Policies & Procedures - 4.4 Publications Council

- approved 7/08, 3/10 -

Purpose

The Publications Council establishes policies and sets strategic directions to address the needs of the Society and Society Members related to print and electronic projects, such as journals, magazines, and on-line offerings, not including conference publications.

Organizational Structure

The Publications Council is composed of a Chair (the Vice President for Publications) and three Council Members: the Director of Journals, the Director of Magazines, and the Director of On-Line Content. The Vice President is elected to the position by Society members. Directors are appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the Vice President for Publications. All Directors shall serve a nominal two-year term, concurrent with that of the Vice President. Though normally not the practice, it is permissible by the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) Bylaws for a Director to be appointed for a subsequent term. In the event that a Director position is vacated before the full two-year term is completed, the Vice President shall appoint a successor to complete that partial term. Early termination of Director terms may occur in accordance with the bylaws or mutually agreed on policies set by the President and Vice Presidents.  Each Director has a respective Board. Policies and procedures for the Boards within the Publications Council are covered in the corresponding sections for these Boards.

Activities

The Publications Council is chartered with 1) formulating strategic directions, and 2) establishing policies which affect member services in the areas of Journals, Magazines, and On-Line Content. It is further responsible for 3) maintaining the vitality of existing publications and on-line content, 4) assuring that such services continue to meet the current needs of the Society members, 5) supervising the incubation process for new publications (according to the process outlined in 4.4.1), and 6) analyzing possible technical and/or financial co-sponsorship of journals published by Sister Societies (according to the process outlined in 4.6.2).

Areas of concern, issues, or proposals for new initiatives can be ‘generated’ anywhere - from members of the Board of Governors, the Operating Committee, Society Councils or members of their boards, Society members, the New York Staff, and professionals outside the Society. To facilitate follow-through, the Vice President shall ask a Director or, in conjunction with a Director, a member of that Director’s Board, to assume leadership for specific projects. It is expected that whenever possible, target completion dates will be set, and that the responsible individual will prepare periodic ‘update reports’ to the Vice President and (where appropriate) the Director. As needed, progress will be reported to the Operating Committee (OpCom) or Board of Governors (BoG) when they meet. Such reports will be presented by the Vice President or, at his discretion and in consultation with the President, the responsible Director. In any case, the Vice President shall receive Director’s reports no less than four weeks prior to OpCom and BoG meetings, so the Vice President can, in turn, prepare his/her own report in conformance with a three-week lead time. Additionally, the Vice President shall ask Members of the Publications Council to provide informal input to the annual Management Retreat.

In the event the Vice President cannot attend a Management Retreat, OpCom or BoG meeting, s/he will consult with the President to designate a Director to fill that role on a per-meeting basis.

To successfully fulfill its charter, the Publications Council must keep the New York ComSoc Staff informed of its activities and work closely with them whenever possible. In particular, the Executive Director, Staff Accountant, and Publications Manager must be kept informed of Council activities. As a minimum, each report prepared by members of the Council for the customary Management Retreat, OpCom, and BoG meetings will be copied to the Headquarters Staff, as itemized above. If appropriate such reports should also be provided to Headquarters Staff direct reports on an individual basis. To facilitate sharing of such information with the New York ComSoc Staff, the Publications Council shall send the appropriate documents or files to the Volunteer Services & Administration Senior Administrator, with copy to the Executive Director, for further distribution to Staff.