A new peer-reviewed e-book series launched this spring by SPIE , the international society for optics and photonics, has its topic-expert editors excited.
SPIE, long-time publisher of refereed journals, conference proceedings, handbooks, tutorial texts, and reference books on topics in light-based technologies, had received several proposals from potential authors for projects that did not fit any of its existing models. The ideas were for tutorials of between approximately 20 and 50 pages, each summarising a broad topic or highlighting a specific niche in optical science and technology, on subjects that did not seem to fit into a typical journal.
Robert Fiete, chief technologist and director of R&D at Exelis Geospatial Systems, was one of those authors. His idea was for a short tutorial on image resolution. When SPIE Press manager Tim Lamkins approached Fiete with the idea of a digitally published series called SPIE Spotlights, and the opportunity to serve as Series Editor, Fiete jumped at the chance.
Fiete's book on image resolution is one of three now published. The others are a 'how-to' by laser safety consultant Ken Barat on setting up a laser lab, and an overview on optical fiber sensing by Minghong Yang, Dongwen Lee, and Yu-Tang Dai of the Wuhan University of Technology.
For readers, SPIE Spotlights provide a valuable new resource in a convenient format, Lamkins said. For authors, the series provides a new way to share one's expertise and enhance professional stature.
Spotlights tutorials are peer reviewed before publication and authors receive royalties, as with other books published by SPIE. E-books in the Spotlights series are available for mobile devices and as downloadable PDFs. They are also accessible to institutional users via the SPIE Digital Library.
