How does the journal manage change? - acm-toce/documentation GitHub Wiki

Change in any organization is hard; change in a volunteer organization overseen by a not-for-profit is even harder. To ensure that the journal lives its values of transparency and inclusion, our change process is community-based, deliberative, and iterative. It currently works as follows:

  1. The EiC synthesizes requests for change from many sources (direct communication from stakeholders, issues submitted to this repository, comments on issues in this repository, requirements from ACM, and their own opinions). All of these change requests eventually take the form of a GitHub issue in this repository.

  2. Each month, usually the week after the monthly submission deadline, the EiC will assess their capacity implement change based on any current journal projects. If there is no capacity for change, they will focus on finishing ongoing journal projects. If there is capacity, they will review the change backlog for the next most important item to work on. They will begin by sending the GitHub issue to the editorial board for discussion; after a week of comments, they will circulate the issue to the broader community for comment.

  3. The EiC takes the board and community comments and either 1) makes a new proposal and repeats the process above, or 2) begins to take action. What actions the EiC takes is ultimately their decision, though they will generally prioritize marginalized views over the majority, to ensure the journal meets the entire community's needs, not just the majority's.

  4. Once the EiC takes action, they will solicit volunteers to help with any actions, and work on the project until it is completed, sending out a monthly update alongside any communication about new projects. Some projects maybe be as small as a single line policy change in this repository, all the way to building new infrastructure or advocating for policy change at ACM.

If you have feedback about this change process, feel free to submit an issue, and it will be considered as part of the process above.

If you're curious about our current projects, see our active and backlog priorities. We try to operate as transparently as possible, but if you see any ways we can be more open in our work, definitely write the editor!