Method of Search and Selection for the Best Paper Award and Excellent Research Award of the Japanese Neural Network Society

【Method of Search and Selection for the Best Paper Award and Excellent Research Award of the Japanese Neural Network Society】

Established on April 28, 2005
Partial Amendment on August 24, 2006
Partial Amendment on October 29, 2010
Partial Amendment on March 14, 2012

(Selection Organization and Procedures)
1. The Recommendation Committee Members, who recommend the articles that are to be the candidates for the Best Paper Award and Excellent Research Award, shall be assigned.
2. The Selection Committee, which determines the final candidates by voting from among the articles recommended by the Recommendation Committee Members, shall be established.
3. Directors in charge of the Award shall request that the Recommendation Committee Members recommend the candidates for the Best Paper Award and Excellent Research Award.
4. The Selection Committee shall determine the final candidates for the Best Paper Award and Excellent Research Award from among the candidates’ articles recommended by the Recommendation Committee Members.
　　At that time, the Election Management Committee, which manages votes, shall be established in advance.

(Recommendation Committee Members)
1. The Recommendation Committee Members shall be comprised of about 20 to 40 Members, including Directors in charge of the Award and constituting the following:
　　○The Program Committee Members of the National Convention held in the previous year of the commendation year
　　○The Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, and Manager of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE), and the Neural Computing Expert Committee in the year previous to the commendation year
　　○The Editor in Chief of The Brain and Neural Networks and Co-Editors in Chief of Neural Networks recommended by the Japanese Neural Network Society
　　○A person recommended by the Director in charge of the Award
2. Directors in charge of the Award shall prepare the draft composition of the Recommendation Committee Members,
　　considering the professional fields of the Committee Members and obtaining the approval of the Board of Directors.

(Recommendation of Candidate Articles for the Best Paper Award and Candidate Articles for the Excellent Research Award)
1. Each Recommendation Committee Member may recommend up two candidate articles for the Best Paper Award and Excellent Research Award, respectively.
2. The Recommendation Committee Members shall recommend with letters of recommendation the articles that are to be candidates for the Best Paper Award and Excellent Research Award
　　from among the articles that satisfy the requirements provided for in the Award Regulations.

(Selection Committee)
1. The Selection Committee shall search and select the final candidate articles for the Best Paper Award and Excellent Research Award and report their selections to the Board of Directors.
2. The Selection Committee shall generally be comprised of the Recommendation Committee Members, and request for assuming a post on the Selection Committee shall be made at the time of request for assuming a post on the Recommendation Committee;
　　provided, however, that the Recommendation Committee Member may decline to become a Selection Committee Member. If the number of the Selection Committee Members is less than fifteen (15), the Directors in charge of the Award shall appoint new Selection Committee Members.
3. A Director in charge of the Award shall be the Chairperson of the Selection Committee.
4. Two Directors in charge of the Award shall be Vice Chairpersons.
5. Directors in charge of the Award shall prepare the draft composition of the Selection Committee and obtain the approval of the Board of Directors.

(Selection of Candidates for the Best Paper Award)
1. Candidates shall be determined by votes of the Selection Committee Members.
2. The Chairperson of the Selection Committee shall choose the articles subject to selection that satisfy the requirements provided for in the Award Regulations and distribute the list of those who have been recommended,
　　information about the articles, and letters of recommendation to the Selection Committee Members.
3. Each Selection Committee Member shall evaluate the candidate articles by scores of up to five points following the criteria below,
　　with reference to the information distributed by the Chairperson and the opinions of experts other than the Recommendation Committee Members as appropriate and considering the balance of research fields;
　　provided, however, that if a Member gives a score of five points or one point, the Member shall state the reason.

Score	Criteria
5	An extremely important article as it has a strong impact not only on the neural networks field but also on peripheral related fields. As it is a particularly excellent article as compared with the previous articles that received the Award, it deserves particularly high evaluation.
4	An article that is evaluated excellent in the field of neural networks and deserves the Award.
3	As the article is evaluated as good as the previous awarded articles, it can be a candidate for the Award.
2	Although it is a rather good article for that year as a research work in the neural network field, it cannot be strongly recommended as a candidate for the Award.
1	It is determined not to deserve the Award.

4. If there are many articles that are recommended by the Recommendation Committee Members and that satisfy the requirements provided for in the Award Regulations,
　　primary selection may be made at the discretion of the Chairperson of the Selection Committee to narrow down the selection to about ten articles.
5. The Selection Committee shall select the final candidate articles in order of total scores and report their recommendations to the Board of Directors.
6. If there is no article recommended by the Recommendation Committee Members, or there was not a particularly excellent article among the candidates, the Best Paper Award may not be granted for the year.

