August 04, 2020

A Mizzou Engineer is helping determine which papers to include in a new journal on artificial intelligence. Gui DeSouza, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, was appointed an associate editor for Transactions on Artificial Intelligence (AI) earlier this year. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers plans to launch the journal next month. It’s a joint publication among several IEEE societies, with IEEE’s Computational Intelligence Society (CIS) taking the lead.

DeSouza

DeSouza is one about 30 faculty members from universities across the world serving as an associate editor.

“We basically have three duties,” he said. “We decide whether a paper makes the initial cut and whether to assign it to an associate editor. And we assign reviewers and coordinate the feedback for papers. We also review and make recommendations on proposals for special issues for the journal”

Transactions on AI is proving to be a sought-after publication. The number of submissions has surpassed the society’s expectations, and the editorial team is now receiving at least one paper every day, DeSouza said.

So far, only about 10% of the submissions have made the cut.

DeSouza credits the popularity of the publication to the subject. AI is a broad field of study that spans disciplines. It includes computational intelligence, which focuses mainly on the biology-inspired algorithms that make much of AI possible, such as genetic algorithms and neural networks. It also includes robotics, computer vision and machine learning. And it includes AI applications in most industries.

“In fact, nearly every industry now relies on AI,” DeSouza said. “Engineering, health care, social media, education, transportation, finance…you name it.”

It’s also becoming commonplace among farmers. The new journal has received so many submissions around AI in agriculture, DeSouza is now preparing a proposal for a special issue dedicated to the topic.

Mizzou’s Strong IEEE CIS Ties

Transactions on AI has been about two years in the making. Jim Keller, a Distinguished Curators’ Professor Emeritus at Mizzou, was instrumental in getting it off the ground. He is vice president for publications for CIS, which publishes seven journals and a magazine.

Although there are other journals on AI, Keller said it’s important for IEEE members to have their own.

“AI is the hottest topic on the planet right now,” he said. “So if you’re a member of IEEE and you want to publish something on AI, it didn’t make sense to have to go outside of IEEE.”

This is DeSouza’s first editorial position with IEEE, although he has served in similar roles for other publications. He has been involved in a number of capacities within Computational Intelligence Society for more than a decade. He’s served as chair of many of the society’s symposia and has served as a member and chair in various administrative committees.