If you are like probably 99% of all automation professionals, you have no idea that ISA actually produces a scholarly journal as well as books and magazines.
Edited by Process Automation Hall of Famer Russ Rhinehart, of Oklahoma State University, Transactions has been the academic and scholarly publication of ISA for close to 30 years.
It has also been way too expensive for the average automation professional to subscribe to. The business model, as it was originally set up (by me, among other people) was to sell it to libraries and universities on a subscription basis, and ISA hired Elsevier to do that.
So most ISA members, and the rest of the community had and probably still have, no idea about Transactions' existence, and the very high quality of papers it offers.
Here's the press release announcing free online access to Transactions as an ISA member benefit. Kudos to ISA for doing this.
ISA announced today that
online access to ISA Transactions, a journal of advances and
state-of-the-art in the science and engineering of measurement and
automation, will be available at no cost to ISA members. The latest in a long list of additional member benefits, access to the
journal will be beneficial for leading-edge industrial practitioners and
applied researchers. The journal, which seeks to bridge the gap between
practice and theory in measurement and automation, is published
quarterly on behalf of ISA by Elsevier, a leading scientific publisher
serving 30 million scientists, students, and health and information
professionals worldwide. The journal includes articles centered on measurement topics such as
sensors, perception systems, analyzers, signal processing, filtering,
data compression, data rectification, fault detection, inferential
measurement, soft sensors, and hardware interfacing. Articles relating
to the measurement topics also study several different techniques such
as artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, communication systems, and
process analysis. The journal also focuses on automation topics like statistical and
deterministic strategies for discrete event and continuous process
control, modeling and simulation, event triggers, scheduling and
sequencing, system reliability, quality, maintenance, management, and
loss prevention. Techniques and best practices in automation are also
covered, with article topics ranging from optimization, learning
systems, and gaming strategy development to security and human
interfacing and training."ISA is pleased to add another great member benefit to our comprehensive
package, and we're confident that the unbiased, state-of-the-art
technical information found in the journal each quarter will further
deliver on our promise to provide unparalleled technical content to our
membership," said ISA Executive Director and CEO Patrick Gouhin.
