advances in a form that can be useful to a broad cross-section of the professional community—ranging from academic researchers to industry practitioners. It provides articles with both a practical and research bent by the top thinkers in the field of security and privacy, along with case studies, surveys, tutorials, columns, and in-depth interviews and podcasts for the information security industry.

Through special issues, the magazine explores other timely aspects of privacy in areas such as usable security, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, cryptography, and big data. Other popular topics include software, hardware, network, and systems security, privacy-enhancing technologies, data analytics for security and privacy, wireless/mobile and embedded security, security foundations, security economics, privacy policies, integrated design methods, sociotechnical aspects, and critical infrastructure. In addition, the magazine accepts peer-reviewed articles of wide interest under a general call, and also features regular columns on hot topics and interviews with luminaries in the field.

The IEEE Signal Processing Letters is a monthly, archival publication designed to provide rapid dissemination of original, cutting-edge ideas and timely, significant contributions in signal, image, speech, language and audio processing.

IEEE Signal Processing Magazine publishes tutorial-style articles on signal processing research and applications, as well as columns and forums on issues of interest. Its coverage ranges from fundamental principles to practical implementation, reflecting the multidimensional facets of interests and concerns of the community. Its mission is to bring up-to-date, emerging and active technical developments, issues, and events to the research, educational, and professional communities. It is also the main society communication platform addressing important issues concerning all members.

IEEE Software delivers reliable, useful, leading-edge software development information to keep engineers and managers abreast of rapid technology change. Its mission is to build the community of leading software practitioners. The authority on translating software theory into practice, this magazine positions itself between pure research and pure practice, transferring ideas, methods, and experiences among researchers and engineers. Peerreviewed articles and columns by seasoned practitioners illuminate all aspects of the industry, including process improvement, project management, development tools, software maintenance, Web applications and opportunities, testing, and usability. The magazine's readers specify, design, document, test, maintain, purchase, engineer, sell, teach, research, and manage the production of software or systems that include software. IEEE Software welcomes articles describing how software is developed in specific companies, laboratories, and university environments as well as articles describing new tools, current trends, and past projects' limitations and failures as well as successes. Sample topics include geographically distributed development; software architectures; program and system debugging and testing; the education of software professionals; requirements, design, development, testing, and management methodologies; performance measurement and evaluation; standards; program and system reliability, security, and verification; programming environments; languages and language-related issues; Web-based development; usability; and software-related social and legal issues.

This publication provides a systems-level, focused forum for application-oriented manuscripts that address complex systems and system-of-systems of national and global significance. It intends to encourage and facilitate cooperation and interaction among IEEE Societies with systems-level and systems engineering interest, and to attract non-IEEE contributors and readers from around the globe. Our IEEE Systems Council job is to address issues in new ways that are not solvable in the domains of the existing IEEE or other societies or global organizations. These problems do not fit within traditional hierarchical boundaries. For example, disaster response such as that triggered by Hurricane Katrina, tsunamis, or current volcanic eruptions is not solvable by pure engineering solutions. We need to think about changing and enlarging the paradigm to include systems issues.

The IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing is a cross-disciplinary and international archive journal aimed at disseminating results of research on the design of systems that can recognize, interpret, and simulate human emotions and related affective phenomena. The journal publishes original research on the principles and theories explaining why and how affective factors condition interaction between humans and technology, on how affective sensing and simulation techniques can inform our understanding of human affective processes, and on the design, implementation and evaluation of systems that carefully consider affect among the factors that influence their usability. Surveys of existing work are considered for publication when they propose a new viewpoint on the history and the perspective on this domain. The journal covers but is not limited to the following topics::

• Sensing & analysis: Algorithms and features for the recognition of affective state from face and body gestures
• Analysis of text and spoken language for emotion recognition
• Analysis of prosody and voice quality of affective speech
• Recognition of auditory and visual affect bursts
• Recognition of affective state from central (e.g. fMRI, EEG) and peripheral (e.g. GSR) physiological measures
• Methods for multi-modal recognition of affective state
• Recognition of group emotion
• Methods of data collection with respect to psychological issues as mood induction and elicitation or technical methodology as motion capturing
• Tools and methods of annotation for provision of emotional corpora. (Cyber) psychology & behavior: Clarification of concepts related to ‘affective computing’ (e.g., emotion, mood, personality, attitude) in ways that facilitate their use in computing
• Computational models of human emotion processes (e.g., decision-making models that account for the influence of emotion; predictive models of user emotional state)
• Studies on cross-cultural, group and cross-language differences in emotional expression
• Contributions to standards and markup language for affective computing. Behavior Generation & User Interaction: Computational models of visual, acoustic and textual emotional expression for synthetic and robotic agents
• Models of verbal and nonverbal expression of various forms of affect that facilitate machine implementation
• Methods to adapt interaction with technology to the affective state of users
• Computational methods for influencing the emotional state of people
• New methods for defining and evaluating the usability of affective systems and the role of affect in usability
• Methods of emotional profiling and adaptation in mid- to long-term interaction
• Application of affective computing including education, health care, entertainment, customer service, design, vehicle operation, social agents/robotics, affective ambient intelligence, customer experience measurement, multimedia retrieval, surveillance systems, biometrics, music retrieval and generation

In the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, the IEEE Control Systems Society publishes high-quality papers on the theory, design, and applications of control engineering.  Two types of contributions are regularly considered:
1) Papers:  Presentation of significant research, development, or application of control concepts.
2) Technical Notes and Correspondence:  Brief technical notes, comments on published areas or established control topics, corrections to papers and notes published in the Transactions.
In addition, special papers (tutorials, surveys, and perspectives on the theory and applications of control systems topics) are solicited.

The IEEE Transactions on Big Data publishes peer reviewed articles with big data as the main focus. The articles will provide cross disciplinary innovative research ideas and applications results for big data including novel theory, algorithms and applications. Research areas for big data include, but are not restricted to, big data analytics, big data visualization, big data curation and management, big data semantics, big data infrastructure, big data standards, big data performance analyses, intelligence from big data, scientific discovery from big data security, privacy, and legal issues specific to big data. Applications of big data in the fields of endeavor where massive data is generated are of particular interest.