1.
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................1
2.
THE
TECHNICAL STRUCTURE OF ISSCT ................................................................1
3.
ISSCT TECHNICAL COMMITTEE...............................................................................2
3.1 The Technical Program Committee.......................................................................... 2
3.2 The Technical Panel.................................................................................................2
4.
RESPONSIBILITIES.....................................................................................................2
5.
ISSCT
WORKSHOPS................................................................................................... 3
6.
CONGRESS
PAPERS AND POSTERS......................................................................... 4 6.1 Organisation of the technical program for
congress.................................................... 4
6.2 Initial submission of paper abstracts.......................................................................... 5
6.3 Instructions to Authors............................................................................................ 5
6.4 Handling and Evaluating manuscripts........................................................................ 5
6.5 Programming arrangements for paper
presentation at Congress.................................. 6
6.6
Possible subsequent publication of
papers
7.
CONCLUDING
COMMENTS..................................................................................... ..6
OPERATIONS MANUAL ISSCT - Technical Program
Committee 1.
INTRODUCTION This manual is a summary of useful
information and action items relating to the Technical Program Committee, the
Technical Panel and the activities for which they are responsible. It provides a ready-reference and check list
to assist in co-ordinating the administration of the technical proceedings of
ISSCT. This document is also prepared
to provide background information for those ISSCT members who are newly
appointed to positions within the Technical Program Committee/Technical Panel
structure. It covers:- ·
The roles and responsibilities of the
Technical Program Committee and Technical Panel, ·
The procedures associated with the
organisation of the technical program of an ISSCT congress, and ·
The procedures associated with the
organisation of ISSCT workshops. Note that this document gives general guidelines only. If there is conflict between this document and the constitution of ISSCT, the constitution takes precedence.Note also that the document has been prepared assuming that the congress runs from Monday to midday Friday. The wording still reflects that five day duration in spite of the fact that the 26th Congress in South Africa in 2007 will actually end on the Thursday evening.
2.
THE
TECHNICAL STRUCTURE OF ISSCT The technical structure of ISSCT (as
opposed to its administrative structure) involves the following. ·
The chair of the Technical Program
Committee who has overall responsibility for the ISSCT technical program as
well as being a member of the ISSCT Executive Committee. ·
The agriculture, biology, factory,
co-products, and management commissions, each of which is led by a
commissioner. ·
The five commissions are divided into
sections. Each section has a chairman
and each commission has a French speaking and Spanish speaking deputy commissioner. The sections are:- Biology
Commission: Four sections
covering Breeding, Entomology, Molecular Biology and Pathology. Agriculture
Commission: Has two sections covering Agronomy and Agricultural
Engineering. The Agronomy section
covers a wide technical range and could be considered to have two sub-sections,
namely Plant and Soil Nutrition and Crop Management Systems. Factory
Commission Two sections
covering Engineering and Processing Co-products
Commission Has just the one
section Management
Commission Has just the one
section ·
Each section has a committee of five
to eight members (typically). The guidelines for the selection of these people are in Appendix A.
The Technical Program Committee and
Technical Panel are the two committees that oversee the technical operations of
ISSCT. 3.1 The Technical
Program Committee The Technical Program Committee oversees
the technical operations of the ISSCT between congresses. It meets formally at the location of the
next congress for the so-called “mid-term meeting” which is held roughly
halfway between congresses. The members
of the committee are:- The
chair of the Technical Program Committee The
five commissioners The
ISSCT permanent editor Representatives
of the Congress Organising Committee (COC) for the next congress. The main purpose of the mid-term meeting
is to ensure that the organisation of the next congress is proceeding
satisfactorily. 3.2 The Technical Panel The Technical Panel meets during each
congress. The primary responsibilities
of the committee are to oversee and manage the technical program of the ISSCT
(i.e. the ISSCT workshops and the technical component of the congress). The members of the technical Panel are:- The
members of the Technical Program Committee The
chairs of the Sectional Committees. This section contains a summary of the
responsibilities of those people involved in the technical organisation of
ISSCT. All these people must have
membership of ISSCT. The chair of the Technical Program
Committee:- ·
Has primary responsibility for the
