IFIP announces the launch of IFIP SELECT, a new IT journal which seeks to improve the distribution and diffusion of some of the excellent research being carried out and presented within IFIP’s various Technical Committees (TCs) and Working Groups (WGs).

Now accessible at ifip.org/select, the new journal will do more than simply gather and (re-)publish excellent research papers, according to its Editor-in-Chief, Jan Pries-Heje.

“We have asked the authors of each paper to write 2-3 pages adding information & discussion on the practical contribution of their research. As a digital journal, IFIP SELECT has links to the original published papers as well as to additional information on how the research contribution can be applied or influence practice,” he said.

“It is IFIP’s hope that the additional information will significantly increase the value for members of IFIP’s various societies,” added Kai Rannenberg, IFIP Vice President and chair of IFIP’s Publication Committee.

“We have aimed for an electronic format which IFIP member societies can link to on their websites or social media platforms. In that way, we hope to reach out to the many thousands of members of IFIP member societies and to IT professionals all over the world.”

The first issue of IFIP SELECT contains six papers from TC3 (Education), TC8 (Information Systems), TC9 (ICT and Society) and TC13 (Human-Computer Interaction).

Mr Rannenberg said he was grateful to those TCs who were first to support the new journal as well as to Springer, IFIP’s publisher, which made the papers published in Springer outlets freely accessible.

The new journal’s Editors have worked hard to ensure the quality and relevance of the papers in this first issue.

After obtaining approval from IFIP’s publication committee and the IFIP General Assembly for the initiative, the Editor-in Chief wrote a letter to all the Chairs of IFIP’s Technical Committees asking them to identify excellent papers where the research presented would be relevant to IT professionals. The Editors then approached the authors of these papers to ask whether they would be willing to write the additional 2-3 pages to make their original research paper suitable for IFIP SELECT.

Out of this process, six additional papers were received. A small editorial committee consisting of the New Zealand National Representative to IFIP, Elizabeth Eastwood, and Jan Pries-Heje, who is also a former chair of IFIP TC 8 and Danish National Representative to IFIP, read and edited the papers. This review process was carried out with a view to the needs and interests of IT professionals as well as assessing how well the additional material introduced the research in the original paper.

With the first edition now finalised and available for members to enjoy, IFIP SELECTs editors are seeking new suggestions from TC and WG Chairs for research articles to include in the 2nd edition, due out in Q3 2019. All suggestions need to be submitted by mid-May.

For more information, contact Editor-in-Chief, Jan Pries-Heje, at janph@ruc.dk .