What Does an Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Signal Processing Magazine Do, Anyway?

After more than two years, my term as editor-in-chief (EIC) of IEEE Signal Processing Magazine (SPM) is coming to an end in December 2020. I am looking forward to finishing out this year with a bang. Soon, the search will start for my replacement. In this editorial, I will provide a summary of the EIC’s job from my perspective, in case you are interested in applying. 

 

I break down my description in three areas. The first area is the initial team-building phase. The second area is the operations phase. In parallel with the first two, the third area is strategic planning. I am grateful to SPM’s past EIC Prof. Min Wu for helping me to undertake this difficult task. 

 

Typically, the EIC starts six months prior to taking over in January 2021 (as will be the case for the new EIC). During that time, the EIC-in-waiting learns about standard operating procedures, ScholarOne tricks, the functions of the different people associated with SPM [area editors, editorial board, guest editors, associate editors, IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) staff, and IEEE editorial staff]. For me, not having served SPM as an area editor, much of these functions were new. As I learned, SPM operates very differently than a typical IEEE transaction with a team structure to match its unique features.