The following article is an update on the state of the IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology (TVT) for 2016.

According to Thomson Reuters’ Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), the impact factor (popularity score) in 2015 is 2.243, comparing to the previous 4-year average of 2.151 (see table for yearly breakdown). Although the impact factor is controversial and cannot represent quality alone, it does capture a certain aspect of it.

We also are happy with these other performance metrics, which capture the journal’s quality more accurately. These statistics are shown in the table below, and generally show marked improvements over the past 5 years.

Currently, among journals in telecommunications, TVT is ranked 8th on impact factor and 6th on the 5-year impact factor, and 19th in downloads from IEEE Xplore among all periodicals. 

The journal is categorized in the first quartile (the topmost tier) in all four metrics: impact factor, 5-year impact factor, eigenfactor, and article influence score, and is in the second category according to Chinese journal classification system, which sometimes is used for academic evaluation for many institutions in China.

According to Google Scholar under “Metrics”, this journal’s h5-index is 67, ranked 6th in the subcategory “Computer Networks & Wireless Communications” among all publications (journals, magazines and conference proceedings).

The number of annual submissions is shown in the table below, and shows an amazing increase over the previous five years. Due to this tremendous growth, starting in 2015, we have expanded the journal to 12 issues.

This journal is leading the effort in developing connected vehicles technologies. All these metrics show that journal is in a very healthy state in terms of quality and perception. TVT has established itself as one of the premier journals.

To sustain this level of success, timely quality reviews and sound editorial decisions are a must. I am happy to report that the turn-around time for the first editorial decision has been maintained under three months on average, the goal set when I assumed the Editor-in-Chief role.

The average first editorial decision time in 2016 is 2.45 months (decisions made in 2016), see further statistics in the table below. The time from submission to ePublication (appearing in IEEE Xplore early access) averages around 36 weeks.

To cut down the review span further, we have setup a SWAT team to contribute quick reviews for those papers that do not have enough reviews. Another factor is the acceptance rate. Due to huge annual submissions and limited page budget, the acceptance rate has to be lowered (below 30%), which would make this journal more selective and implicitly push the quality of this journal higher.

Finally, to deal with the backlog problem caused by the increase of submissions, with the blessing of the leadership team of Vehicular Technology Society, we have not only increased the annual page budget, but also found additional funding to publish more papers from last year. We foresee potential dropoff in the (2-year) impact factor due to the publications of more papers, but we expect more steady and healthy growth of this journal in the long run.

The whole editorial team (editors, reviewers, and publication staff) will continue to work hard together to shorten the review and publication times while providing valuable and thorough reviews to our authors professionally and constructively, and hopefully deliver the best product possible to our readers.

A journal will not be successful without our dedicated volunteers, i.e., the editors and reviewers. To acknowledge their contributions, each year we select top editors and reviewers for the Top Editors Award and Top Reviewers Award, respectively. Among over 100 editors, we first recognize our Top 15 Editors for their great editorial services in terms of timeliness, quality, and workload.

This year, the following editors are recognized as the top performers (in alphabetical order):

• Bilal Akin
• Edward Au
• Jung-Chieh Chen
• Daniel Benevides da Costa
• Ngọc-Dung Dao
• Zhiguo Ding
• Guoqiang Mao
• Dania Marabissi
• Rui Dinis
• Richard Souza
• Wei Song
• Sumei Sun
• Tomohiko Taniguchi
• Michel Yacoub
• Chau Yuen

Among these awardees, VTS has chosen three, Dr. Edward Au, Dr. Rui Dinis and Dr. Richard Souza, for the Top Editors Award for their exemplary performance in terms of timeliness and high-quality reviews. 

VTS also recognizes Derrick Wing Kwan Ng (Univ. of British Columbia, Canada), Nan Zhao (Dalian Univ. of Technology, China), Taneli Riihonen (Helsinki University of Technology, Finland), and Tri Nguyen (Ecole de Technologie Superieure, Canada) for the Top Reviewers Award for 2015. We send our heartfelt appreciation to them for their tremendous efforts and contributions to this journal!

Full article: “Editorial Message from the Editor-in-Chief”, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Vol.66, No.2, pp.895-896, February 2017.

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