special issue of A&C on VO

Fri Dec 13 11:01:31 PST 2013

Thanks, everyone, for the major increase in interest!

Attached is an Excel spreadsheet showing volunteers thus far.  This is way more than enough for a dedicated issue… I think we could fill two or perhaps three issues!

A few people wrote back asking about deadlines.  What we might do is group papers by when people think they can be ready.  For the first dedicated issue, I'd suggest a deadline of ~ April 1 for manuscripts.  If a manuscript is not ready, we'd move it to the next issue, with a deadline of ~ August 1.

There were also some questions raised about journal policies.  Here's the story (from "Why Publish in Astronomy and Computing?" on the journal website):

Why publish in Astronomy and Computing?
Astronomy and Computing (A&C) is a new journal bridging astronomy, computer science and information technology. Please see here the unique features of A&C

-        The board of Editors comprises of key people from the field, together covering the broad scope of the journal

-        The Scientific Advisory Board is consisting of senior and established people from the field, all contributing with their unique expertise to the journal

-        Authors are allowed to post a preprint version of their article on arXiv: http://www.elsevier.com/journal-authors/author-rights-and-responsibilities#author-posting

-        The journal does not have page charges

-        The journal is subscription based and modestly priced: http://store.elsevier.com/product.jsp?issn=22131337

-        Authors can publish Open Access by paying a flat fee of USD 2200 per article: http://www.elsevier.com/journals/astronomy-and-computing/2213-1337/open-access-optionshttp://www.elsevier.com/journals/astronomy-and-computing/2213-1337/open-access-options<http://www.elsevier.com/journals/astronomy-and-computing/2213-1337/open-access-optionshttp:/www.elsevier.com/journals/astronomy-and-computing/2213-1337/open-access-options>

-        Papers are published online with a definite Volume and page number almost immediately after they have been accepted

There were also some questions about whether A&C articles would have much visibility / impact.  Obviously, it is a new journal.  Papers published in the first issue are already started to be cited.  The editors are committed to publishing high quality papers, not just filling pages.

It's not too late for others of you to come forward!

I think the next step is for people to confirm if you can meet an April 1 deadline.  Please let me know.  Laurent, Petr, Enrique, and Jose Ruiz have already suggested this a a feasible for them.  And to firm up author lists.

Bob

From: "Robert J. Hanisch" <hanisch at stsci.edu<mailto:hanisch at stsci.edu>>
Date: Thursday, 12 December 2013 9:39 AM
To: "interop at ivoa.net<mailto:interop at ivoa.net>" <interop at ivoa.net<mailto:interop at ivoa.net>>
Subject: Re: special issue of A&C on VO

Reminder -- do please let me know if you are interested, or can have your arm twisted, to contribute a VO-related article.  So far I've heard from just five people.

Thanks,
Bob

From: "Robert J. Hanisch" <hanisch at stsci.edu<mailto:hanisch at stsci.edu>>
Date: Thursday, 5 December 2013 11:48 AM
To: "interop at ivoa.net<mailto:interop at ivoa.net>" <interop at ivoa.net<mailto:interop at ivoa.net>>
Subject: FW: special issue of A&C on VO

Dear IVOA colleagues,

  Following the recent IVOA and ADASS conferences in Hawaii I was approached by Astronomy and Computing about the idea of having an issue (or issues) dedicated to VO tools and technologies.  I put together a tentative list of articles and potential authors (neither is intended to be complete, but rather suggestive).

  A&C is indeed interested…the question is are we interested as members of the VO community in writing these papers?

  Given the number of potential topics and various schedule constraints people might have, we would not try to assemble everything into one issue.  Instead we would group articles either as they come in, or, if we could arrange it, on a topical basis (infrastructure vs. applications, say).

  I think there is significant value in our documenting the VO in formal way, in the peer-reviewed literature, and A&C seems an appropriate venue.

