EIC Editorial

Ç THIS past year saw a record number of papers submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Haptics with over 160 submissions, reflecting the very healthy state of haptics and haptic technology. This increase can be attributed in part to our two timely special issues, Active Touch Sensing in Robots, Humans and other Animals and Haptics in Neuroscience. In addition, we have been working on strategies to encourage the authors of outstanding papers presented at haptics conferences to submit an expanded version of their conference paper to the journal. The papers offered this track are selected by the Conference Editorial Board for the World Haptics Conference or Chairs of the Program Committees. The reviews of the conference paper are considered as the first round of reviews and so we offer an expedited review process for the journal submission. This has proven to be successful for the World Haptics Conference in terms of increasing the number of submissions from the conference. As with all submissions based on a published conference paper, these journal submissions must have substantial new intellectual content and make a significant new contribution to the haptics literature. We look forward to exploring this option with other haptics conferences. One way of ensuring that the broader haptics community keeps abreast of the high-quality research featured in the IEEE Transactions on Haptics is by having a special session at haptics conferences devoted to outstanding papers published or in press in the journal. A special session of such papers was held at the Haptics Symposium in 2014 and has been organized again for the Haptics Symposium in Philadelphia in April 2016. Other venues in which research published in the journal has been highlighted recently include articles featured in the popular IEEE magazine Computer (“Refreshing Refreshable Braille Displays” Russomanno et al.) and in The Researcher (“Displaying Sensed Tactile Cues with a Fingertip Haptic Device” Pacchierotti et al.), a new online publication associated with the IEEE magazine Computing Now. The start of a new year is a time of transition for the journal with several Associate Editors completing their terms of service and other new members joining the Editorial Board. I would like to acknowledge the exceptional service provided to the journal by Gabriel Baud-Bovy, Wouter Bergmann Tiest, and Knut Drewing who have now completed their terms as Associate Editors. I am very grateful for their commitment to the journal and hard work over the years. In their place, we have three new members joining the Editorial Board: Christian Duriez, Vincent Levesque, and Hong Tan. Christian Duriez is a Research Director at INRIA, France, with expertise in haptic rendering, medical training simulation, and soft robotics. Vincent Levesque is a Senior Research Scientist at Immersion Corp. Canada, with expertise in applications of haptics for rehabilitation and embedded contexts, haptic perception and interaction design and evaluation, and characterization of haptic interfaces. Finally, Hong Tan who was an associate editor for the journal from 2008-2011 is rejoining us as an associate editor. Hong is a Professor at Purdue University, USA, with expertise in human perception and psychophysics, tactile and haptic displays, and human computer interaction. Finally, as is the custom in the first issue of the year, I am delighted to announce the recipients of the meritorious service awards. These citations recognize four individuals whose diligence and dedication have contributed to the success of the journal. This year’s recipients are Wouter Bergmann Tiest for his work as an Associate Editor, and Michael Wiertlewski, Matteo Bianchi, and Claudio Pacchierotti for their work as reviewers. Congratulations and thank you for your service to the journal and broader haptics community. In closing, I would like to thank all the authors, reviewers, associate editors, and IEEE staff who have contributed to the success and excellence of the IEEE Transactions on Haptics in 2015.