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On to new horizons
Automatica, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 587-588, 1993 Printedin GreatBritain.
0005-1098193$6.00+ 0.00 © 1993PergamonPressLtd
Editorial
On to New Horizons
OVER A YEAR AGO, in the March 1992 Editorial, it was noted that the number of papers submitted for formal review and possible publication had continued to grow larger. Since that time readers of Automatica may have noted the result of this growth: several oversized issues have been published to accommodate the increase. In fact, last year, 1992, the growth was even greater: 28% over 1991 in contrast to the 13% increase from 1990 to 1991. Consequently, as reported earlier, new, knowledgeable, active Editors and Associate Editors have been added to the Automatica Editorial Staff to evaluate the increasing number of papers especially in new fields of automatic control. The growing number of incoming papers has resulted in more pages being published each year. However, there will be even more incoming papers and more Special Issues as a result of Deputy Editor-in-Chief Huibert Kwakernaak's role of providing liaison with IFAC meeting organizers and editors. The results of his efforts are already beginning; more published pages than in previous years will be needed. Because the required number of pages per issue has increased, the number of pages published per issue is becoming unwieldly. Therefore, careful consideration is being given to publishing Automatica monthly in the near future. In this year of the IFAC World Congress where advanced developments in control technology are presented and discussed for future progress, and new officers are chosen to direct IFAC forward in the coming years, it seems appropriate to announce changes in Automatica, the flagship IFAC Journal. Indeed, Automatica has grown greatly in size and scope during its 25 years of existence as the IFAC Journal. Now that it is firmly established, it is time to go on to new horizons and new directions. The change to monthly publication will allow more papers to be published per year with less publication delay especially when a Special Issue is published. In addition, there will be more Special Issues and Survey, Review, and Tutorial papers obtained from closer working relationships with IFAC Technical Committees. Another change is being instigated with Book Reviews. The present efforts to obtain excellent reviews of new books related to control technology will be increased to include reviews of forthcoming software related to control system design. These reviews will be based on trial use, and evaluation, of the software, by qualified reviewers, with respect to that already available and used by them. This expanded book review service will be directed by a new Book Review Editor:
Editor working with Prof. Larsen assisting him in obtaining Book Reviews and establishing procedures for obtaining meaningful, useful software reviews. Of course the Editorial Board and especially the Editor-in-Chief are extremely grateful for the reliable and considerable effort that Prof. Larsen has expended over the many years he has served to provide a continuing supply of outstanding, interesting book reviews. Thus with an expanded journal, new features, and increasing service, Automatica will go on to new horizons, and it will be directed by a new Editor-in-Chief, presently active and providing new directions himself in the field of automatic control: the present Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Huibert Kwakernaak. He will replace the present Editor-inChief, G. S. Axelby, who will retire from this position at the end of 1993. Therefore, effective on and after 1 July 1993, authors of new papers to be evaluated for possible publication in Automatica should send five copies of the manuscripts to an appropriate Editor as before, but one copy must be sent to the incoming Editor-in-Chief, Huibert Kwakernaak, along with a copy of the cover letter sent to the Editor. This transition of position has been under way for more than a year. It began when Huibert Kwakernaak, as Automatica Deputy Editor-in-Chief, was designated to be the Liason Officer with IFAC Meeting Organizers to assist them in selecting appropriate meeting papers for further review and possible publication in Automatica. As previously announced, he has also been serving as an Advisory Editor to help Guest Editors of Special Issues establish publication schedules and guidelines and to assist them in preparing the issues for publication according to Automatica standards. His efforts have paved the way for expanding Automatica to new horizons. Meanwhile, the other Automatica Editors, K. J. /~str6m, W. S..Levine, A. P. Sage, T. Ba§ar, C. C. Hang, T. S6derstr6m, and Y. Arkun will continue their efforts to obtain and to evaluate significant contributions in their respective areas of interest. Again, all of them, including retiring Editors P. C. Parks, H. Austin Spang III, and P. M. Larsen, are to be congratulated on the excellent work they have done and the results they have achieved. To make the editorial efforts of the Editors and the new Editor-in-Chief more efficient and rapid, the following directions for authors are repeated below. Authors submitting papers for possible publication in Automatica should always do the following: (a) prepare their papers in the format described on the