Best Paper Award Two-Level Selection Process

Nominations are made by the Technical Editors.  Self-nominations are encouraged.

The Selection Committee shall be appointed by the Chair of the Management Committee.  The committee will consist of three or more voting affiliates.  Members of the Selection Committee are not elligible for the award.

Evaluation Criteria

Professional Merit (40%)

  • Creativity and originality, as reflected in new insights, interpretations, facts, innovations, methods, applications, etc. (stimulating, informative, enlightening, etc.);
  • Scientific and professional quality of the research, review, development work, methods of inquiry, etc. (competent, valid, replicable, etc.); and
  • Scholarship embodied in the presentation, explanations, interpretations, and discussions (researched, documented, balanced, critical, etc.).

Contribution (40%)

  • Societal or scientific/technical significance of the topic or problem investigated or expounded (universality, urgency, impact, etc.);
  • Usefulness of the paper to practicing information professionals (applicability, timeliness, scope, problem-solving value, etc.); and
  • Relevance of the topic or problem to the interests of Mechatronics.

Presentation Quality (20%)

  • Readability, effective organization and presentation of concepts, facts, arguments, etc. (structure, logic, persuasiveness, etc.);
  • Use of clear, concise, comprehensible, and jargon-free language (ease and pleasure of reading); and
  • Adherence to “Instructions for Contributors” found in the IEEE/ASME Transactions Mechatronics for format, graphics, citations, etc.

Procedure

Nomination

Nomination Committee provides a list of finalists to the Chair of Selection Committee along with nominating and supporting letters. A committee member may state that he/she is in favor of not giving the award in the current year.

Selection

Independent from the Editorial Board, the Selection Committee ranks the papers judged by the above evaluation criteria. The Selection Chair compiles an aggregated score for each nominated paper (with a score of five for the top ranked, four for the second ranked, etc.) from the ranked lists; the paper receiving the highest score is selected as the winner.  In case of a tie, the two highest scoring papers shall be re-evaluated by Selection Committee members to determine the winning paper.

Decision

The Selection Chair shall communicate the Committee’s decision to the Chair of the management Committee and the EIC of the TMech, along with a statement of contribution for publicizing the award.

Notification

The EIC Office shall notify the winner the decision of the Selection Committee, and the need to attend the Award presentation; and arrange for the certificate/check to be available at the Award presentation.

Publicity

The award shall be publicized through the TMech website, the TMech, and the newsletters of the co-sponsoring society with which the winner is affiliated.  In addition, press releases may be sent to the winner’s employer suggested by the winner. Publicity is the responsibility of the EIC Office.