technical activities of ISSCT including the technical content of congress, the
production of the congress proceedings and the workshops. ·
Reports back to the ISSCT Executive
Committee, of which he is a full member · Works with and reports to the chairman
of the executive and communicates principally with the five commissioners and,
to a lesser extent, the section chairs. ·
Chairs the Technical Program Committee
and Technical Panel. ·
Must attend the mid-term meeting and
congress. Commissioners:- ·
Have primary responsibility for one of
the five commissions. ·
Are members of the Technical Program
Committee and Technical Panel. · Work with the chairman of the
Technical Program Committee and communicate with the chairs of the sectional
committees in their commission to achieve the technical objectives of ISSCT. ·
Chair one of their sectional
committees. ·
Attend
the mid-term meeting of the Technical
Program Committee and each congress. ·
Liaise
with the chairs of their sectional committees to prepare proposals for
consideration by the Technical Panel for workshops to be held in each inter-congress
period by their sections and subsequently to organise and present those
workshops ·
Be
responsible for the preparation, selection and review of papers and posters for
the ISSCT congresses associated with their commission in liaison with the ISSCT
permanent editor and the chairman of the Technical Program Committee. ·
Organise
a reviewing panel for papers/posters in consultation with the section chair. ·
Be
responsible for organising a technical symposium or similar session within each
congress. ·
Chair
technical sessions at congress ISSCT Permanent Editor ·
Is
Secretary of the Technical Program Committee and of the Proceedings Editorial
committee · Makes
recommendations to chairman TPC regarding guidelines for the submission and
processing of communications ·
Ensures
that at least one author of each communication is a member of ISSCT, except as
otherwise provided in the constitution ·
Communicates
with the Chairman TPC, Commissioners and Section Chairmen, and the authors
concerning the processing of papers, their acceptance and their presentation at
congress ·
Edits all
submissions for English expression and style, and organises the publication of
proceedings ·
Ensures
that all abstracts are translated into French and Spanish by the Deputy
Commissioners ·
Liaises
with the Chairman TPC, the Permanent Secretary and Congress Organising
Committee regarding Congress organisation to foster communication among members
generally ·
Attends
the mid-term meeting of the Technical Program Committee Deputy Commissioners:- These positions are badly named.
Currently they do not act as deputies for the commissioners. They are chosen on the basis that they have
adequate command of English and either French or Spanish so that they can
translate the abstracts into the three official ISSCT languages of English,
French or Spanish. In times past they
also assisted the chairman of each congress session by providing translation
services as required during the oral paper presentation. English is the official language for the
Society’s transactions, so there are two deputy commissioners for each
commission– a French-speaking deputy commissioner and a Spanish-speaking deputy
commissioner. If the commissioner is
fluent in Spanish and/or French, then these arrangements can be varied. Their principal responsibility is:- ·
Work with
the Permanent Editor to provide translations of the abstracts of full papers
and poster papers. The deputy commissioners are also likely to be members of one of the
technical committees. Section Chairs:- ·
Work with
their commissioner to achieve the objectives of their particular commission. ·
Be
members of the Technical Panel. ·
Attend
each congress if at all possible. ·
Propose
future workshops and subsequently to organise and present an ISSCT workshop. ·
Work with
their commissioner to prepare, select and review papers and posters for the
upcoming ISSCT congress. ·
Chair
technical sessions at congress. Sectional Committee members:- ·
Work with
the chair of their sectional committee to organise and run the sectional
workshop. ·
Assist
their commissioner and the chair of their sectional committee to select and
review papers and posters for the next congress. Each of the ISSCT sectional committees
has the responsibility to propose workshops to be held in the inter-congress
period (or possibly during a congress) and subsequently to organise and run
those workshops. There are no firm
rules governing what should or should not be done at workshops. The chair of the Sectional Committee is
responsible for organising the workshop in collaboration with the committee
members. However, the following
appendices are provided for guidance.
Appenidx B: “ISSCT workshop guidelines”. This document provides general guidelines
concerning the procedures associated with proposing, approving, financing and
organising an ISSCT workshop.
Appendix C:
Application to host a workshop. This appendix contains a copy of the form on
which the application to hold a workshop is made. This appendix should be made available of the ISSCT web site as a
Word document. 6. CONGRESS PAPERS AND POSTERS The overall management of ISSCT
congresses has been evolving over recent congresses. Originally the local Congress Organising Committee undertook all
aspects of organising a congress with the general guidance of what used to be
called the Technical Co-ordination Committee.
