INFORMS Service Science Section Best Paper Award Competitions
2024 INFORMS Annual Meeting
Submission Deadline: June 16th, 2024, 11:59 (EDT)
The INFORMS Service Science Section promotes and disseminates research and applications among professionals interested in theory, methodologies, and applications in service science. The Section provides a forum to exchange new ideas and disseminate new findings.
The Section announces the following three best paper award competitions[i] to recognize excellence among its members and encourage and reward the development and publication of new, relevant, and rigorous academic papers that focus on service science.
· Best Cluster Paper Award
Submission Link: https://forms.gle/yM436nUT4P99ixHm6
· Best Student Paper Award
Submission Link: https://forms.gle/JgikQpFApWARxoPx9
· Best Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) Paper Award
Submission Link: https://forms.gle/GRDxGKeUjpAY99jU6
Selection Process
Each of the three awards will have its own award committee. Each award committee will choose a pool of finalists from the eligible papers based on:
1. Academic significance (originality, depth, completeness, and work's potential impact on future service science research).
2. Business relevance (importance of the problem and its impact on service engineering or business practice; relevance to the DEIJ topics if submitted to the Best DEIJ Paper Award).
3. Fit with the INFORMS Service Science Section.
The finalists will be invited to present in an award competition session at the 2024 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington, October 20-23, 2024. The winners will be announced during the business meeting of the Service Science Section. Finalists will also be invited to record a 5-minute flash talk video, to be featured on the section's YouTube channel.
Eligibility Criteria
Each submitting author:
- • can only submit one paper for all three award categories, but can be a co-author on other submitted papers.
- • must be the presenting author if the paper is shortlisted to present.
- • must be the first author and major contributor to the submitted paper.
- • must be a member of the INFORMS Service Science Section (must be a student member for the Best Student Paper Award) at the time of submission.
Each submitted paper:
- • can only be submitted to one award category.
- • must represent original work in Service Science subject areas.
- • cannot be accepted for publication or published already at any journal or conference at the time of submission but can be under review.
- • must not have been selected as a finalist in a previous paper competition sponsored by the Service Science Section.
Members of each award committee are ineligible to participate in the competition that they serve (including being a co-author of any submission).
Publication Opportunity: High-quality papers submitted to the competitions may be invited to be fast-tracked in the INFORMS journal Service Science. This opportunity is available by invitation only.
Submission Guidelines
· To be considered for this year's competitions, please submit two PDF files to the submission portals by the announced deadline:
o (1) the blinded paper
o (2) the cover letter certifying each eligibility criteria listed above and listing all authors' names, affiliations, and email addresses.
· The paper should follow the Service Science journal submission guidelines (e.g., no more than 32 pages, double-spaced, 11-point font) as provided on the journal website. Any explicit indications of the authors' information, as well as acknowledgments, must be removed from the paper.
· The two files should be named with the submitting author's Informs ID Number. For example, if the submitting author's ID number is 1234567, then the blinded paper should be named "1234567_paper.pdf" and the cover letter should be named "1234567_cover.pdf"
· The cover letter should specify the submitting author, and list every author's name, affiliation, and email address. If the paper is under review by any publisher, DO NOT disclose where it is submitted and at what stage of the review process. Also, indicate if you want your paper to be invited for fast-track at Service Science if it is selected as a finalist.
o For the Best Cluster Paper Award and the Best DEIJ Paper Award, the cover letter should be provided by the submitting author and attest that all eligibility criteria are satisfied.
o For the Best Student Paper Award, one faculty co-author of the paper should sign the cover letter and attest that all eligibility criteria are satisfied. The letter should also confirm the submitting author's student status at the time of submission and the student's major role in writing this paper.
Contact Information
Any questions regarding the paper award competitions can be directed to:
· Best Cluster Paper Award Committee Co-Chairs: Dr. Opher Baron (opher.baron@rotman.utoronto.ca) and Dr. Renyu Zhang (philipzhang@cuhk.edu.hk)
· Best Student Paper Award Committee Co-Chairs: Dr. Weiwei Chen (wchen@business.rutgers.edu) and Dr. Yuqian Xu (yuqian_xu@kenan-flagler.unc.edu)
· Best DEIJ Paper Award Committee Chair: Dr. Muge Yayla-Kullu (mugekullu@gmail.com)
[i] Depending on the number of submissions, the Service Science Section reserves the right to change the number of winners or not give any awards in a given year.
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Muge Yayla Kullu
Associate Professor
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