inside back cover of Automatica, (b) designate only one author to correspond with the Editor to whom five (or preferably six for more rapid evaluation) copies of their papers are sent for evaluation, (c) send the Editor-in-Chief a copy of the paper and a copy of the letter sent to the Editor, and (d) send the Fax number, the telephone number, and the e-mail address, if available, of the one corresponding author to the Editor and to the Editor-in-Chief for rapid communication in case questions about the paper arise. Items (b), (c), and (d) are particularly important to avoid confusion and delay in processing submitted papers and tracking the progress of the reviews. It should be noted that the Fax and e-mail numbers, if available, are now being published in the first page footnotes of each paper. As another reminder, it should be emphasized that to be considered for publication in Automatica, the paper must be sent to an Editor whether or not it is also submitted to an IFAC meeting. Copies of an IFAC meeting paper can be
Dr David Limebeer, Imperial College, Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Process Systems Engineering, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2BY, U.K. He will replace Prof. P. M. Larsen who will be retiring from this position in 1993. Therefore, effective immediately on and after 1 July 1993 any information related to Book Reviews, including suggestions for new books or software to be reviewed or persons who would like to review either, should be sent directly to Dr Limebeer. Actually this transition of position has been under way for nearly two years since Dr Limebeer became an Associate 587
588
Editorial
sent to an appropriate Automatica Editor any time before or after an IFAC meeting is held, with or without a recommendation from the meeting organizers. Also one copy should he sent to the Editor-in-Chief, Huibert Kwakernaak, as previously mentioned, to be recorded in a central, global file which is used for monitoring the progress of the evaluation procedures. As the Editors change so does the list of Associate Editors. The Automatica Editorial Board, including the Editor-in-Chief in particular, are deeply grateful for the outstanding and essential service which they and their referees provide.
By proceeding on to new horizons, Automatica will be better prepared to meet future developments in the field of automatic control and thereby enhance our goal of providing increased service to IFAC and advanced technology to the international control community. The forthcoming 1993 November issue will be the 150th issue of Autornatica since it became the IFAC Journal. It will contain an Editorial which will include more about the past and future developments of IFAC and Automatica. George S. Axelby Editor-in-Chief A utomatica
0005-1098193$6.00+ 0.00 © 1993PergamonPressLtd
Editorial
On to New Horizons
OVER A YEAR AGO, in the March 1992 Editorial, it was noted that the number of papers submitted for formal review and possible publication had continued to grow larger. Since that time readers of Automatica may have noted the result of this growth: several oversized issues have been published to accommodate the increase. In fact, last year, 1992, the growth was even greater: 28% over 1991 in contrast to the 13% increase from 1990 to 1991. Consequently, as reported earlier, new, knowledgeable, active Editors and Associate Editors have been added to the Automatica Editorial Staff to evaluate the increasing number of papers especially in new fields of automatic control. The growing number of incoming papers has resulted in more pages being published each year. However, there will be even more incoming papers and more Special Issues as a result of Deputy Editor-in-Chief Huibert Kwakernaak's role of providing liaison with IFAC meeting organizers and editors. The results of his efforts are already beginning; more published pages than in previous years will be needed. Because the required number of pages per issue has increased, the number of pages published per issue is becoming unwieldly. Therefore, careful consideration is being given to publishing Automatica monthly in the near future. In this year of the IFAC World Congress where advanced developments in control technology are presented and discussed for future progress, and new officers are chosen to direct IFAC forward in the coming years, it seems appropriate to announce changes in Automatica, the flagship IFAC Journal. Indeed, Automatica has grown greatly in size and scope during its 25 years of existence as the IFAC Journal. Now that it is firmly established, it is time to go on to new horizons and new directions. The change to monthly publication will allow more papers to be published per year with less publication delay especially when a Special Issue is published. In addition, there will be more Special Issues and Survey, Review, and Tutorial papers obtained from closer working relationships with IFAC Technical Committees. Another change is being instigated with Book Reviews. The present efforts to obtain excellent reviews of new books related to control technology will be increased to include reviews of forthcoming software related to control system design. These reviews will be based on trial use, and evaluation, of the software, by qualified reviewers, with respect to that already available and used by them. This expanded book review service will be directed by a new Book Review Editor:
