Chen named as next Editor-in-Chief of ACM TRETS

ECE ILLINOIS Professor and Donald Biggar Willett Scholar Deming Chen has recently been named as the next Editor-in-Chief of ACM Transactions on Reconfigurable Technology and Systems (TRETS) by the ACM Publications Board, effective March 1, 2019. ACM TRETS is a peer-reviewed and archival journal that covers topics including reconfigurable technology, systems, and applications on reconfigurable computers. Its focus is on research in, on, and with reconfigurable systems and on the underlying technology. Topics appropriate for TRETS include all levels of reconfigurable system abstractions and all aspects of reconfigurable technology including platforms, programming environments and application successes.

Although TRETS is a relatively young journal, it has offered the research community an exciting window to reconfigurable computing research and technology for the past ten years. The journal is designed to help the reconfigurable computing community grow significantly in terms of the scope of research, membership, and engagement of industry by providing an outstanding forum to advance the most innovative ideas, vision, and solutions.

According to Chen, his vision "is to elevate TRETS as a top-ranked journal in ACM, serve the reconfigurable computing community well, and broaden the impact of reconfigurable computing research." As the Editor-in-Chief (EiC), he will be responsible for defining and adjusting the journal's evolving mission and serve as an ambassador to the journal.

In addition, Chen plans on making a coordinated effort to reach out to conferences and communities and supporting pilot initiatives that will help further streamline the review process for reducing the average-time-to-decision. He will also be in the optimal position to have broad oversight of the review process and ensure its efficacy. Chen also acknowledges the importance of increasing the Impact Factor of the journal and engaging with the industry.

To help increase the Impact Factor of the journal, Chen proposes timely special issues/sections and fast-tracking the best papers from the top FPGA conferences for TRETS submissions. In regards to engaging with the industry, Chen encourages industrial researchers to share more of their innovative solutions through TRETS publications which can be beneficial for strong collaborations between industry and academia, potentially leading to faster technical advances in the field. 

In addition, Chen will establish a well-defined process for evaluating artifacts (code, designs) submitted with the paper for improving reproducibility. Meanwhile, he will refine and follow well-established policies and practices to make sure both authors and reviewers of the papers would have satisfactory experiences in their interactions with the publication. Chen is also affiliated with the CSL and is an affiliate professor in the CS department.

Check out the ACM TRETS website here.