President's Message: UFFC Journal Transformation
From UFFC President Dragan Damjanovic:
In January 2024, society-wide discussions commenced regarding the future development of our two journals: IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, and the IEEE Open Journal of UFFC. The Transactions is a traditional, paywalled journal, while the Open Journal, established in 2021, is an open-access journal. The motivations for these discussions were manifold and are outlined here in some detail.
First, over the past four years, there has been a noticeable decline in papers published in Transactions from the fields of ferroelectrics and frequency control. From 2020 to 2023, papers from these technical areas constituted only about 11% of all published papers, despite the membership being closer to 33%. Furthermore, a majority of papers from these sections that were published in Transactions focused on ultrasonics topics.
Second, with the IEEE mandate that all journals eventually transition to an open mode of publication, there is a growing concern that the two journals may compete with each other rather than complement one another.
Third, despite their common heritage in piezoelectricity, waves, and oscillations, the complex nature of our society with its three distinct technical areas has led to journal names that authors outside of the society and even younger authors within the society have difficulty identifying with. Notably, Transactions have operated in their present form and name since 1986—the longest period in their 70-year history without undergoing a name change.
Lastly, having two journals since 2021 offers an opportunity to accommodate the publication needs of all three technical areas. This recognizes the situation where authors from the Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control communities overwhelmingly publish outside of the Society’s journals, while the majority of the papers from all three technical areas published in Transactions are on topics in ultrasonics.
The idea is to acknowledge this state and focus Transactions on all areas of ultrasonics (theory, modeling, applications, devices, materials…) and those areas of ferroelectrics and frequency control closely related to ultrasonics. It is believed that such a focus on ultrasonic technical content, together with a new name reflecting Transactions’ de facto ultrasonics character, will strengthen the journal’s identity. The changed name and focused content could also attract new readers and papers from authors who currently do not publish in Transactions, making the rebranded Transactions the leading journal in a broad area of ultrasonics engineering, technology, and science. Simultaneously, the Open Journal would continue publishing papers from all three technical areas, but with a broader paper format.
These ideas were initially discussed with the Technical Standing Committees of Frequency Control and Ferroelectrics, both of which supported the journals' reform. Subsequently, discussions were held with the Publications Committee, the Ultrasonics Technical Standing Committee, and members of the present Technical Program Committees of the three Society sections. In April 2024, a motion passed by the AdCom granted a mandate to the Publications Committee to commence formal steps in transforming Transactions into a journal focused on ultrasonics.
While all discussions have been supportive of the transition of Transactions, many questions—particularly regarding the content and paper format of the Open Journal—are still being considered. One specific question that has been raised is whether authors from the Frequency Control and Ferroelectrics communities will still have a venue to publish their papers in the Society's journals. The answer is yes. All papers from these fields that are related to ultrasonics can be published in either Transactions or the Open Journal. Papers from other, non-ultrasonic technical areas can still be published in the Open Journal. Let’s illustrate this with examples from the field of ferroelectrics: if a researcher works on developing crystals for array transducers, such work can be submitted to either Transactions or the Open Journal. If they work on ferroelectric memories or actuators, the paper can be submitted to the Open Journal. In frequency control, for instance, a paper on MEMS resonators for sensors can be submitted to either journal, but research on quantum mechanical effects in atomic clocks would be of interest to the Open Journal. Ultimately, the decision will be up to the Editors.
To address the issues outlined, the current discussions within the Society consider publishing a wide range of paper formats in the two journals, which will give the two journals their own identities. The Open Journal will include letters, reviews, perspectives, full papers, and other types of papers, as well as special topical issues and reviewed conference papers, covering topics from all three technical areas. The Transactions journal has achieved recognized success with full-format papers, which it will continue to focus on, along with comprehensive reviews, perspectives, and spotlight issues in all areas of ultrasonics, including ultrasonics-related topics from ferroelectrics and frequency control. This will reduce the possibility of competition between the two journals while providing a platform for all three communities to publish their work in the Society journals.
To better attract papers from frequency control and ferroelectrics, the Open Journal will have two Deputy Editors responsible for managing topics in these areas.
Publishing peer-reviewed conference papers in the Open Journal should be an attractive option for researchers in all three major technical areas—ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control. This opportunity should not be overlooked.
I would like to make two remarks based on my personal experience. It is not difficult to envision more daring—although perhaps riskier—publication opportunities beyond traditional research papers. For example, one could imagine special issues or even a regular section in the Open Journal featuring papers based on exceptional Ph.D. theses, written by Ph.D. students as the sole authors. Good students' theses often contain a wealth of unpublished but interesting data and observations. Inspired and talented Ph.D. students frequently possess unique insights into their thesis topics that can be invaluable to other Ph.D. students and even senior researchers.
On the other hand, we all have special ideas, opinions, comments, and results that never get published because they don't quite make up a traditional full research paper. In my experience, I've found that those unique and intriguing results and thoughts can be very effectively used in papers published in special topical issues or peer-reviewed conference proceedings.
Of course, the high technical quality of all published papers is paramount and should never be compromised.
The success of the journals’ transformation depends most of all on its readers and authors. We count on all of you to take an active part in it.