Mathematical Programming, Series B

Policies and Procedures for the Journal

December 2003

Each number of Mathematical Programming, Series B (MPB) takes the form
of a "special issue" associated with a particular topic or event, such
as a workshop or conference. Most such issues have guest editors,
appointed by the editor in chief (EIC), who may or may not be
associate editors of MPB. Topics for special issues can be proposed by
any member of the optimization community. 

Associate editors (AEs) of MPB have a special responsibility to
propose suitable topics and to identify individuals who would be able
to guest-edit issues on those topics.

A summary of procedures and policies for MPB follows.

1) Guest editors will draft a "call for papers" for their special
   issue, in consultation with the EIC and possibly AEs. The call
   defines the scope of the issue, gives a deadline for submissions to
   the issue, and gives a target date for completion of the first
   round of reviews. This call will be publicized through
   optimization-related mailing lists, MPS publications, and personal
   communication, and will be posted on the Web.

2) Guest editors will handle submissions for the special issue. They
   will accept submissions and revisions, assign referees, correspond
   with authors and referees, and ultimately make a determination
   about whether the paper should be accepted or rejected. In the case
   of rejection, their decision is final and should be communicated to
   the author(s) directly. If they determined that a paper is
   acceptable, they will send the paper and associated correspondence
   to the EIC along with their recommendation to accept. They should
   also notify the author(s) of their recommendation to accept.

3) Each submitted paper will generally be refereed by at least two
   people.

4) Where possible, correspondence between the guest editors and
   authors and referees should be by email. The EIC will arrange for
   editorial assistance in these matters should the guest editors
   require it.

5) Guest editors should coordinate the handling of submissions so as
   to spread the workload between themselves and to avoid overloading
   any individual referees. The form of coordination is flexible, but
   should include the maintenance of a simple database with an entry
   for each submission indicating date of receipt, referees, dates of
   major revisions, dates of acceptance, and current status of the
   submission. The EIC will arrange for editorial assistance to
   maintain this database, should the guest editors require it.

6) Editorial standards should be the same as those used for
   Mathematical Programming, Series A (MPA). Maintaining the quality
   of the journal is of the highest importance.

7) Upon receiving a recommendation to accept from the guest editors,
   the EIC will make the final determination on acceptability. This
   decision will normally be in accord with the recommendation of the
   guest editors.

8) Acceptance of papers for special issues of MPB are conditional on
   the viability of the issue. "Viability" is defined as a page count
   of at least 128 pages. Once the page count of accepted papers
   reaches this threshold, all past and future acceptances for this
   issue become unconditional. In the event that acceptances for an
   issue exceed the capacity of a single issue, a double issue or
   triple issue will be published.

9) Should an issue not reach viability, any papers that have been
   conditionally accepted for that issue will, with the consent of the
   authors, be forwarded to the EIC of MPA. All referee reports and
   correspondence related to these papers will also be forwarded. Such
   papers may undergo further review at MPA; in this case, the review
   process will be expedited to the extent possible. The EIC of MPA
   will make the final determination as to acceptability of these
   papers for MPA.
   
10) Any submissions that are accepted for an issue of MPB but which do
   not appear in that issue (usually through failure to meet the
   deadline for submission of the final revision) will also, with the
   consent of the authors, be forwarded to the EIC of MPA, and will be
   subjected to the procedure outlined in (9).