Now the ISSCT secretariat and the Technical Program Committee have a
more direct role in the organisation of the technical program for each congress
with the local Congress Organising Committee being responsible for the
arrangements at the congress venue and for all social activities. This situation is evolving and may well
continue to evolve over the next few congresses. The arrangements outlined in this section reflect the arrangements
anticipated for the South African Congress in July/August 2007. In particular, this section covers the
involvement of the Technical Program Committee in the arrangements for the
technical program of the congress and for the handling of the oral and poster
papers to be presented at congress. For
the first time at the Guatemalan congress, ISSCT has engaged the services of a
permanent editor for the congress proceedings. 6.1 Organisation of the technical program for congress The technical program at an ISSCT
congress consists of the following components. ·
Papers for oral presentation. Papers of this type are the majority of the
papers presented at a congress. ·
Papers for the plenary
“symposia”. Generally in the period
before lunch on the middle three days of the congress, 90 minute sessions are
arranged with invited speakers to address topics of general interest to the
majority of delegates. No other oral
papers are scheduled for presentation during these periods. The topics and speakers for these symposia
are arranged by the commissioners. ·
Poster papers. Poster sessions are an important part of an
ISSCT congress. In order to increase
the standing of posters and encourage greater involvement, the authors of poster
papers are required to submit a relatively short (1000 word) abstract of their
poster. These poster papers are peer
·
Other presentations. Workshops, discussion groups, or panel
sessions may be arranged for inclusion within the congress program. Items of this type differ between
congresses. The Technical
Program Committee has the responsibility to ensure that arrangements are put in
hand for these items to be prepared in a timely manner. The editor of the congress proceedings
becomes actively involved in the organisation of the technical program along
with members of the Technical Program Committee from the mid-term meeting
onwards. At this time, the sectional
chairs and their committee members begin their involvement as they contribute
to the review of manuscripts.
Appendix D gives an indicative timetable for the action in the period between
the mid-term meeting and the congress, although it must be stressed that this
timetable is only indicative of the activities that have to take place and will
be reviewed and updated in detail at each mid-term meeting. The critical aspect of this timetable is
ensuring that papers etc are available early enough and are edited to a high
enough standard to enable the congress proceedings to be produced in time to
make them available at registration at congress. 6.2
Initial submission of paper abstracts An extremely
critical component in the process of producing a technical program for congress
is the initial receipt of expressions of interest in presenting papers and/or
posters at congress. These abstracts
will be used to make decisions about the number of papers to be presented and
the number of technical sessions that must be programmed.
Appendix E shows a table that summarises
the number of papers and posters anticipated.
Appendix F provides a template that outlines the information required from
prospective authors when they indicate a desire to submit a paper or
poster. A most critical component is
the brief abstract.
Appendix F outlines
the components that the abstract must contain so that an adequate
decision on technical merit can be made.
Appendix F will be made available on the ISSCT web site as a Microsoft
WORD template, which will be completed by the potential authors and emailed
back to the editor. 6.3
Instructions to Authors Detailed
instructions to authors will be prepared for each congress for consideration at
the mid-term meeting. There will be
some differences from congress to congress for a variety of reasons. The current or most recent version (as
revised at the last mid-term meeting) is contained in
Appendix G. These instructions should be made available
on the ISSCT web site. 6.4
Handling and Evaluating manuscripts One of the most
critical activities associated with a congress is the handling, reviewing and
editing of manuscripts. In summary, the
editor will be the point of contact with ISSCT as far as the authors are
concerned, with the editor distributing the manuscripts for review. The exact process to be used will be
reviewed at each mid-term meeting, but
Appendix H and
Attachments H1
and
H2 provide a copy of the current version (as revised at the last
mid-term meeting)..
Appendix I provides some guidance for the review process. Note that the whole review process will be
handled electronically using email and the ‘Review’ option in Microsoft WORD as
the basic editing process.
Appendix
J provides guidelines for this review process. 6.5 Programming arrangements for paper presentation
at Congress ISSCT Congresses usually span five days with the following general
arrangements. ·
The
Monday morning is devoted to the congress opening ceremony. ·
The
closing plenary session is usually complete by lunch time on the Friday. ·
There are
90 minute plenary symposium sessions before lunch on the middle three days. This leaves the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons and
about half of the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings available
for the presentation of oral and poster papers. However there are other activities that reduce the available time
including:- ·
A meeting
of each section (allocated one paper time slot), ·
Time for
‘presenting’ and viewing poster papers (probably two time slots per
commission), and possibly · Workshops,
symposia or other discussion/focus groups (which vary from congress to congress
and are not finalised until the mid-term meeting). The time slot of presentation of each paper is 30 minutes. In the past there have generally been four
paper time slots before the morning tea/coffee break and six each afternoon – a
total of 40 time slots all together. In
previous congresses there have been up to four parallel sessions – one for each
of the commissions – although five parallel sessions can be considered if there
are a sufficient number of quality papers submitted.
