Mathematical Programming, Series B

Policies and Procedures

December 2004

Steve Wright, EIC

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.

1a) 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, and gives a
target date for completion of the first round of reviews.

1b) In most cases, this call will be publicized through
optimization-related mailing lists, MPS publications, and personal
communication with prospective authors, and will be posted on the
Web. When the issue is associated with a workshop or conference,
submissions may be restricted to participants in the event and their
coauthors.

2) Guest editors will handle submissions for the special issue. They
will accept submissions and revisions, assign referees, and correspond
with authors and referees. If they determine that a paper should be
rejected, their decision is final and should be communicated to the
author(s) directly. If they determined that a paper is acceptable,
they send the paper and associated correspondence to the EIC, along
with 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 avoid overloading any editor or referee. 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 and will normally be communicated quickly by the EIC to
the guest editor. At this point, the guest editor should notify the
author(s) of acceptance.

8) Acceptance of papers for special issues of MPB are conditional on
the viability of the issue. "Viability" is currently defined as a page
count of at least 128. 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 multiple 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, along with referee reports
and all relevant correspondence. 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 a revision) will, with the consent of the authors,
be forwarded to the EIC of MPA, and will be subjected to the procedure
outlined in (9).