ACM Publications

ACM Publications
Name	ACM Publications
Founded	1947
Country	United States
Headquarters	New York City
Publications	Journals, Transactions, Conference Proceedings, Magazines, Newsletters
Topics	Computer science, Information technology, Engineering
Parent	Association for Computing Machinery

ACM Publications is the publishing arm of the Association for Computing Machinery, producing a broad portfolio of peer-reviewed journals, transactions, and conference proceedings that serve the global computing research community. It integrates scholarly communication across venues associated with flagship events such as the SIGGRAPH conference, the SIGPLAN symposia, and the ICML-level gatherings, while coordinating with indexing services and academic libraries including the Library of Congress, IEEE Xplore, and the DOAJ. ACM Publications operates within an ecosystem involving professional societies like the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and publishers such as Springer Nature and Elsevier.

Overview

ACM Publications encompasses periodical series including titles that align with prominent organizations like ACM SIGMOD, ACM SIGCOMM, ACM SIGCHI, ACM SIGPLAN, and ACM SIGOPS, and collaborates with event organizers for conferences such as CHI, SOSP, PLDI, PODS, and KDD. Its output is indexed by databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, and is dissected in analyses by institutions like the National Science Foundation and the European Research Council. The publisher interacts with funding agencies including the National Institutes of Health and policy frameworks from bodies such as the United States Copyright Office and the Open Government Partnership.

Journals and Transactions

The portfolio includes flagship journals and transactions often branded by technical communities: TOCS, TOG, TODS, TOPLAS, and CSUR. Articles published in these venues are frequently cited alongside works from authors affiliated with universities like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon University, and University of Cambridge. Editorial boards draw scholars who have won awards such as the Turing Award, the ACM Prize in Computing, and the Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award. The journals interface with metrics providers including Eigenfactor, Journal Citation Reports, and Altmetric.

Conference Proceedings

Proceedings are produced for conferences coordinated by SIGs and external partners; notable proceedings appear from events such as SIGGRAPH, CHI, PLDI, SOSP, and POMACS sessions. Papers presented at these conferences are archived alongside proceedings from organizations like IEEE conferences (for example IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy), and are compared in citation analyses with venues such as NeurIPS, ICML, AAAI, and ACL. The ACM proceedings pipeline involves program committees with members from institutions including Princeton University, ETH Zurich, Tsinghua University, National University of Singapore, and University of Toronto.

Digital Library and Access

The ACM Digital Library aggregates collections comparable to repositories like arXiv, PubMed Central, and JSTOR, and collaborates with aggregators such as Project MUSE and consortiums including Research Libraries Group. Access models intersect with initiatives and mandates from organizations such as the Plan S coalition, the Horizon 2020 program, and national open access policies in countries represented by bodies like the European Commission and the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy. Institutional subscriptions and individual memberships are negotiated with universities such as Yale University, University of Oxford, University of Tokyo, Indian Institute of Science, and national libraries like the British Library.

Editorial Policies and Peer Review

Editorial governance aligns with standards from editorial organizations such as the Committee on Publication Ethics and best practices promoted by groups like the Council of Science Editors and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors when cross-disciplinary topics arise. Peer review models range from single-blind and double-blind to open review practices trialed alongside platforms like OpenReview. Conflicts of interest and research integrity policies reference guidelines used by grant agencies including the National Science Foundation and the Wellcome Trust. Disciplinary standards reflect norms from conferences like ICSE and publications recognized by prize committees including the ACM SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award.

Impact and Metrics

Impact is measured through citation indexes such as Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar profiles, and through awards and recognitions like the ACM Turing Award, ACM Fellow appointments, and discipline-specific honors from societies including IEEE Computer Society and SIAM. Bibliometric studies by institutions such as the Centre for Science and Technology Studies and policy analyses by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development examine ACM Publications alongside commercial publishers including Wiley and Taylor & Francis. Usage statistics inform decisions by editorial boards comprising scholars from Imperial College London, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Peking University, and Seoul National University.

History and Development

The publishing program grew from early postwar activities of the Association for Computing Machinery into a comprehensive publisher interacting with historical events and institutions such as the rise of digital computing at Bell Labs, the development of programming languages at conferences like ALGOL, and the growth of graphics research demonstrated at SIGGRAPH exhibitions. It has evolved amid technological shifts exemplified by the establishment of digital archives like arXiv and legal developments involving the Berne Convention and national copyright statutes. Partnerships and tensions with other stakeholders—publishers like Elsevier and Springer, funders such as the European Research Council, and standards bodies like the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association—have shaped policies on access, licensing, and preservation.

Category:Academic publishing