Responsibilities of a HICSS Minitrack Chair

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. 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.

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.

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 (order the papers and any collateral element)
  introduce the speakers in your sessions, and

• act as the moderator of the session.

2.  Solicit Manuscripts for the Minitrack

You are encouraged to publicize your Minitrack vigorously, and in all ways that you deem professionally appropriate. 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. Solicit a manuscript, or a commitment to referee, or any other ideas to make HICSS-43 a successful conference. In general, a full-day Minitrack should receive 25-30 papers, and a half-day Minitrack should receive 12-15 papers, to meet our goal of a 50% acceptance rate.

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 (June 15-Augsut 15). Manuscripts that have already appeared in publication are not to be considered for this conference.

You should prepare paper and electronic versions of your Minitrack CFP explaining the scope, purpose, and emphasis of the Minitrack in more detail. Be sure your CFP refers to the conference website, so Authors can see the contents of the entire conference. If you set up a website for your Minitrack, please send the URL to both the Track Administrator rajib@hawaii.edu and the HICSS office hicss@hawaii.edu so that it can be included with the description of your Minitrack on the HICSS website. Also, please remember to put in a hotlink back to the HICSS website http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu

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

3.  Acquire Referees to Critically Review Manuscripts Submitted to Your Minitrack

HICSS does not have "invited" manuscripts; all submissions go through a rigorous peer refereeing process. Quality refereeing is essential to ensure the technical credibility of HICSS.

You will assign three (3) reviewers for each paper, plus yourself. (The Peer Review URL will be sent to you by June 15.)

Select reviewers who are actively working with the topics dealt with by the paper. If you need to use Authors of other submitted manuscripts as referees, be sure not to use more than one such author per manuscript.

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

The number of papers allowed to be 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. In order to achieve our conference acceptance rate guideline of 50%. Your track chair may adjust the number of sessions in your Minitrack, based on the number of papers submitted. If after Aug 15 you accept or reject a paper that was originally A-M (mandatory changes required), you must use the Peer Review site by Sept 15 to make a final decision.

5. Write an Introduction to Your Minitrack

Submit an Introduction to Your Minitrack to the Publication site. This will be included in the Conference Proceedings. A one-page format will be provided. Base your introduction on the specific papers Accepted for Publication, but do not give a simple listing of the papers. Rather, you should introduce the reader to the important issues that exist in the research area of your Minitrack.

6. Select a Best Paper Nomination

After you have accepted all the papers for your Minitrack, you may nominate a Best Paper if you believe a paper is exceptionally good. Forward the title of this Best Paper Nomination and its authors to hicss@hawaii.edu. If you wish to nominate your own paper that has been accepted in your Minitrack, you must also select an additional paper for consideration. An external committee chosen by each Track Chair will make the selection for the Best Papers in each Track.

7. 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.