Authors' Guide
page, blog
Paper formatting
page, blog
Initial paper submission
page, blog
Final paper submission
page, blog
Problematic papers - corrections page, blog
Author [PDF, CrossCheck]-like tests page, blog IEEE PDF eXpress Plus - paper format page, blog IEEE electronic Copyright form (eCf) page, blog Attendee downloads of papers page, blog
Conference registration
page, blog
Travel visas to Hungary
page, blog
Conference presentations
page, blog
HELP contacts
WCCI2020, system
Non-Author actions Paper reviews - authors' perspective page, blog IEEE CrossCheck - text-similarity page, blog IEEE Xplore - web-publishing page, blog Software systems
page

IEEE WCCI 2020 Authors : Although this "Authors' Guide" was set up for IJCNN2019, and [dates, contacts, process] are different for IEEE WCCI 2020, hopefully some of the basic information may still help. See the "IEEE WCCI 2020 HELP web-page" in the menu above for WCCI2020-specific [contacts, a few key data] related to [instructions, FAQs].

IEEE WCCI 2020 HELP web-page

Please help REDUCE the flood of emails that often overwhelm committe members! See the Help sections below BEFORE emailing people...

Organising Committee contacts are provided below for various themes and specific problems, in a "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQ) format. Your email is addressed to the "IEEE WCCI 2020 HELP daemon", which : In general, only the "To :" contact will respond to your inquiries, while those who are copied on the mailtos will be able to see the issues that people are facing, and how they are handled. Alternates may also step in when contacts are flooded with work and cannot easily respond.

This arrangement provides an "Anonymous Recipient Email Daemon" (ARED), so that authors don't have to search all over for the right contact and their email address, plus it keeps others in the loop to help share the workload, especially if the "To:" is [away, sick, otherwise unavalable]. You can see list of the contacts, but not their email addresses, for each FAQ. Read the [Author, FAQ team, HELPER] instructions below for a few more details.

Young researchers, and experienced researchers who are not familiar with the WCCI processes and IEEE [paper submissions, formatting, copyrights, plagiarism checks], may find the Authors' Guide (via the menu above) to be of some help. Although it was put up for IJCNN2019, and [dates, contacts, process] are different for IEEE WCCI 2020, some of the basic [information, processes, problems] remain the same.


Table of Contents :



Test for new users

New users may want to send a "dummy" email just to have an example of what happens with the "Anonymous Recipient Email Daemon" (ARED) mailtos. Click the mailto link below, and you will see an explanation in the email that pops up.
mailto New user test of system to see how it works.


Initial paper submissions

These issues are usually handled by the Publications Co-Chairs, with a copy to HELPER Mufti Mahmud.
WCCI Author Blog mailto paper formatting
WCCI Author Blog mailto can I submit a paper that has already appeared in [arXiv, TechRxiv.org, other]? (update, some others have been accepted by IEEE)
WCCI Author Blog mailto PDF Xpress problems
WCCI Author Blog mailto Should I [iThenticate, CrossCheck] test my paper before submission? (answer - yes! if you can)
WCCI Author Blog mailto missing conference ID numbers, etc
WCCI Author Blog mailto other glitches in the paper submission process
WCCI Author Blog mailto I have missed the submission deadline. Can I still submit my paper? (short answer : try, but once the sysem is closed, you are probably out of luck!)
WCCI Author Blog mailto changes to papers after initial submission
WCCI Author Blog mailto Are peer reviews one or two-sided? (They are one-sided : reviewers see the authors, but authors don't see the reviewers.)
WCCI Author Blog mailto withdrawal of initial papers that have been [peer review, CrossCheck] accepted


Paper [review, CrossCheck] rejections

These problems involve the [Conference, Technical] Chairs, and paper authors, with a copy to HELPER Mufti Mahmud :
Author Blog mailtos : CEC FUZZ IJCNN Paper rejections
Author Blog mailtos : CEC FUZZ IJCNN CrossCheck rejections


Final paper submissions

These issues are usually handled by the Publications Co-Chairs, with a copy to HELPER Mufti Mahmud.
WCCI Author Blog mailto copyright problems
WCCI Author Blog mailto special copyrights
WCCI Author Blog mailto changes to papers after final submission (sometimes allowed, previous blogs have not been posted)
WCCI Author Blog mailto can I add an author in the final submission stage? (sometimes allowed, previous blogs have not been posted)
WCCI Author Blog mailto withdrawal of final papers (NO, previous blogs have not been posted)