(Selection of Excellent Research Award)
1. Selection shall be determined by votes of the Selection Committee Members.
2. The Chairperson of the Selection Committee shall choose the articles subject to selection that satisfy the requirements provided for in the Award Regulations and distribute the list of those who are recommended,
　　information about the articles, and letters of recommendation. to the Selection Committee Members.
3. The Selection Committee Members shall vote on the subject articles with reference to the information distributed by the Chairperson and the opinions of experts other than the Recommendation Committee Members as appropriate,
　　taking into consideration the balance of research fields.
4. Each Selection Committee Member shall circle up to four articles in the voting column.
5. The Selection Committee shall determine the final candidate articles for the Excellent Research Award from the articles that received more votes and report their selections to the Board of Directors.
　　The article that obtained the most votes shall be granted the Outstanding Research Award.
6. The candidate article for the Excellent Research Award to be reported to the Board of Directors shall have obtained three or more votes.
　　If the number of candidate articles satisfying the requirements is less than the number provided for in the Award Regulations, secondary selection may be made for the articles that obtained only two or less votes.

(Composition of Election Management Committee)
1. If any of the Directors in charge of the Award is not the author or coauthors of the recommended articles, all of the Directors in charge of the Award shall constitute the Election Management Committee,
　　 and the Chairperson of the Selection Committee shall be the Chairperson of the Election Management Committee.
2. If a Director in charge of the Award is the author or coauthors of the recommended articles, the Director in charge of the Award shall not become a Member of the Election Management Committee and shall not be involved in counting votes.
　　In case there are an inadequate number of Election Management Committee Members, the Directors in charge of the Award shall consider and select from among the Selection Committee Members who do not fall under the above restrictions.
　　If the Chairperson of the Recommendation Committee falls under the restrictions, the Chairperson of the Election Management Committee shall be selected by mutual election among other Directors in charge of the Award.
3. If all of the Directors in charge of the Award are the author or coauthors, three Election Management Committee Members shall be elected from among the Selection Committee Members who do not fall under the restrictions.
　　The Chairperson shall be elected by mutual election among the Election Management Committee Members.

(Method of Voting)
1. Vote shall be by anonymous ballot.
2. The Election Management Committee shall prepare the ballot (list of the candidate articles, and so forth) and send it to the Selection Committee Members in an envelope by mail.
　　The Selection Committee Members shall enter the ballot in accordance with the prescribed method and shall generally send it back to the Chairperson of the Election Management Committee in the return envelope;
　　provided, however, that voting by e-mail may be accepted.
3. A Selection Committee Member shall not be required to abstain from voting if the Member is the author or coauthors of the article recommended for search and selection by the Recommendation Committee Members.

[Method of Search and Selection of the Japanese Neural Network Society Convention Young Presenter Award]

Established on October 29, 2010

(Convention Selection Committee)
1. The Convention Selection Committee shall determine the candidates for the Young Presenter Award and report its selections to the Chairperson of the National Convention.
2. The Convention Selection Committee shall be comprised of about ten Members, including one Chairperson and two Vice Chairpersons.
3. The Convention Selection Committee shall be comprised of three Directors in charge of the Award, a Chairperson of Sessions of the National Convention,
　　and persons from among the National Convention Program Committee Members who are recommended by the Program Committee Chairperson.
4. A Director in charge of the Award (Representative) shall be the Chairperson of the Committee.
5. One of the Vice Chairpersons shall be the Chairperson of the National Convention Program Committee.
6. The Chairperson shall prepare the draft composition and obtain the approval of the Chairperson of the National Convention.

(Recommendation of Candidates for the Young Presenter Award)
1. A person who desires to be awarded shall submit a letter of recommendation (in the form designated by the Society) from a Member of the Japanese Neural Network Society upon applying for the speech and shall obtain the qualification for candidate;
　　provided, however, that the recommendation may be made by the person or any other Member.
2. The number of application to be made by one person who desires to be awarded shall be limited to one matter.
3. The Secretariat of the Convention shall search the candidates for Young Presenter Award who satisfy the requirements of the Award Regulations from among the applicants
　　whose presentation was accepted and shall give prior notice to the person that the person was selected to be the candidate for Young Presenter Award.
4. The Secretariat of the Convention shall distribute the list of candidates for the Award, copies of the letters of recommendation, and the ballot to the Convention Selection Committee Members.

(Determination of Winners of the Young Presenter Award)
1. Determination shall be determined by the votes of the Convention Selection Committee Members.
2. Each Member shall evaluate the candidates by entering scores of up to ten points on the candidate ballot, considering the letters of recommendation submitted by the applicants and presentations at the Convention.
3. The Convention Selection Committee shall determine the winners of the Young Presenter Award in accordance with the order of average evaluation scores and report their selections to the Chairperson of the National Convention.