ISPRS Annals of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and SIS

The ISPRS 2012 Congress and General Assembly held in Melbourne, Australia, from 25 August to 1 September had the honour of being the very first ISPRS scientific event to witness the publication of the first volume of the ISPRS Annals of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and SIS.

I personally suggested the ISPRS Annals of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and SIS as a solution for differentiating between the traditional proceedings papers review process, by abstracts only, and those papers that are evaluated by a double-blind peer review. It was actually Prof Wolfgang Forstner, TCP Commission III 2004-2008, who advocated the move of reviewing full papers. Seconded by Prof Hans-Gerd Maas, TCP Commission V 2004-2008, it was followed by several TCPs serving this term (2008-2012).

My suggestion presented to ISPRS Council members and the presidents of the eight technical commissions included several points: (1) The concept was to further upgrade the ISPRS proceedings ranking by ISI or SCOPUS; (2) Having the Annals published by a professional publisher would take care of the conformity and fidelity of ISPRS paper publications, according to the guidelines and demands of the ‘Impact Factor evaluators’; (3) The ISPRS Annals publishers would serve as a one-stop shop and quality control gates for the papers’ conformity with such demands. Papers that would have been published as is on the ISPRS Scientific Events Proceedings CD would be rejected unless the authors would update them according to the guidelines; and (4) The same would apply to any ISPRS Scientific Events Proceedings DVDs or flash memory sticks that are sometimes produced as one large mass of numerous papers that are not searchable and are not data-indexed for later paper selection or retrieval.

It was important that the Annals would not be a replacement for the ISPRS journals. Also, it was important to remind people that authors would be called to enhance and upgrade their papers according to the review reports. These changes would then be reviewed, once again, by the original reviewers, Working Groups chairs and in some cases even representatives of the relevant Commission president.

I must admit that it was not easy to convince all ISPRS officers but Council members supported the idea, in addition to many TCPs. However, the real boost came from the Congress director, Prof Cliff Ogleby, and the Congress Technical Programme director, Prof Mark Shortis. Thanks to the hard work of everyone involved, including TCPs and the many reviewers, this congress published the first volume (website 1) of the Annals for commissions where a double-blind peer review of full papers took place.

This project is yet another example of an ISPRS venture that achieved success thanks to the support and encouragement of many. It will further the stature of ISPRS and will help in elevating our scientific and professional mission. Let us hope this success will continue for future ISPRS events and will benefit both the Society and the individuals who contribute to its vitality and growth.