Conference registration, payment, invitation letters

These issues are usually handled by the management company Conference Catalysts. A copy of your inquiry goes to HELPER Mufti Mahmud.
WCCI Author Blog mailto conference registration (general issues)
WCCI Author Blog mailto Can a student registration cover a paper?
WCCI Author Blog mailto invitation letters to obtain travel visas


Local and Special arrangements for WCCI2020

For queries such as those below, the contacts are either the WCCI2020 management company Conference Catalyst, or the Local Arrangements Committee :
mailto on-site conference rooms for WCCI2020 [meetings, gatherings, celebrations]
mailto special events involving conference attendees, but that are not part of the conference program.
mailto ?what other issues for the Local Arrangements Committee?



Travel arrangements

Accomodations booking website - via the Glasgow Convention Bureau, which is the official accommodation provider for the conference and has negotiated specially discounted rates with a wide range of hotels. Accommodation will be sold on a first come, first served basis and the published rates will be available until 5 June 2020. Book now to avoid disappointment and secure your discounted rate!

WCCI Author Blog mailto Travel visa invitation letters

What's happening in Glasgow during the conference? While it's best to do your own searches, here are a few example links to get started. For several sites you can select the date range of interest (for example 15-29 July 2020) :
  • Trip Advisor : Things to do in Glasgow and Tourism in Glasgow
  • ScotlandWelcomesYou - Events July 2020
  • Lonely Planet - Top experiences in Glasgow
  • FindFestival - Glasgow Festivals
  • Viator - Glasgow and area tours


    IEEE Xplore online publishing

    These issues are usually handled by the Publications Co-Chairs, with a copy to HELPER Mufti Mahmud.
    WCCI Author Blog mailto What indexing services cover IEEE WCCI papers?
    WCCI Author Blog mailto What is the ISBN number for the conference? :
    CEC 2020 ISBN = ???, FUZZ 2020 ISBN = ???, IJCNN 2020 ISBN = ???
    Note : the Authors [Guide, blog] give the IJCNN2019 number, not WCCI2020 numbers!



    [Paper, CrossCheck] reviews, Session [scheduling, rooms], [Oral, Poster] allocations

    These issues involve the [Conference, Technical] Chairs, and are normally handled within the Organising Committee, including Organisers of [Special Sessions, Workshops, Competitions]. WCCI-pages and Author-[Guide, blog] pages are not available for these issues, as they do not normally involve the authors. The mailtos below are for the use of other Organising Comittee members, rather than for authors :
    mailtos : CEC FUZZ IJCNN Paper reviews
    mailtos : CEC FUZZ IJCNN Session [scheduling, rooms]
    mailtos : CEC FUZZ IJCNN [Oral, Poster] allocations


    Competitions

    Competitions inquiries are handled by the organisers. Competitions Co-ordinator Chang-Shing Lee, the appropriate [CEC, FUZZ, IJCNN] Competition Co-Chair, and HELPER Mufti Mahmud also receive a copy.

    IEEE-FUZZ competition :
    web-page mailto Fuzzy Machine Learning (FML)-based Human and Smart Machine Co-Learning of the Game of Go

    IJCNN competitions :
    web-page mailto Vision-based human fall classification
    web-page mailto VISOB 2.0: End-to-end visible spectrum ocular biometric matching
    web-page mailto Learning to run a power network (L2RPN)

    IEEE-CEC competitions :
    web-page mailto Evolutionary Computation in the Energy Domain: Smart Grid and Energy Markets
    web-page mailto Smart Grid and Sustainable Energy Systems : photovoltaic and PEV fuel cells
    web-page mailto Clinical Brain Computer Interfaces Challenge : stroke patients with hand disability
    web-page mailto Robust Optimization Competition : iron ore roasting
    web-page mailto EvoMan: General Game-playing Agent Competition : shot 'em up
    web-page mailto Strategy Card Game AI Competition : Legends of Code and Magic
    web-page mailto Offline Data-Driven Evolutionary Optimization : aerodynamic optimization and software configuration tuning
    web-page mailto Evolutionary Multi-task Optimization : complement and augment human intelligence
    web-page mailto Electric Vehicle Routing Problem
    web-page mailto Multimodal Multiobjective Optimization Competition
    web-page mailto Niching Methods for Multimodal Optimization
    web-page mailto Real-World Single Objective Constrained Optimization
    web-page mailto Single Objective Bound Constrained Optimization
    web-page mailto Constrained Multiobjective Optimization


