Publications Board and Committees

The Publications Board is responsible for maintaining ACM’s position as the preferred publisher in computing. The Board also envisions ACM as the principal curator of publication data for the field.

To achieve its goals as a publisher, the Board is committed to (a) maintaining ACM as a brand of quality, (b) providing appropriate and low-cost venues, including journals, proceedings, magazines, and books for the publication of the best content in all areas of computing, and (c) developing sustainable business models for the continued distribution of ACM Publications.

To achieve its goals as a curator, the Board is committed to (a) developing a comprehensive bibliographic database for quality publications within the field of computing, (b) developing useful services around this data, and (c) developing sustainable models for the continued distribution of ACMs curated content and services.

The Publications Board has a three-pronged approach to achieve these overall goals:

1. Aggressively developing the highest-quality content within the ACM Digital Library (DL)
2. Ensuring comprehensive coverage of top-tier non-ACM publications in ACM’s Guide to Computing Literature
3. Providing the best possible experience for authors and readers

Ethics & Plagiarism Committee
The members of the Ethics & Plagiarism Committee are responsible for overseeing all plagiarism cases and issues dealing with professional ethics in publishing.  The members of this committee have a vast knowledge of legal and ethical publishing issues and policies, and work closely with ACM Headquarters Staff, as well as calling on domain experts as needed in individual cases.  In addition, members of this committee consult with the ACM Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE) for relevant cases.

Chair: Eugene Spafford

Members: Jenny Waycott, Andrew Adams, Joe Konstan, Julie Williamson, Michael S. Kirkpatrick, Simson Garfinkel, Diana Kelley, Jack W. Davidson, Scott E. Delman, Barbara Ryan

Digital Library & Technology Committee
The members of the Digital Library Committee are responsible for setting the overall strategic direction for the Digital Library publishing platform, including its functionalities and services. The Committee reviews and evaluates all services offered by ACM in the context of competing and complimentary primary and secondary online resources. This committee works closely with the technical and publishing staff.

The members of the Technology Committee focus on how to provide services that have been deemed necessary by the Digital Library Committee.  The members of this committee have a deep knowledge of technology initially used by authors in publication content preparation.  This committee evaluates and recommends various services and support for authors such as ACM-supported authoring templates and advanced authoring tools that support multimedia embedding and mobile-friendly output formats; strategies and standards for describing, storing, citing and preserving data and software; ways to enable and enhance accessibility; and ways to reduce “pain-points” for authors.  The Technology Committee recommends  any major changes in production infrastructure or adoption of new standards. 

Digital Library & Technology Committee Chair: Michael Nelson and Ed Fox

Digital Library & Technology Committee Members: Dina Papgiannaki, Jack Davidson, Stephen Spencer, Phoebe Ayers, Wayne Graves, Scott E. Delman, Craig Rodkin

Assessment & Search Committee
The members of the Assessment & Search Committee are responsible for evaluating ACM’s existing journals portfolio. They bring recommendations for editorial scope change or cancellation of an existing publication to the Publications Board for decision.  Such evaluations are conducted prior to each search for a new Editor-in-Chief. The journals are assessed according to quantitative usage, performance and management metrics as well as qualitative feedback from the communities served by the publication. 

This Committee is tasked with the evaluation of EICs seeking second term re-appointments and with guiding the ad hoc sub-committees it creates to search for new Editors-in-Chief. 

Co-Chairs: Chris Hankin and Divesh Srivastava

Members: Adrian Scoica, Holly Rushmeier, Josh Tenenberg, Jack Davidson, Joe Konstan, Laura Lander, Diane Crawford, Scott Delman

New Publications Committee
This Committee has two major functions. The first is to make a general assessment of gaps in ACM’s entire publishing portfolio and to identify hot research topics. 

The second function is specifically to grow the journals publishing program. This will be accomplished in two ways – increasing the volume of submissions to existing titles and launching journals in new areas not adequately covered or not covered at all. The members of this Committee need a broad knowledge of existing publication venues and of research trends and strong networks in various research committees in order to identify champions and solicit proposals from them.

Co-Chairs: Sharon Oviatt and Tulika Mitra

Members: Xiang-Yang Li, Aidong Zhang, Somesh Jha, Phil Bernstein, Sven Koenig, Joe Konstan, Jack Davidson, Scott E. Delman, Laura Lander, Achi Dosanjh

Conference Committee
This Committee’s main purpose is to consider evolving conference reviewing models and recommend updates to ACM’s conference-journal publishing policy in that light. The Committee is also to recommend richer representations of conferences as events in the ACM Digital Library and to conference data capture requirements to enable a richer set of DL services to conferences and their attendees.

The Committee is composed jointly of Pubs Board and SIG representatives.

Co-Chairs: Stephen Spencer and Robert Walker

Members: Crista Lopes, Jaudelice de Oliveira, Lance Fortnow, Koen De Bosschere, Machuda Glencross, Michael Hind, Steven Feiner, Tamer Ozsu, Joe Konstan, Jack Davidson, Sue Moon, Donna Cappo

PACM Steering Committee
The PACM Steering Committee (SC) is a committee of the Publications Board charged with oversight and operation of the PACM Series. In particular, the SC is charged with promoting the PACM Series, soliciting and reviewing proposals for new Titles,as well as making recommendations to the Publications Board on all suggested modifications to existing Titles.

Chair: Roch Guerin

Members:  Gregory Abowd, Augustin Chaintreau, Koen De Bosschere, Mashhuda Glencross

Business Working Group
The overall aim of the Business Working Group is to ensure that ACM publishing policies and its business models are properly aligned. It is composed of the co-chairs of the Publications Board and executive staff directly involved with publications finances.

Chair: Joe Konstan

Members:  Jack Davidson, Pat Ryan, Darren Ramdin, Scott E. Delman, Josh Horowitz, Liz Zhang