Applied Computer Systems
doi: 10.2478/acss-2013-0001
2013/ 14__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Scientific Journal of Applied Computer Systems:
Looking Back and Moving Forward
Janis Grundspenkis1, Leonids Novickis2, Oksana Nikiforova3, 1-3Riga Technical University
Keywords – Scientific Journal of Applied Computer Systems.
Precisely twelve years have passed since 2000, when the
first issue of the 5th series of “Computer Science, Applied
Computer Systems” was compiled into the Scientific Journal
of Riga Technical University. According to the Chinese
Zodiac based on a twelve year cycle, in which each year in
a cycle is related to an animal sign and its reputed attributes,
the Scientific Journal of Applied Computer Systems is
attributed the sign of a Dragon. Dragon is a mythical powerful
creature highly worshiped in Chinese culture that symbolizes
strength, health, harmony, and intellectual power. Many
consider Dragons extremely lucky and blessed. Most entities
born or created under this Chinese Horoscope sign are
generally charismatic, endued with great powers and are likely
to evolve into great inventors, scientists, actors, lawyers,
politicians, and managers. Likewise, we are convinced that the
Journal publishing the research results in the traditional fields
of Institute of Applied Computer Systems, which has been
born under the Dragon’s sign, is endowed with all these
features. The first 12-year cycle is over, and the co-editors of
the Journal of Applied Computer Systems would like to give a
brief overview by looking back into the history of the journal
formation and reaching its current status.
The first issue was published in 2000 in response to the
appeal by professor Ivars Knets to regenerate scientific
traditions and to provide an opportunity for the scientists to
publish major results of their research. The volume contained
9 papers that were presented at the 40th RTU International
Scientific Conference. In its turn, to go on with the tradition of
publishing scientific papers in the journal next year, the
editors issued the call for paper with the announcement that
the applications from PhD students would be of special
interest. As a result, the amount of the submitted papers
doubled.
The second compiled issue bridged the 20 years' gap
between the so-called “old” scientific school lead by professor
Janis Osis, who developed the original approach to complex
technical system diagnostics based on topological models, and
the young generation of scientists. It is quite significant that
the first paper of this issue was the paper dedicated to the
history of research on system modeling at RTU, in which
professor Janis Osis in honor of 40-year anniversary of the
faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology
described the evolution of the faculty scientific school over the
last 40 years and presented its structure.
The third issue of the series opened with the five papers
presented at the international conference “Information System
Development” (ISD), which for the first time was held in
Eastern Europe and organized by the Division of System
Theory of RTU. The papers devoted to the common problems
investigated by the scientists of the Institute of Applied
Computer Systems were also included in the agenda. In 2002
the editorial board had already 38 submissions of papers,
which required a careful review. Therefore, the evaluation of
the papers for this issue was characterized, first, by two blend
reviewers for each paper, where disputable papers were
additionally evaluated by one of the core editors. Figure 1
shows statistical data on the number of the published and
rejected papers for all 13 issues launched during the last
twelve years.
Fig. 1.Amount of published and rejected papers in 2000-2012 years
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In line with the tradition to publish papers of both
generations of scientists, the fourth issue of the journal opened
with the two papers, where the founders of the two research
directions of the faculty, namely, professors Janis Osis and
Janis Grundspenkis, outlined the new perspectives of
topological and structural modeling. The new generation of
scientists was widely represented in this volume as well. They
were the authors of the two thirds of the accepted papers.
Young scientists obtained the new results in formal
methods, organization theory, object oriented approach in
systems design and many other urgent topics. The traditional
problem domain, such as application of information
technology in learning, insurance and knowledge
management, was also included in that issue. The volume also
included various topics dedicated to programming languages
and software engineering. A new feature of the fifth issue was
inclusion in the volume of a pretty good number of the papers
presented by young scientists from our neighbor countries –
Lithuania and Estonia.
The sixth volume was compiled to coincide with the ISD
conference, where 11 papers of the doctoral consortium held
in Lithuania were published in our journal. Statistics in Figure
1 showed only the topics on Applied Computer Systems. The
same, the third issue is represented only by a number of
journal’s submissions not the papers from ISD conference.
The seventh volume continued the tradition of the previous
years to provide an opportunity for young scientists to publish
their research results. About eighty percent of the authors or
co-authors were young scientists. That issue covered the
traditional research fields of the Institute of Applied Computer
Systems: development and testing of software, database
technologies, application of intelligent systems in learning,
computer-based education systems, and other. The paper
describing the results of the research of study program
improvement marked a new trend and widened the scope of
traditional topics covered in the volume.
In the eighth issue, in addition to traditional research fields
a relatively large amount of papers was devoted to the analysis
of situation in Latvia in such areas as knowledge management,
professional education and improvement of study programs.
The characteristic feature of the ninth issue was the a set of
traditional research topics being extended by the new ones,
which among other included optimization, navigation of
autonomous systems, software product quality, studies of
foresight methods and multifractal system property analysis,
as well as investigation and implementation of different
transformation methods. The works included in that volume
reflected the currently central research fields of the Institute of
Applied Computer Systems supplemented with the works of
researchers of Latvia University of Agriculture. That issue was
also characterized by a record amount of the submitted papers,
which can be explained by a great number of scientific
projects being at the stage of active development in the
institute at that time period. However, the amount of the
rejected papers after the evaluation was also very large and the
number of published papers was not so expressive to maintain
the achieved level of the quality of the journal. It is worth
mentioning that for the first time all the papers were published
in English thus ensuring inclusion in international databases of
scientific publications, such as CSA (Cambridge Scientific
Articles) and EBSCO Publishing.