Appendix K
shows a program arrangement when there are four
parallel sessions as an example. 6.6
Possible subsequent publication of
papers Papers initially published by ISSCT may be published subsequently in
other international journals. Full details on ISSCT’s policy on subsequent
publication of papers initially published by ISSCT are detailed in
Appendix L. This document provides general
guidance concerning the activities of the Technical Program Committee and the
committees that oversee the technical activities of the various sections within
ISSCT. If the ISSCT is to remain a
successful organisation serving the needs of cane sugar technologists from
around the world, it must be prepared to adapt to meet the changing needs of a
dynamic industry that is increasingly subject to a changing world environment. Consequently this Operations Manual will
also change on a regular basis. New committee members are given
a copy of the existing Manual at the end of each Congress. After the Congress,
the new Technical Program Committee chairman has the responsibility of revising
the Manual which will be presented to the mid-term meeting for discussion. A second review will take place
at the mid-term meeting in the light of decisions made concerning preparation
for the next congress. This revised
document will then provide the basis for the preparation of the technical
program for that congress. Any comments about this document and its appendices should be emailed to the chairman of the Technical Program Committee. APPENDIX A
GUIDELINES FOR SELECTION
OF THE TECHNICAL PROGRAM COMMITTEE
AND TECHNICAL
PANEL
1.
BACKGROUND From the
ISSCT Constitution, the function of the Commissioners and Technical Program
Committee (TPC) is: “The technical work of the Society shall be carried out by the
Commissions, which shall foster the study of particular branches of sugar cane
technology through co-operative research and publications.” The
Technical Program Committee comprises the ISSCT Vice-Chairman, the
Commissioners, the Permanent Editor and the COC representative(s). The Technical
Panel includes in addition the Section Chairs. 2.
NEED
FOR GUIDELINES The
members of the Technical panel are selected and not elected. This is done to ensure that the best people
are selected in order to maintain and improve technical standards of ISSCT. Therefore it is necessary to establish
guidelines for filling these positions, so that transparency is maintained and
so that there can be no misunderstanding about the procedure for filling
vacancies. It should be possible for
any member of ISSCT to be proposed for consideration for membership of the
Panel or the Committee. However, selection of the individuals will be
undertaken according to defined criteria. 3.
CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF THE CHAIR OF THE TECHNICAL
PROGRAM COMMITTEE [Note: This
section contains interim criteria concerning the selection of the chair
following the decision of the Executive Committee at their meeting in Durban,
March 2006 to separate the roles of Vice-chairman of the Executive Committee
and the Chair of the Technical Program Committee. The separation of these two positions is still dependent on ratification
by the ISSCT Council during the 26th Congress in South Africa in
2007 of the changes to the constitution.] The chair of the committee for the next congress is selected
following a recommendation from the Technical Panel to the Executive Committee
who will in turn make a recommendation to the Council for the ratification of
that position. The Technical Panel must
agree to the recommendation at its first meeting at each Congress and pass that
recommendation to the Permanent Secretary in time for the Executive Committee
to consider that recommendation at their second meeting during a congress. The recommendation should be based on the nominee’s
experience with the ISSCT paper selection, review and printing process and a
demonstrated ability to effectively oversee the whole process. The person selected is most likely to have
been an effective commissioner or perhaps the chair of a technical section. 4.
CRITERIA
FOR SELECTION TO TECHNICAL PANEL The
criteria to be used in making appointments to the Technical Panel are as
follows: a. The member must be committed to furthering the objectives of
ISSCT and to monitoring and improving the technical levels of ISSCT, to ensure that
ISSCT remains the premier sugar cane technology society. b.
The technical competence and experience of the
member in the area of interest must be considerable, in order to identify
issues which are of current interest and importance, and to assess the quality
of contributions. d.
The work situation of the member must be such
that he will be reasonably certain of being able to attend ISSCT Congress,
Workshops, and (if appropriate) the mid-term meeting. e. The member must be located at a place with which
communications via email is easy and reliable. |
