History of the Proceedings

Wireless Days

The Proceedings has a long and very rich heritage that can be traced back to its early beginnings in 1909, then known as the Proceedings of the Wireless Institute. This Institute began its existence as a society for those interested in wireless engineering. Six issues of the Proceedings journal were published during 1909. The membership peaked in 1911 at ninety-nine, and a merger of the New York-based Wireless Institute with the Boston-based Society of Wireless Telegraph Engineer resulted in the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE). The same leaders (Greenleaf Pickard and Alfred Goldsmith) who had launched the 1909 journal adapted the title to Proceedings of the IRE, to continue the Proceedings publishing enterprise. Alfred Goldsmith, a Columbia University professor who had edited the Proceedings of the Wireless Institute, continued as editor of the IRE journal. Volume 1 of this revitalized journal was published in January 1913, and this is the milestone that we use as the official birth date of this journal.

The Proceedings of the IRE was the official publication of the IRE—it published all of the papers, discussions, and communications received from the membership. Over the years many extraordinary visionaries have published in this journal. They have included a virtual alphabetized directory of the innovators of the twentieth century, from Armstrong to Zworykin, with individuals like Marconi, deForest, Hopper, and Mauchly in between-to name but a few.

Fifty Years Later

The Proceedings of the IRE held fast to its tradition of publishing only the best authors through a rigorous selection process and a very discriminating peer-review process. It was a unique honor (and it remains such) for an author to be published in this journal, and it was widely acknowledged that published Proceedings authors were professionally acknowledged by their peers upon publication of their work in this journal. In May 1962 the Proceedings of the IRE celebrated the 50th year of the IRE with a massive special issue that contained approximately 1000 pages. At this time talks were already underway with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and the merger with the IRE became effective in 1963.

The resulting organization, the IEEE, continued the Proceedings tradition of publishing only the best papers available by a "multi-gated" screening and selection process. The majority of all authors are invited and asked to submit a comprehensive proposal for review and comment by the Editorial Board. Comments are fed back to the author by the managing editor and when the paper is completed it is subjected initially to an editorial board pre-screening process, and then ultimately to the formal peer-review process.

The Future

While we are inspired by our wonderful past we are focused on the incredible challenges and opportunities that await the Proceedings in the future. One of the major advantages of this journal is that we draw upon all the diverse and specialized resources of both the IEEE Membership and indeed, occasionally beyond the Institute. We believe that no one can clearly predict (although we have tried) what technical surprises will await us in the future. As technology evolves and as disparate fields gradually converge into new specialties with unprecedented applications, we believe that this journal, with its coverage across all boundaries, will continue to flourish and return a healthy financial contribution to the IEEE. In addition, we will continue to strive to maintain this journal's rank as one of the most highly cited of IEEE publications.

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