  Before we commit to this I'd be interested to hear from those of you interested in contributing a paper.  Again, topics and authors are not limited to those listed below!  And if you are interested, particularly in leading a paper, please let me know on what sort of time scale you think you could produce a manuscript.

Thanks,
Bob

p.s.  Full disclaimer:  I am on the A&C Scientific Advisory Board, as are several other IVOA colleagues (Andy Lawrence, Masatoshi Ohishi, Fabio Pasian, Ray Plante, Arnold Rots).  Several people with VO connections are also members of the editorial staff (Alberto Accomazzi, Tamas Budavari, Norman Gray, Gerard Lemson, Tara Murphy, Andreas Wicenec).

http://www.journals.elsevier.com/astronomy-and-computing/

From: "Robert J. Hanisch" <hanisch at stsci.edu<mailto:hanisch at stsci.edu>>
Date: Monday, 21 October 2013 1:05 PM
To: "Stoop, Jose (ELS-AMS)" <J.Stoop at elsevier.com<mailto:J.Stoop at elsevier.com>>
Subject: special issue of A&C on VO

From: <Stoop>, "Jose (ELS-AMS)" <J.Stoop at elsevier.com<mailto:J.Stoop at elsevier.com>>
Date: Friday, 18 October 2013 8:07 AM
To: "Robert J. Hanisch" <hanisch at stsci.edu<mailto:hanisch at stsci.edu>>
Subject: RE: Minutes A&C lunch meeting at ADASS

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your prompt response!

Re. VO issue: this idea was welcomed with enthusiasm within the board of Editors so I would be in support of setting this up. Would it be an idea for you to write down a short proposal containing the topics and potential authors of the issue? Am  I correct assuming you will the lead author for the VAO article? And would you be willing to act as Guest Editor for the entire issue? I think we want an Editor involved as well for each special issue but we can decide upon that later.

Overview/Introduction
o  Editorial:  myself, Francoise Genova, David Schade, etc.; basically the chair and past-chairs of the IVOA Executive.
o  IVOA organization and process (Christophe Arviset, Severin Gaudet)

Profiles of various VO projects
o  VAO; myself as lead author with senior members of the VAO project team
o  any others who choose to contribute

Key VO concepts and technologies
o  Resource discovery (Ray Plante, Gretchen Greene, Pierre le Sidaner)
o  Data discovery and access (Pat Dowler, Francois Bonnarel, Doug Tody)
o  Data models (Jesus Salgado, Omar Laurino, Mireille Louys)
o  Semantics (Norman Gray, Sebastien Derriere, Mireille Louys)
o  Theory and simulation (Franck le Petit, Rick Wagner, Gerard Lemson, Herve Wozniak)
o  Transient events and time series (Matthew Graham, Mike Fitzpatrick, John Swinbank, Roy Williams)
o  Distributed computational services (Andre Schaaff, Andreas Wicenec, Matthew Graham, Ray Plante)
o  Sky coverage specifications (Arnold Rots, Pierre Fernique, Gretchen Greene, Tamas Budavari)
o  VOTable (Francois Ochsenbein, Mark Taylor)

VO-enabled applications
o  TOPCAT (Mark Taylor)
o  SAMP (Mark Taylor. Tomas Boch)
o  Iris (Janet Evans, Stephen Doe, Ivo Busko. Omar Laurino)
o  VOSpec (Pedro Osuna, Jesus Salgado)
o  VOSA (Enrique Solano et al.)
o  Data Discovery Tool (Tom Donaldson, Tom McGlynn)
o  WWT (Jonathan Fay)
o  Others…

In all cases I would be looking for articles that are more than just "this is what we did."  Of more interest is the "how" and "why".  How does the VO work?  Why were the choices made the way they were?

If everyone above agreed to participate it would be a massive issue!  But extremely useful, I think!

The author lists are suggestive, not exhaustive.

See what the editors think, José.

cheers,
Bob

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