Column Descriptions

You are here

Top Reasons to Join SPS Today!

1. IEEE Signal Processing Magazine
2. Signal Processing Digital Library*
3. Inside Signal Processing Newsletter
4. SPS Resource Center
5. Career advancement & recognition
6. Discounts on conferences and publications
7. Professional networking
8. Communities for students, young professionals, and women
9. Volunteer opportunities
10. Coming soon! PDH/CEU credits
Click here to learn more.

Column Descriptions

This page will help authors in choosing the right category in SPM Columns and to instruct them about the predefined formats. It consists of 2 main parts: (1) Column Descriptions, (2) Predefined format of submissions. The submission guidelines, list of files for submission and column specs, together with other columns resources, are available in the Columns Resources item on the right-hand menu. For more details and column examples, or for discussing about the relevance of your paper project in Columns and Forums, please contact the Area Editors for Columns and Forums (see the Editorial Board).

SP Magazine Columns Forums Descriptions

The IEEE Signal Processing Magazine (SPM) columns and forums lineup consists of several categories that are listed below. Within each category, there are entries that differ in terms of the content characteristics, type of coverage and target audience. However, note that all the IEEE SPM papers are tutorial-like papers, written for a large audience: from master students to distinguished scientists in signal  and image processing domain, and certainly beyond.

With this lineup, we are proposing a complementary approach to SPM columns and forums. Distinct categories provide a high-level discrimination of the content and types of columns and forums, whereas components in each category complement each other in terms of the speed with which they track technological advances, balance between theoretical and experimental aspects of the content, and focus. The result is a diversified coverage and flexible functionality of the columns and forums mechanism.

The topics of the columns in each SPM issue are intended to complement and expand the special section of the same issue. In addition, these topics are often intended to be part of cycles that are presented in one column across several issues.

Category: In the News

Column: In The Spotlight
This column is intended to be our own news agency and to provide an informative and focused commentary on a relevant piece of news related to signal processing or an important meeting related to our society. The introductory paragraph of the column specifies the topic for discussion and references the media outlet where the news was published or to the meeting that took place recently. The subsequent sections discuss, from a digital signal processing perspective, the applications, challenges and ongoing work related to the topic in discussion. In some cases, the article will detail the discussions that took place during the featured meeting.

Column: Reader's Choice
This column contains a list of articles published by the IEEE Signal Processing Society that ranked among the top 100 most downloaded IEEE Xplore articles over a selected period of time. The highest rank obtained by an article in this time frame is also provided in the list.

Column: Special Reports
We have a special report for every issue, which showcases the research undertaken by three or so different research groups in a particular field or technological development in an interview news reporting style by the key researchers from each group.

Column: Conference Highlights
This column invites organizers of conferences (e.g. ICASSP, ICIP) sponsored by the SPS to provide a brief report highlighting the main activities, events, themes and initiatives of the conference held in that year, including the connection with and history of the conference location.

Category: SP Everywhere

Column: SP Applications
This column presents established applications that are relevant to the SPM readers, with in-depth coverage. The content of the column spans audio, video, graphics, networking, and related interdisciplinary fields, and focuses on the SP aspects that are specific to each application. It can also present cutting-edge applications, with up-to-date coverage of the latest SP developments and targets readers interested in emerging SP work. The column also seeks topics that are interdisciplinary and relevant for the SPM readers.

Column: SP Tips and Tricks
This column presents in-depth articles that aim to solve practical problems. While it always contains a theoretical component, this column provides SP advice by also including careful comparisons, discussions of experimental issues and conclusions that are invaluable for practitioners. Additional details about this column, complemented with Latex and Word templates can be found on the Information for Authors-SPM page under "Instructions and Templates".

Column: SP Arts and Sciences
This column brings insights on how signal processing can advance the quality of life and the environment by new technologies and share knowledge on human interaction and culture. Contributions can range from discoveries and theories being used to address challenges in the important medical, life and earth sciences, improving our understanding of human-human communication, art and creativity, and human-machine interaction, to the history behind major advances in signal processing which have affected humankind. The articles published in this column are either standalone or part of thematic cycles that cover several issues.

Columns: Standards in a Nutshell
This column presents in a compact and accessible form, relevant audio, video, networking, graphics, scene representation standards. For consistency across different issues and topics, the Standards in a Nutshell column uses of a predefined format. Latex and Word templates.

Category: SP Learning

Column: Lecture Notes
This column tracks the main directions in SP research, possibly by using, as its basis, works at major conferences and workshops in our field to present in-depth materials that have not been covered sufficiently in existing scientific papers or textbooks. As such, the target audience of this column consists of all readers who enjoy presentations in a tutorial- or classroom-like teaching context. An article in this column is intended to be a crisp write-up, very similar to the notes one would take in a course or other classroom presentation. For consistency across different issues and topics, the Lecture Notes column makes use of a predefined format. Additional details about this column, complemented with Latex and Word templates can be found on the Information for Authors-SPM page under "Instructions and Templates".

Column: SP Education
This column presents interesting experiments and stories of success in applying digital signal processing for educational purposes, with attention to discussing the goals, methods, feedback received from the students, and lessons learned by both students and educators. The column also presents cycles of articles that bring a broader perspective on education and effective communication, and that target a wide range of readers, from beginners to experts.

Column: SP Competition
SPS organizes the SP Cup and VIP Cup at ICASSP and ICIP, respectively. These competitions are open to undergraduate teams and the organizers are invited to describe the details of the competition, how students worked together, how they applied their signal processing knowledge, and their feedback on the experience and learning. Other competitions may be candidates for a column as determined on a case-by-case basis.

Category: On Reflection

Column: Perspectives/Reflections
This column aims to provide articles that share perspectives on topics of interest to the SPS community either exciting new research directions which will impact signal processing research and even our everyday lives or reflections on the stories, interesting events and personalities involved from our history. Inspiration for columns may come from anywhere including the Distinguished Lecture program and highlights from the SP blogs.

Column: SP Forum
This column is typically a discussion that involves several experts and focuses on topics that are novel yet sufficiently mature, present some level of controversy and are best presented using orthogonal or converging arguments.

Column: Humor
This column provides an opportunity to reflect on the lighter side of life. Contributions are invited with no restriction on format. Possible content could include funny stories, a limerick, or a cartoon. Content must be acceptable for a general audience. Examples of cartoons can be found in several past issues:

 

 

 

SPS on Twitter

  • DEADLINE EXTENDED: The 2023 IEEE International Workshop on Machine Learning for Signal Processing is now accepting… https://t.co/NLH2u19a3y
  • ONE MONTH OUT! We are celebrating the inaugural SPS Day on 2 June, honoring the date the Society was established in… https://t.co/V6Z3wKGK1O
  • The new SPS Scholarship Program welcomes applications from students interested in pursuing signal processing educat… https://t.co/0aYPMDSWDj
  • CALL FOR PAPERS: The IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing is now seeking submissions for a Special… https://t.co/NPCGrSjQbh
  • Test your knowledge of signal processing history with our April trivia! Our 75th anniversary celebration continues:… https://t.co/4xal7voFER

IEEE SPS Educational Resources

IEEE SPS Resource Center

IEEE SPS YouTube Channel