Volunteer Opportunities

Reviewers and associate editors provide an invaluable service to the society in helping maintain the high quality and timeliness of our publications. Visit the Publications and Guidelines page for more information. Our guidelines require at least three reviewers for every paper submitted to one of our journals. Considering that we receive thousands of submissions to our publications every year, the workload in organizing and conducting the peer review of these submissions is immense. If you're not already involved in the peer review process for the society, consider lending us your technical expertise in one of the following ways, appropriate to your background in the field:

Reviewers

Qualifications: solid familiarity with the past and current literature in at least one of the topical areas covered by a journal (usually found within the EDICS listed for the journal), preferably a record of publications in one of these areas (conference publications would be sufficient), ability to complete a quality review within a six-week timeframe. Both reviewers with a deep understanding of narrow topical areas and those with broad expertise in a general area are needed. Reviewers need not be an IEEE member.

To Volunteer:To Volunteer: Contact the editor-in-chief or (preferably) an appropriate associate editor of the journal(s) you're interested in being involved with. Include a description of your technical experience along with the EDICS of the areas you feel you are qualified to review papers for. Follow the links on the societies main publication page to find the names of the editors and the EDICS associated with each journal.

Associate Editors

Qualifications: Membership in the society (or in a sister society for the case of co-sponsored publications), previous experience as a reviewer for a journal, a track record of publications in the journal, typically several years of post-graduate experience, recommendation from a technical committee is very helpful, ability to calmly and wisely mediate disputes between reviewers and authors, committment to handling paper reviews in a time-efficient and unbiased manner.

To Volunteer: The preferred method is to contact the Technical Committee most closely allied with your interests and ask them to consider recommending you to the editor-in-chief of the journal you would like to work with. Alternatively, you can contact the editor-in-chief directly. Include a resume, publication list, and the EDICS areas you feel qualified to handle.

The Signal Processing Society sponsors 10-12 conferences and workshops every year, all over the world. ICASSP and ICIP are the society's "flagship" conferences, and attract thousands of paper submissions and attendees. There are also a number of smaller meetings that are focused on specialized topics within the society, and even these require significant planning and a large volunteer force. List of conferences and workshops sponsored by the society. Opportunities to be involved include the following:

Conference & Workshop Organization - Proposals for hosting ICASSP and ICIP must be submitted to the society's Conference Board several years in advance. Proposals for workshops are submitted to the appropriate Technical Committee, and typically require a lead time of 1-2 years. Information about how to organize a conference or workshop can be found here.

Paper Reviews - The Technical Committees are charged with handling the reviews of papers submitted to all of the society's conferences and workshops. One does not, however, need to be a member of a Technical Committee in order to help with the review process. Some committees have a set of associate or adjunct members in addition to their regular membership whose role is specifically to help with the committee's review load. If you would like to participate in the review of conference papers, contact the chair of the Technical Committee most closely allied with your research interests. The qualifications for reviewing conference papers are similar to those for regular journal papers. Please reference the Guidelines page.

Exhibits - Help is needed in finding companies and other organizations to participate as exhibitors at ICASSP and ICIP. Contact the Exhibits Chair of the conference for information and suggestions on how to proceed.

Publicity - Advertise upcoming conferences and workshops on your personal web page, distribute Calls for Papers to colleagues at your business or university, or in your local society chapter, etc. For additional suggestions on publicity for ICASSP and ICIP, contact the Publicity Chair of the conference. For workshops, contact the General Chair directly.

Special Sessions & Tutorials - Proposal deadlines for special sessions and tutorials at ICASSP and ICIP are listed on the conference Call for Papers. Proposals should be sent to the appropriate chair on the organizing committee. Proposals for special sessions at a workshop should be sent directly to the Technical Program Chair of the workshop.

Local Arrangements - If you live near the location of an upcoming meeting, volunteer to help with generating lists describing local hotels, restaurants and places to visit, organizing sight-seeing tours, suggesting possible entertainment for social events, etc. Contact the Local Arrangements Chair for additional ideas.

Registration - Volunteers are needed to help the conference management service or workshop organizers set up and run registration booths at each meeting. ICASSP and ICIP have a Registration Chair that you can contact directly to volunteer; for workshops, contact the General Chair.

The IEEE Signal Processing Society maintains a close relationship with its parent organization, as well as with several other societies that share common interests. In particular, we work closely with the IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB), we are members of the IEEE Sensors Council and the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Council, and we work together with other societies on conferences and publications in wireless communications, mobile computing, multimedia, neural networks, and medical imaging.

The society relies on liaisons and representatives to these boards, councils and sister societies for information about their activities and to represent the interests of the society in their operations. We encourage you to consider serving the society in one of these important positions.

Qualifications: Membership in the society, interest and significant background in the technical area of the organization you are associated with, ability to attend meetings of the board/council you represent, ability to provide timely reports to the Signal Processing Society's Executive Committee on your activities and issues relevant to the society.

Technical Committees within the Signal Processing Society have the following functions: organize and conduct timely reviews of ICASSP papers in their area, approve and supervise relevant workshops, nominate members for various society awards, assist in the selection of distinguished lecturers, assist in the selection of associate editors for society journals, provide expertise in the development of IEEE standards, generally promote their technical area within the Signal Processing Society.

Qualifications: Membership in the society, a track record of publications within the committee's technical purview, several (typically at least three) years of post-graduate experience, a reputation of expertise in some relevant technical area, commitment to regularly attend ICASSP and workshops sponsored by the committee, commitment to be responsive to committee responsibilities listed above.

To Volunteer: Openings on the Technical Committees are filled from nominations made by committee members. The best way to be nominated is to get to know members of the committee, and ask them to consider you for an open position (there are typically 5-10 openings on each committee every year). Note that the committees will take more than your qualifications into account when voting on new members; in particular, it is critical that they have a membership whose specialties are well-balanced and cover the breadth of the committee's technical domain. Qualified nominees may not be selected if their area is already well represented on the committee.

There are 12 Technical Committees of the Society where Membership is limited. However, you can still be involved by joining as an Affiliate Member.  Technical Committee Affiliates are non-elected, non-voting members of a particular the Technical Committee. There is no limit to the number of Affiliates that a Technical Committee can have. Affiliate membership is open to: IEEE SPS members (any grade) and IEEE student members interested in the scope of a given Technical Committee and non-IEEE members of professional organizations in interdisciplinary fields within the Technical Committee’s scope. Technical Committee Affiliates have the opportunity to act as reviewers for one of the Society’s conferences or be appointed to one of the Technical Committee’s subcommittees. They may also have the opportunity to attend open Technical Committee meetings held at one of the Technical Committee's workshops. Becoming an Affiliate Member is easy.