ACM to Publish e-Books on Cutting-Edge Computing Research

acm
The Association for Computing Machinery
Advancing Computing as a Science & Profession

Contact: Virginia Gold
212-626-0505
[email protected]

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NEW YORK – January 14, 2013 – ACM (the Association for Computing Machinery) has entered into a long-term agreement with Morgan & Claypool to co-publish a series of scholarly books that capture the newest advances in computing research.  These books, to be available from both ACM and Morgan & Claypool later this year, will feature research surveys and graduate level textbooks that reflect high-quality, innovative research in a wide area of computing and information technology.  All the titles in the ACM Books Series will be accessible from the ACM Digital Library (DL) as well as a wide range of commercial eBook platforms including Amazon, iBooks, and Barnes & Noble.  Downloads of these books on multiple devices including mobile applications will also be available.

"The ACM Books Series will offer the computing community a much needed outlet and viable book publishing alternative to some of the big box publishers, who have increasingly come to dominate the world of sci-tech publishing," said Scott Delman, ACM Director of Group Publishing.  "Our focus will be on quality and access, not size, high prices or profit.  The Series will be led by an international board of computing luminaries, and individual books will be authored by innovators on the frontiers of the field," Delman said.

According to ACM, these books will have great appeal to the growing computing community, including authors, researchers, practitioners, educators, and students.  They will be published using a digital-first model with an emphasis on author services, speedy publication, low cost, wide distribution, and easy accessibility. 
 
Michael Morgan, president of Morgan & Claypool Publishers, hailed this new publishing model as a distinct advantage to the computing community in a changing publishing environment.  "The ACM Books Series enables authors who are enjoying the most productive phases of their research careers to publish contemporary research that is accessible to researchers in related fields, opening up opportunities for scholarly study among students, researchers, and practitioners," he said. The rapid digital publication of short books on key research topics that can be incrementally revised and expanded over time, he added, makes it possible to publish tutorial works on active research much earlier than traditional print book models.

Initially, the ACM Books Series will focus on computing research areas such as Computer Graphics, Database Systems, Mobile Computing, Cloud Computing, Bioinformatics, Artificial Intelligence, Networking, and Theoretical Computer Science.  Over time, the Series will expand into other areas like Embedded Systems, Operating Systems, Programming Languages, Mathematical Computation, and Software Engineering.  The Series constitutes an important complement to ACM’s existing portfolio of peer reviewed journals, technical magazines, conference proceedings, and technical newsletters.  It will ultimately cover the entire computing discipline. 

Delman noted that the new Books Series is part of ACM’s ongoing investment in high-quality publications and knowledge-based services for the computing community delivered through the ACM DL.  This extensive web-based delivery platform and its sustainable archive comprise an online collection of more than two million pages of full-text articles from ACM and its affiliated publications.  The ACM DL includes The Guide, a comprehensive bibliographic database with an index of more than two million records, seven million references, 1.25 million citations, and over 500,000 journal articles. "These resources have become the industry standard for nearly 1.5 million students and professionals at approximately 3,000 institutions around the world who turn to ACM's DL for high quality information and scholarship," said Delman.

The Books initiative also expands ACM's lifelong learning opportunities, which enable computing professionals and students to keep up to date on emerging technologies.  Among the resources available from the ACM Learning Center are an extensive curated collection of online books and videos, courses, webinars, Tech Packs, and Learning Paths.

About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting computing 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 Morgan & Claypool
Morgan & Claypool Publishers is an independent publisher founded to serve the lifelong learning needs of scientists and engineers with innovative publishing and business models.  Since 2005, it has published over 600 important works in its Synthesis and Colloquium Digital Libraries for the engineering and life science communities.  In addition to its new partnership with ACM it is developing a new physics publishing program with the Institute of Physics.

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