Compositional phenomena, construed broadly.
Compositionality refers to complex things that can be built by sticking together simpler parts. We welcome papers using compositional ideas, most notably of a category-theoretic origin, in any discipline. This may concern foundational structures, an organising principle, a powerful tool, or an important application. Example areas include but are not limited to: computation, logic, physics, chemistry, engineering, linguistics, and cognition. Everything considered applied category theory, or which is cross-listed on Arxiv under the subject math.CT, is in scope. However, a manuscript need not invoke any category theory to be considered in scope.
Related conferences and workshops that fall within the scope of Compositionality include Symposium on Compositional Structures, Categories, Logic and Physics, String Diagrams in Computation, Logic and Physics, Applied Category Theory, and Simons Workshop on Compositionality.
Correctness, significance, and clarity.
Papers are reviewed for correctness, significance and clarity. They are also required to adhere to standard ethical principles.
No targets. Compositionality does not aim for a pre-set number of published papers per year and there is no target rejection rate. The quality of every paper is evaluated independently of other submissions, according to the criteria listed above.
Accessible, comprehensive, invisible, and simple.
Compositionality is committed to accessible, comprehensive, invisible, and simple name changes for all authors. As an arXiv-overlay journal, our policies are enacted within the framework of the arXiv name change policy, according to the following principles.
Handling of submissions: through Scholastica. Compositionality provides an online system, Scholastica, as a platform for all communication author-editor-reviewer, to have all information stored in one place.
Assignment of editors: by coordinating editors. Coordinating Editors assign each incoming submission to a knowledgeable handling editor not affected by conflicts of interest. Authors may provide suggestions.
Assignment of reviewers: by handling editor. Handling editors by default invite two reviewers. Authors may provide suggestions.
Deadlines: no strict deadlines. Compositionality does not impose strict deadlines, but works actively to ensure timeliness of the review process. In the initial request, reviewers are asked to submit their review within 30 days, but different timelines may be accorded between reviewers and handling editor.
Decision notifications: sent to authors and reviewers. Upon decision, authors and reviewers receive a notification letter from the editor, enclosing the editorial decision and anonymised reviewer reports. The reports are to be considered confidential. Appeals will only be considered under exceptional circumstances.
Editorial transparency: all editors can see all submissions. All submissions, reviewer reports, and decisions are visible to all editors, except those who have a known conflict of interest. Authors are informed which editor is handling the submission.
Blinding: single-blind. The authors are known to reviewers, but the reviewers are not known to the authors.
Conflicts of interest: must be declared. Editors and reviewers declare potential conflicts of interest regarding each submission, and, if appropriate, exclude themselves from handling that submission. Conflict of interests may be due to personal, professional or economic relationships. As a guideline, editors and reviewers should not have collaborated with authors within the preceding two years.
Open review: review material may be published as commentary. At the discretion of the manuscript’s handling editor, commentaries may be published alongside accepted manuscripts. These are usually written by reviewers, and based on existing pre-publication materials (e.g. reviewer reports and author replies).
Composition of the editorial board: broad, selected by the steering board. The editorial board should be broad enough to cover the main subfields of applied category theory and math-CT. Editors and Coordinating Editors are selected and discharged by the steering board, with open calls for editors whenever needed.
Editorial term: two years by default. Editors serve two-year terms by default, with no limit on the number of successive terms. Withdrawing editors are expected to finish handling the submissions assigned to them.
Editorial policy revision: every two years. The editorial policies will be reviewed by the steering board, with feedback from the editorial board, every two years. There will be an exceptional revision after the first year of operation. Editors may also suggest policy changes at any time.