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Organising Committees

The organizing committees of IPAC, similar to other major events, are the (international) Organizing Committee (OC), the Scientific Programme Committee (SPC), the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), and the Editorial Board (EB).

With the introduction of a 3-year cycle and the merging of the former APAC, EPAC and PAC into IPAC, first Asia and then North America, decided to adopt a similar approach to the conference organization, described in the EPS-AG Revised Statutes and Rules. The main concept is that the SPC is a sub-committee of the OC. For both the OC and the SPC, half of the members come from the region organizing the conference, and half from the rest of the world.

The coordination of IPAC is described in a Memorandum of Understanding, signed by representatives of the three regions during IPAC’15 in Richmond, VA, USA. The MoU is published at the Website of the (restricted access) International Particle Accelerator Conferences Coordination Committee (IPACCC).

Organizing Committee (OC)

An IPAC OC is composed of 32 members, including the Chair. In Europe the Chair of the OC is also the Chair of the EPS-AG Elected Board. In Europe the OC is composed of the 16 members of the Elected Board, plus 8 members from each of the other two regions. Further members, for instance the Scientific Secretariat, may be co-opted as necessary.

The OC decides policy, considers and approves, or rejects, proposals submitted by the SPC and the LOC. The OC normally meets twice, once at the outset of the organization, and once more during the conference.

Scientific Programme Committee (SPC)

The SPC is a sub-committee of the OC. It is composed of a Chair, who in Europe is the Chair-elect of the EPS-AG Elected Board, and 16 members: eight from the region, and four from each of the other two regions. Further members may be co-opted as necessary, normally the OC/LOC Chairs, the person(s) responsible for the Scientific Secretariat, a further LOC member to ensure good coordination with the LOC, etc.

The job of the SPC is to develop the scientific programme, including the Session on Engagement with Industry, manage the student poster session judging, participate in the light reviewing, decisions concerning potential PR-AB papers, etc.

The eight SPC members from the region, with the role of Session Coordinator, are each responsible for one of the 8 Main Classifications adopted for the scientific programme. Eight further members, 4 from each of the other two regions, act as Shadow, or Deputy Coordinators.

The SPC proposes candidates for membership of a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), it defines the Main and Sub-classifications used to group contributions by topic. With input from the OC and SAB, it proposes the programme of invited oral presentations. It proposes contributed oral presentations for the approval of the OC following the call for papers.

Local Organizing Committee (LOC)

The LOC is normally composed of staff from hosting institutes – but this is not hard and fast. If the LOC needs outside expertise, a PCO for example, it should get it on board early on. The person responsible for the Scientific Secretariat is also a member of the LOC. In Europe, the LOC Chair, and a further LOC member, participate in meetings of the OC/SPC to ensure excellent coordination between these committees and the organization at the local level. The LOC meets as many times as necessary, the meetings becoming more frequent and targeting more specific issues as the conference approaches.

The LOC takes the responsibility for organizing the event at the local level, based on the decisions of the OC/SPC.

More and more frequently Professional Conference Organizers (PCOs) are being hired to take responsibility for registration, accommodation, the organization of the industrial exhibition, together with the Industrial Exhibition Manager who is a LOC member, space management, the organization of social events, etc. They are members of the LOC. Note that contracting a PCO to organize various portions of the conference does not mean complete outsourcing. The control over PCO activities should always remain with the LOC.

Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)

The SAB is normally composed of 40 members from the region hosting the conference, and 25 each from the other two regions. The SPC Chair invites suggestions for SAB members from SPC members, who generally consult with their colleagues on the OC.

The SAB does not meet. It is traditionally invited to submit proposals for invited oral presentations via the SPMS, and also to make suggestions on the organization of the event. Members are kept informed of developments, and those attending the conference are invited to the Chairpersons cocktail. Following the conference the SAB is asked for feedback, which is passed on to the next conference organizers.

Scientific Secretariat (SS)

The job descriptionof the Scientific Secretariat can vary nowadays depending on the conference, the region, the staffing possibilities. The SS is composed of at least one person who is responsible for the tasks listed below, and who often joins forces with at least one person with the responsibility for the IT side of the production of the proceedings (organizing the IT, the computers and printers set up and installed with appropriate software), and often a further person running various scripts during the conference, as well as the final JACoW publication scripts package.