In 2009 the editorial board of the journal was welcoming all
our readers with the tenth anniversary of the issue and
expressed our gratitude to all of those, who with their
enthusiasm, ideas and hard work supported both its qualitative
and quantitative development. The characteristic feature of the
tenth issue was that among different research directions
represented in this issue two already traditional topics
predominated, namely, development of multiagent systems for
tutoring and knowledge assessment and model driven
architecture. Half of all publications in this issue were devoted
to the above mentioned topics which, in fact, were acquiring a
central place in the research activities of the Institute of
Applied Computer Systems. Besides, papers on integrated
approach to effective organization management, identification
of the requirements for changes in information systems,
information security management, graph visualization, and
regression model building were also included. The survey
papers gave an insight into classification of MDA tools,
software reuse, and test-driven aspect-oriented development.
Readers of the eleventh volume “Applied Computer
Systems” in Computer Science series of Scientific
Proceedings of Riga Technical University could notice that the
format of the papers had changed while the issue itself has
developed into the Scientific Journal of Riga Technical
University. The quality of the papers was stimulated by a
clearly defined procedure in accordance with which the papers
were to be accepted for publication only after presentation at
the annual international scientific conference of RTU,
international reviewing and elimination of the drawbacks and
shortcomings.
The twelfth issue of “Applied Computer Systems” in
Computer Science series of the Scientific Journals of Riga
Technical University continued the tendency of improving the
quality of the journal because the editorial board was
constantly developing more elaborate procedures for
acceptance of the submitted papers. All submitted papers
receive careful evaluation. The first precondition for
submission of the paper is its presentation at the annual
international scientific conference of RTU. After that the
paper is reviewed by two reviewers, one of which is member
of the editorial board or an invited reviewer, who is not
employed by the Institute of Applied Computer Systems. The
final decision on acceptance of the paper is made only after all
the shortcomings and drawbacks, at which reviewers have
pointed out, have been eliminated by the authors.
The thirteenth volume of the scientific journal of the
Applied Computer Systems published in 2012 closes the
twelve year cycle mentioned at the beginning of the digest.
Publication of the issue is connected with two factors. First, in
future the volume will be published under a new title –
Applied Computer Systems and will keep the enumeration of
the issues starting with the first one published in 2000 and
continuing with the 14th to be published in 2013 to ensure
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proper indexing of the journal in a number of scientific data
bases in addition to those mentioned above. Second, the
conference that was held in 2011, also marked the first time
when at the plenary session of the scientific conference of the
Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, in
honor of the 50-year anniversary of the faculty, six professors,
founders of their own scientific schools, presented the history
and results of their research.
Thus, the tradition established back in 2001 is continued,
which allows us to hope for the relentless movement forward
in the formation of our journal. Papers included in the 13th
issue expand the traditional spectrum of the research: the first
three publications are devoted to the new topic – development
of multi-robot technology. There are also several papers,
which present new results in the traditional research directions
of the Institute of Applied Computer Systems, namely,
development of the concept map based intelligent tutoring
systems, as well as modeling and transformation procedures
within the framework of model-driven architecture. Besides,
readers will also find papers dedicated to specific problems in
computer science and information technology. So far, in the
recent years the portfolio of the editorial board accumulated
almost a double amount of submitted papers in comparison to
those published after serious reviewing and evaluation (on
average, twenty papers are published annually). The editorial
board contributed a lot of efforts in improving the procedure
of paper submission and the evaluation form. The mandatory
requirement is that one of the reviewers must be a scientist,
working in foreign countries. All submitted papers are written
in English. Thus, not only the audience of our scientific
publications has become noticeably expanded, but the journal
was also included in the two scientific databases mentioned
above.
We would like to thank all the nine professors – Jānis
Bārzdiņš, Jānis Bubenko, Albertas Čaplinskas, Jānis
Grundspeņķis (editor in chief since 2002), Hele-Mai Haav,
Audris Kalniņš, Leonīds Novickis, Oksana Ņikiforova and
Jānis Osis, who were with the issue from the very beginning,
gained experience, bore the brunt of compiling and tailoring
the first five and subsequent issues, and still remain the core of
the editorial board. We also would like to thank professors H.
Linger, W. Wojtkowski, M. Buiķis, A. Lupeikiene, Z.
Markovičs, W. Bodrow, D. Dzemjdiene, Z. Huzar, R. Kuusik,
A. G. Nilsson, K. Wang, B. Wangler, O. Vasilecas, G.
Arnicāns and K. Freivalds, who kindly agreed to join our
editorial board, as well as the reviewers specifically invited for
several issues - M. Gills, A. Kajackas, D. Kumlander, N.
Goranin, E. Celms, J. Tepandi, who gave careful and matterof-fact evaluation of each of the submitted papers. The editor
Vita Graudiņa joined the editorial board when the sixth issue
was under way or a year later and currently continues her
contribution in making the issue.
And, of course, our great thanks to all the 147 authors, who
have been published in the journal since 2000. With efforts of
the above mentioned colleagues and thanks to authors’
contributions the scientific journal „Applied Computer
Systems” has grown into serious and widely distributed
information “Dragon”, which has its regular readers among
the faculty, students, and representatives of the industry.
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