    HELP web-page [problems, suggestions]?

    web-page mailto WCCI web-site
    web-page mailto Authors' [Guide, blog]s (Note that this is not being updated from IJCNN2019, but your suggestions may help for the future.)
    web-page mailto This HELP web-page. As it is new and untested, problems will occur.
    web-page mailto Social media - Facebook and Twitter



    HELP instructions

    This HELP web-page is a trial, designed to see if ["email ping-pong", email list construction] for OrgCom members can be reduced, as well as providing a consistent treatment of author inquiries. Very brief comments appear below to those who will receive "HELP" emails. As the mass email campaign is over, Bill Howell won't be putting significant time into improvements. If the concept proves useful, it is better to move this to the conference web-page.


    Please help REDUCE the flood of emails that often overwhelm committe members!

    You can do this by :

    FIRST - check the related links to the [conference web-page, Authors' [Guide, blog]]s to find responses to your questions across a wide variety of topics and common problems. Because the Authors' [Guide, blog]s were prepared for IJCNN2019, and are not being updated, your should be aware that many details are different for IEEE WCCI 2020. This "Help" page serves as a kind of "quick update" for WCCI 2020 by providing a few of the details that have changed, but not all.

    Remember - if it's not worth your time to look for an easily available response, then how can you expect volunteers to do that for you? But sometimes it can be hard to find the right answer, or the answers provided aren't clear or don't work! In those cases, asking for feedback can help us to improve the information.

    SECOND - If you cannot find an answer to your [problem, issue] in the the [conference web-page, Authors' [Guide, blog]]s, use the "mailto" links provided below! The "mailto" links direct your inquiry to (hopefully) the right committee members, and copy the email to others to help their general awareness of issues that authors, committee members, session organisers] are having. Note that only common questions are listed, but you can pick a mailto in a related area, and modify the subject line to adapt it to your problem, but retain the first part of the subject line "IEEE WCCI 2020 HELP : ".


    Author instructions

    All you have to do is : WARNINGS : The "Anonymous Recipient Email Daemon" (ARED) : At this prototype stage, once you have established email contact with the FAQ team, remove the daemon mail from the [To:, CC:] fields of subsequent emails.


    FAQ team instructions

    It is assumed that FAQ teams are typically composed of WCCI2020 Organising Committee (OrgCom) members. However, Email filter(s) - My first recommendation is to put in a filter on your [Outlook, Thunderbird, other] email system so that HELP email exchanges don't flood out your inbox. The Subject line phrase "IEEE WCCI 2020 HELP : " would be a good filter key to do that. Of course, you can : FAQ team lists - At present, the system "carpet bombs" OrgCom members that might be the best contacts for each FAQ (my first guess). But FAQ teams can refine the lists to include only [all, some, one]*[To, CC] contact.

    [To,CC] list modification on replies - Don't forget to edit the lists when you reply, as necessary. Perhaps other people should be included.

    Inquiries coming from outside of the HELP system - I don't know if this is useful, but for inquiries that don't go through the HELP system, you might encourage authors to submit future inquiries via the HELP web-page, which will helpfully direct any further inquiries to the right initial email list.

    For other questions, if they arise, please refer to the "Authors Guide : WCCI 2020 HELP web-page" :
    http://www.billhowell.ca/Neural%20nets/Conference%20guides/Author%20guide%20website/HELP.html
    That will help to direct your inquiries to the right Organising Committee contacts.

    The biggest fear, of course, is that the HELP web-page might enormously increase [frivolous, flaming, spam] emails for already-busy OrgCom members. Based on the low volume of the IJCNN2019 Authors' Guide, and the late one-shot introduction of the system, that won't happen for WCCI2020, but I could be wrong. Changes can be made if that becomes a problem (see the comment in the "HELP instructions" intro above, for example).



