NEW YORK, Aug. 4, 2021 — ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, and BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT (BCS), are pleased to announce that they have entered into a long-term co-publishing Agreement for the influential BCS journal Formal Aspects of Computing. Effective January 1, 2022, the Journal will be published by ACM as a fully Gold Open Access journal, with all published articles in the Journal, including the complete archive of previously published articles dating back to 1989, being Open Access in the ACM Digital Library.

Currently published by Springer Nature for BCS, Formal Aspects of Computing welcomes new theoretical contributions where they are motivated by potential application, and applications of formalisms, where they show something novel about their approach or application.

The scope of Formal Aspects of Computing includes well-founded notations for the description of systems, verifiable design methods, elucidation of fundamental computational concepts, approaches to fault-tolerant design, theorem-proving support, state-exploration tools, formal underpinning of widely used notations and methods, formal approaches to requirements analysis, and history of formal methods.

An important goal of the new ACM/BCS partnership is to broaden both the editorial scope of the journal and the journal’s international reach.

“Formal Aspects of Computing recently entered its fourth decade, and the relevance of the tools and theories we explore continues to grow across all areas of computing,” explained Editor-in-Chief James Woodcock of the University of York. “At the same time, we believe the journal will benefit from having a more international focus as an ACM publication. As the largest association of computing professionals in the world, ACM offers the perfect platform to attract a much larger pool of researchers to contribute to and read the journal.”

“As professional computing societies, ACM and BCS have a shared mission to provide the highest quality resources for the career development of our members and to advance research and education to benefit the public,” added Ian Borthwick, Head of Publishing for BCS. “The improved reach and international expansion of Formal Aspects of Computing will help accelerate the growth and impact of the Journal, as well as broaden the diversity of article submissions. The journal will be a more accessible resource for BCS members and the broader computing community to read and learn from, while raising the profile of researchers who publish in it. We’re especially pleased that this new arrangement will allow for Gold Open Access, which is a growing trend in research publishing. We are pleased to invite all ACM members and stakeholders to explore the Formal Aspects of Computing backfile. Outstanding research has been published in this journal, which we are happy to bring to the attention of a wider audience.”

“BCS have done an exceptional job of making Formal Aspects of Computing one of the leading journals in this area and it fills an important niche within ACM’s growing family of journals,” added Scott Delman, ACM’s Director of Publications. “James Woodcock will remain the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal and ACM will work closely with Jim and our global volunteer community of respected computer scientists to add more geographic diversity and subject matter expertise to the editorial board. Transitioning the Journal to Gold Open Access as from 2022, leveraging both the ACM OPEN model and the option for authors to open their articles in the Journal by paying an affordable Article Processing Charge (APC), reflects ACM’s strong commitment to making computing research accessible to the broadest possible audience of researchers, educators, students, and practitioners. ACM looks forward to being part of the next chapter of this respected publication and further collaborations with BCS.”

ACM publishes more than 60 scholarly peer-reviewed journals in dozens of computing and information technology disciplines. Available in print and online, ACM’s high-impact, peer-reviewed journals constitute a vast and comprehensive archive of computing innovation, covering emerging and established computing research for both practical and theoretical applications. ACM journal editors are thought leaders in their fields, and ACM’s emphasis on rapid publication ensures minimal delay in communicating exciting new ideas and discoveries.

ACM’s transition to Open Access is driven by the rapid growth of the ACM OPEN model. Since its launch in late January 2020, more than 140 institutions worldwide have committed to the ACM OPEN license model. The newly signed agreement with BCS continues ACM’s collaborative efforts toward becoming a sustainable, fully Open Access research publisher for the computing community.

About ACM

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field’s challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession’s collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.

About the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT

BCS is the UK’s Chartered Institute for IT. The purpose of BCS as defined by its Royal Charter is to promote and advance the education and practice of computing for the benefit of the public. We bring together industry, academics, practitioners, and government to share knowledge, promote new thinking, inform the design of new curricula, shape public policy and inform the public.

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Source: ACM