It is efficient if the SS sets up a private website for the Organizers (OC/SPC members). The SS organizes and prepares Agendas and Notes of all OC/SPC meetings, to be published there together with all background or useful documentation. The SS follows up on all actions, working closely with the OC/SPC/LOC Chairs and Committees to ensure excellent coordination across all committees. This provides the conference archive.

The SS is responsible for all of the texts published at the conference website relating to author information and the scientific programme.

The SS is normally the Administrator of the Indico event, ensuring that the system parameters reflect the different activities in the life of the organization of the conference, assigning the different privileges to the people responsible for the various activities.

The SS is the interface between the conference, the scientific programme organization and the contributors/delegates, managing all communications via Indico.

The SS is responsible for setting up and organizing the JACoW team ready for on-line processing of contributions to the proceedings during the conference, generally with an IT Manager, and for the publication of the proceedings at the JACoW site as soon after the conference as possible.

In the Americas, and in PAC jargon, the “Editor” had the responsibility to produce the proceedings, which until 1996 involved collecting outsize sheets of camera-ready copy, producing a table of contents, adding page numbers, and shipping everything to a printer. The Editor had very little involvement in the organization of the scientific programme.

Successful prompt publication is more efficiently achieved if the SS is involved in all of the activities relating to the scientific programme or involving the use of the SPMS providing for a seamless effort from start to finish of the conference.

“Scientific Secretariat” may not be the best term, but the jobs described in these paragraphs do result in a more than full time activity at least during the year leading up to the conference. Scientific Programme Coordinator, could be a possible title for the person carrying out all of the above. The title "Editor (in Chief)" should be reserved for the person with responsibility for the publication of the proceedings, if that person is different from the SS.

Editorial Board (EB)

Since the outset of electronic publication in JACoW, the SS worked together with some more technical people (IT, scripting, etc.) to produce the proceedings.

This small group collaborated early on at the planning stage to ensure that the relatively complex hard- and software, server and networking requirements were met for pre- conference, conference and post-conference activities. The group came to be called an Editorial Board (EB) and today it is usually composed of:

  • the SS responsible for the interface with contributors through Indico and veracity of the metadata (table of contents, author index, wrappers)
  • IT Manager (soft- and hardware, webserver, file server, networking, setting up of all computers, printers, etc.)
  • the SPC and LOC Chairs (respectively for scientific content and for budget)
  • the person who runs the scripts to pull the final proceedings together, if different from the SS/IT Manager. The EB does not meet. The SS is the Chair of the EB.

JACoW

IPAC is a member of the Joint Accelerator Conferences Website (JACoW) Collaboration. JACoW is an international collaboration in electronic publication of accelerator conference proceedings. Organization, membership conditions and requirements are set out in detail in a Charter published at the JACoW.org website.

Requests to join the Collaboration are approved by the Board of Directors. Membership is conditional on a commitment from each series to publish at least three sets of proceedings at the site and send their Editors (past, current and future) to the annual JACoW Team Meetings.

The persons or EBs with the responsibility for the publication of proceedings, sometimes known as "editors", of the past, current and future conferences in each series, members of the JACoW Collaboration, form the JACoW Team.

Team members new to electronic publication can take advantage of introductory "hands on" training in basic processing techniques during major JACoW events (IPAC, NA-PAC, LINAC, FEL, ICALEPCS, etc.). Conference editors with little experience can also call on help from JACoW’s experts, normally by inviting them on to a guest editorial team during the conferences, on the condition that their local expenses are covered.

Each conference series is encouraged to build in a certain amount of continuity via the editors, inviting past and future editors as “guest editors” at each event.

More importantly, collaborating conference series undertake to send their Team members (Editors of the past, current and future event in each series), to the Team Meetings organized around the end of each year, rotating around Asia, Europe and the US. Conferences should include an item in the conference budget to cover this.

Team Meetings provide the opportunity for members of the Collaboration to pursue in greater depth all issues related to electronic publication, as well as the development of tools such as the Scientific Programme Management System (SPMS), Indico and the scripts which pull all of the individual files of contributions together into the final publication package. Professional electronic publication is not trivial, it cannot be improvised, and to publish according to JACoW's high standards implies that Team members receive adequate training, but also once their expertise is acquired, that they remain members of the Team for a certain period in order to take part in the training of novice editors.

Since JACoW is based on good will, attendance at Team Meetings and participation in JACoW activities is essential to maintain high standards and continuity and to the success of the entire venture. JACoW therefore reserves the right to exclude from publication any conferences not respecting this condition.