Editor working with Prof. Larsen assisting him in obtaining Book Reviews and establishing procedures for obtaining meaningful, useful software reviews. Of course the Editorial Board and especially the Editor-in-Chief are extremely grateful for the reliable and considerable effort that Prof. Larsen has expended over the many years he has served to provide a continuing supply of outstanding, interesting book reviews. Thus with an expanded journal, new features, and increasing service, Automatica will go on to new horizons, and it will be directed by a new Editor-in-Chief, presently active and providing new directions himself in the field of automatic control: the present Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Huibert Kwakernaak. He will replace the present Editor-inChief, G. S. Axelby, who will retire from this position at the end of 1993. Therefore, effective on and after 1 July 1993, authors of new papers to be evaluated for possible publication in Automatica should send five copies of the manuscripts to an appropriate Editor as before, but one copy must be sent to the incoming Editor-in-Chief, Huibert Kwakernaak, along with a copy of the cover letter sent to the Editor. This transition of position has been under way for more than a year. It began when Huibert Kwakernaak, as Automatica Deputy Editor-in-Chief, was designated to be the Liason Officer with IFAC Meeting Organizers to assist them in selecting appropriate meeting papers for further review and possible publication in Automatica. As previously announced, he has also been serving as an Advisory Editor to help Guest Editors of Special Issues establish publication schedules and guidelines and to assist them in preparing the issues for publication according to Automatica standards. His efforts have paved the way for expanding Automatica to new horizons. Meanwhile, the other Automatica Editors, K. J. /~str6m, W. S..Levine, A. P. Sage, T. Ba§ar, C. C. Hang, T. S6derstr6m, and Y. Arkun will continue their efforts to obtain and to evaluate significant contributions in their respective areas of interest. Again, all of them, including retiring Editors P. C. Parks, H. Austin Spang III, and P. M. Larsen, are to be congratulated on the excellent work they have done and the results they have achieved. To make the editorial efforts of the Editors and the new Editor-in-Chief more efficient and rapid, the following directions for authors are repeated below. Authors submitting papers for possible publication in Automatica should always do the following: (a) prepare their papers in the format described on the inside back cover of Automatica, (b) designate only one author to correspond with the Editor to whom five (or preferably six for more rapid evaluation) copies of their papers are sent for evaluation, (c) send the Editor-in-Chief a copy of the paper and a copy of the letter sent to the Editor, and (d) send the Fax number, the telephone number, and the e-mail address, if available, of the one corresponding author to the Editor and to the Editor-in-Chief for rapid communication in case questions about the paper arise. Items (b), (c), and (d) are particularly important to avoid confusion and delay in processing submitted papers and tracking the progress of the reviews. It should be noted that the Fax and e-mail numbers, if available, are now being published in the first page footnotes of each paper. As another reminder, it should be emphasized that to be considered for publication in Automatica, the paper must be sent to an Editor whether or not it is also submitted to an IFAC meeting. Copies of an IFAC meeting paper can be
Dr David Limebeer, Imperial College, Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Process Systems Engineering, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2BY, U.K. He will replace Prof. P. M. Larsen who will be retiring from this position in 1993. Therefore, effective immediately on and after 1 July 1993 any information related to Book Reviews, including suggestions for new books or software to be reviewed or persons who would like to review either, should be sent directly to Dr Limebeer. Actually this transition of position has been under way for nearly two years since Dr Limebeer became an Associate 587
588
Editorial
sent to an appropriate Automatica Editor any time before or after an IFAC meeting is held, with or without a recommendation from the meeting organizers. Also one copy should he sent to the Editor-in-Chief, Huibert Kwakernaak, as previously mentioned, to be recorded in a central, global file which is used for monitoring the progress of the evaluation procedures. As the Editors change so does the list of Associate Editors. The Automatica Editorial Board, including the Editor-in-Chief in particular, are deeply grateful for the outstanding and essential service which they and their referees provide.
By proceeding on to new horizons, Automatica will be better prepared to meet future developments in the field of automatic control and thereby enhance our goal of providing increased service to IFAC and advanced technology to the international control community. The forthcoming 1993 November issue will be the 150th issue of Autornatica since it became the IFAC Journal. It will contain an Editorial which will include more about the past and future developments of IFAC and Automatica. George S. Axelby Editor-in-Chief A utomatica