Minitrack Chairs' Responsibilities

The HICSS series of conferences has become a unique and respected forum in computer and information systems and technology for the exchange of ideas among the researchers and development communities in North America, the Asian and Pacific Basin nations, Europe, and the Middle East.

A HICSS Minitrack consists of a set of 90-minute sessions conducted in a workshop-like setting.  A full-day Minitrack is 4 sessions; a half-day is 2 sessions.  Each session consists of three papers; each paper is summarized by the Author(s) in 15 minutes with another 15 minutes devoted to discussion and questions.  In a full-day Minitrack, the last session may consist of an "open forum" which typically is a lively, open dialogue on the issues raised in the presentations.

1. Summary of your responsibilities
You are to solicit manuscripts, have them refereed, collaborate with the Track Chair in determining which manuscripts are to be accepted, write a one page introduction to the Minitrack for the Proceedings, nominate a Best Paper from your Minitrack, structure the sessions, introduce the speakers in your sessions, and act as the moderator of the forum.

2. Solicit Manuscripts for the Minitrack
You are encouraged to publicize your Minitrack. Please observe the guidelines in the HICSS Publicity Plan. You should solicit high-quality manuscripts from people who are known to do excellent work in the field. We recommend you contact potential Authors and referees to describe the overall objectives of the conference and of the Minitrack, and solicit their ideas, a manuscript, or a commitment to referee. A full-day Minitrack should receive 25-30 papers, and a half-day Minitrack should receive 12-15 papers, with the intent to accept about 50%.

Each manuscript submitted to the file submission site should be in publication format, as defined in the submissions instructions found on the conference web site. All manuscripts must contain original material and not have been submitted elsewhere while it is being evaluated for acceptance to HICSS. Manuscripts that have already appeared in publication are not to be considered for this conference.

There are no "panels" at HICSS. If you have a topic that seems suited for a panel discussion, please contact the Track Administrator Rajib Subba at rajib@hawaii.edu for guidelines for developing a Special Forum.

3. Acquire Referees Who Will Critically Review Manuscripts Submitted to Your Minitrack
Using the HICSS Peer Review system you will assign three (3) reviewers for each paper. (The Peer Review URL will be sent to you at a later date before June 15.) Quality refereeing is essential to ensure the technical credibility of HICSS. HICSS does not have "invited" manuscripts; all submissions go through a rigorous peer refereeing process. Each manuscript should be stringently reviewed by qualified people who are actively working with the topics dealt with by the paper. Do not use Authors of submitted manuscripts as referees for other manuscripts, as this potentially places them in a conflict-of-interest situation.

* If you wish to submit a paper to your own Minitrack, you must submit it to the “Chair Review Site” found on our Peer Review site. The Track Chair will then administer the refereeing process for your manuscript.

* The number of papers authored by a Minitrack Chair is limited to one for a half-day Minitrack, or two for a full-day Minitrack.

4. Accept Manuscripts for the Minitrack
A full-day Minitrack should accept 10-12 papers, and a half-day Minitrack should accept five to six. To ensure excellent papers, typically more than two to three times the number of papers needed must actually be solicited. Many papers will not meet our quality standards (i.e., will not make it through the refereeing process), and some Authors may not be able to fulfill their initial commitment to complete the paper. If nine technically solid papers do not survive the refereeing process, the full-day Minitrack will be changed to a half-day session.

5. Republication of the Enhanced Manuscripts
We encourage you to work with an Editor-in-Chief of a professional society periodical to use your accepted papers as the basis of a special issue of the publication. Such an arrangement encourages quality submission and requires good refereeing standards. Seek out such an agreement as soon as possible.

6. Write an Introduction to the Minitrack for the Proceedings by 
September 15
You are to write an Introduction to the Minitrack (maximum length: one page) for inclusion in the conference proceedings. This should not be an overview of the papers, but should introduce the reader to the important issues that exist in the research area. Please prepare your Introduction according to the instructions in the Track-Minitrack Introduction GuidelinesThen, submit it to www.submitpapers.com according to Instructions for Submitting a Paper for Publication.

7. Select a Best Paper Nomination from the Manuscripts by
October 1
After you have selected the manuscripts for your Minitrack, your Best Paper nomination must be forwarded to hicss@hawaii.edu w/cc to rajib@hawaii.edu. If your own manuscript is accepted in your Minitrack, and you are nominating it as Best Paper, you must also select an additional paper for consideration. An external committee for each Track will make the selection for the Best Papers in each Track.