In 2017 the EC introduced a new publication policy, which focuses on the conference proceedings. In order to give them an adequate visibility and reputation, a conference publication series has been established, which is adminstrated and hosted by a professional publisher. There are three publication options, depending on the review and the extent of the papers: ICA Advances, ICA Proceedings and ICA Abstracts.

The benefits will be manyfold:

• Visibility: one single point of contact for the publications of ICA events
• Reliability: the publications will be available at the time of the conference
• Open Access: the publications are published online and under the Creative Commons licence
• Reputation: the publisher will suggest the ICA Advances and Proceedings for inclusion in several data bases and indices (e.g. Scopus, Web of Science)
• Standardization: one standardized format of the publications

This new policy will not interfere with publications in ICA related journals; in contrast, it will provide an excellent basis for developing high-level journal publications.

New ICA conference and events publications

Starting in 2017, the ICA records the outcomes of their Conferences like ICC, RCC as well as all other ICA events in three official publication outlets, which are hosted by a commercial publisher, Copernicus GmbH:

1. Advances in Cartography and GIScience of the International Cartographic Association (short: Advances of the ICA, eISSN 2570-2084): single-blind peer review based on a full paper – termed Advances in the following;
2. Proceedings of the International Cartographic Association (short: Proceedings of the ICA, eISSN 2570-2092): single-blind peer review based on submitted abstracts, developed to full paper – termed Proceedings in the following;
3. Abstracts of the International Cartographic Association (short: Abstracts of the ICA, eISSN 2570-2106): single-blind peer review based on submitted abstracts; publication of abstract only – termed Abstracts in the following.

With these three series, the ICA can offer excellent opportunities for their authors to present their work – full papers for more research-oriented work, abstract based full papers for advanced work-in-progress, as well as abstracts for practically oriented work or artwork, which typically are not adequately represented in a full paper.

For the ICC and for the RCC, Advances and Proceedings are published; for other ICA events, either Advances or Proceedings are published. Exceptions from this general rule require prior approval by EC. All event formats have the option to also publish the Abstracts.

These publications are generated from all ICA events. Organisers will be required to provide Copernicus with camera-ready manuscripts in pdf format, together with the respective metadata, four to six weeks prior to the scheduled meeting, depending on the size of the event. For each published paper a moderate APC (article processing charge) has to be paid (as of January 1st it is €17,50). This sum should be included in the event fees.

Role of International Journal of Cartography (IJC)

In order to promote the International Journal of Cartography (IJC), there is a special option for the International Cartographic Conferences (ICCs): the IJC can select 8–12 papers from the full paper peer-review track for a special issue published at the event.

In addition to the regulations above, all event organizers are expected to seek high quality papers at the conferences and meetings to be published in the Journal of Cartography. Furthermore, they do always have the option to approach the IJC for a special issue.

Main changes in a nutshell …

• one visible location (at Copernicus) and structure for publication of all ICA events
• no longer the need for event organizers to organize their own publications because all go into one of our series
• no longer Springer books from our bi-annual International Cartographic Conferences (ICCs)
• Springer ICA books will be available for special events (old agreements will be honoured)
• conference papers may be extended and handed in for a journal publication after the event

First proceedings volume

The first papers published in the new series are the papers from the ICC in Washington, which appear in the “Proceedings of the International Cartographic Association“ as Volume 1. They are accessible via www.proc-int-cartogr-assoc.net

Monika Sester
– Chair of the ICA Publication Committee