Publications Beyond Traditional Papers [Leaders Corner]

At a recent IEEE Panel of Editors meeting, John Baillieul, chair of the IEEE Publications Strategic Planning Committee, challenged the audience to go beyond the traditional thinking that papers are publication units. At first, one may wonder why we need to go beyond papers in the first place. But, on second thought, this idea makes perfect sense. The whole purpose of writing a paper is for others to read it and use its results. Let us, therefore, consider the publication process from the viewpoint of the reader.