    HELPER instructions

    The instructions above for FAQ teams apply to HELPERs as well. It is expected that HELPERs won't look at the emails, but can as necessary. Critical FAQs that a HELPER may want to address or be involved in can be filtered out by email programs for actions.

    Initial HELPERs are listed in a section above as a first guess.

    HELPER CC's - The current assumption is that the General Co-Chair has final say on HELPER CC's included for each FAQ. Often people who are not directly involed in work teams [need, want] to know about issues that arise, and need a track record of that to give them an idea of the magnitude of the problem, turnaround times, etc so they are better placed to put resources on it. (they can "see" the problems when FAQ teams bring up issues).

    [IEEE-CIS, INNS] Board members, future conference Chairs are NOT currently CC'd as HELPERs in any of the mailtos. That is possible, of course, just as any person can be added. But this will likely be a very low volume website, and the only likely reason for "extra people" that I can see would be for them to get a feel for author inquiries and responses. A future conference Co-Chair might be one such case.



    "HELPERs" track overall problems that arise :

    You will often see "Helper" emails "CC'd" in your request for help. For a few of the problems, even General Co-Chair Amir Hussain will be able to see your inquiries and follow the responses, although he can't possibly look at all of them, and would do so only by exception (the emails are easy to filter so that they won't clutter inboxes).

    Hopefully, the use of these mailtos will help to spread the workload across the Organising committee, reduce the effort to include the right people in the email distribution (especially for authors!), and help organisers track problems that are occuring so that people can be assigned to help out as needed.
    Mufti Mahmud
    Local Arrangements and Webmaster Co-Chair, Nottingham Trent University, UK
    Chris Dyer
    CEO, Conference Catalysts, Gainesville, Florida, USA
    Ileana Canizares
    Director- Conference Management Unit, Conference Catalysts, Gainesville, Florida, USA
    Amir Hussain
    General Co-Chair, WCCI2020, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland, UK


    HELP system status

    10Jan2020 This web-page is VERY incomplete, having just been thrown together with limited testing.
    • ~1/2 to 1/3 of the menu items at the top of this web-page are covered
    • many links are not yet provided (none of the "WCCI" links to the conference website)
    • the Organising Committee teams haven't even start discussing who the mailto recipients should be for many "FAQs"
    • only a few of the [FAQ, blog] items are included
    • simple [description, instruction]s are in preparation
    • mailtos for the [Conference, Technical] Chairs might wait for the development of "anonymous recipient addressing" (you can see the names, but not the email addresses of the Chairs)
    Hopefully it may still be of help to authors at this initial stage (paper submissions). See the "Website [problems, suggestions]?" section below if it isn't working properly.


    REMINDERS : This Authors' Guide is specific to the IEEE conference paper system, and for the most part links to, or repeats, information that is copyrighted by the IEEE. Keep in mind that the IEEE processes something like 1,800 conferences per year, and delays exceeding a week are to be expected, with longer delays during high-activity parts of the year. So don't wait too long before starting each process!
    Author preparations for the conference include (roughly in squence) :
    1. Initial submission of your paper to the IEEE paper review system.
    2. Receipt of an email paper acceptance notification from the Program Co-Chairs via the IEEE paper review system.
    3. Payment of the conference registration fee. At least one of the co-authors must be registered for the conference to present the paper.
    4. IEEE approval of a signed IEEE electronic Copyright form (eCf) (online submission)
    5. Submission and approval of a properly revised final paper.
    6. Travel visa approval, for citizens of countries required to do that by Hungary.
    7. ?What else have I forgotten? ...
    WARNING : This web-page is an early stage DRAFT that WILL contain errors and omissions. I would appreciate email feedback about the Authors' Guide's [utility for you, content that could be added, broken links, questions]. Additionally, please [comment, question, advise, recount your experiences] on any of the topics of the Authors' Guide.


    Many thanks to our Sponsors & Exhibitors

    Ongoing support : [IEEE, IEEE-CIS] for [CEC, FUZZ, IJCNN]; INNS for IJCNN; [IET, EPS] for CEC
    2020 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence, Glasgow, Scotland.....19-24 July 2020

    2019 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, Budapest, HUNGARY.....14-19 July 2019
    Silver(mailto) Silver (mailto) Bronze (mailto) Bronze (mailto)