IEEE Control Systems Magazine

About IEEE Control Systems Magazine

IEEE Control Systems Magazine: The Control Community's Magazine

IEEE Control Systems Magazine (often abbreviated IEEE Contr. Syst. Mag.) is one of the most widely read periodicals in the field of control engineering — and understanding one thing up front is essential: it is a magazine, not a peer-reviewed research journal. Unlike the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control or the IEEE Control Systems Letters, which publish archival, rigorously peer-reviewed research papers, IEEE Control Systems Magazine is the official communications magazine of the IEEE Control Systems Society (CSS). Its purpose is to inform, educate, and connect the control systems community through tutorial and expository writing, industry application stories, education features, and society news. Articles are invited or submitted for editorial consideration, and every feature is written to be readable, instructive, and broadly useful — not to report incremental new theorems to a narrow specialist audience. This distinction matters: you do not send original research results here the way you would to a transactions journal. You write here to explain, to teach, and to inspire.

History: A Magazine Born in 1981

IEEE Control Systems Magazine began publication in 1981, when the IEEE Control Systems Society (then a young society, itself founded in 1954) decided that its members needed a dedicated magazine-style periodical to complement the archival Transactions on Automatic Control. In the early 1980s, the control community was growing rapidly: microprocessors were entering control rooms, robust control theory was maturing, and engineers needed a publication that translated advanced ideas into accessible, practical form. The magazine filled that gap from its first volume.

Bibliographic records trace the title through a short early phase: the publication began as Control systems magazine (New York, N.Y., 1981) and continued as IEEE control systems, with the modern stable identity — ISSN 1066-033X in print — established in the mid-1980s. Library cataloging records (LCCN 87640286, OCLC 12098840) document this continuity, and IEEE Xplore carries the publication under periodical number 37, with digital archives reaching back to 1981.

From the beginning, the magazine has been published bimonthly — six issues per year (February, April, June, August, October, December) — by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., on behalf of the IEEE Control Systems Society. That rhythm has never changed: six issues a year, every year, for more than four decades, making it one of the longest-running magazine-style publications in engineering.

Over its lifetime, the magazine has chronicled the field's major waves: the rise of digital and robust control in the 1980s, the expansion into intelligent and nonlinear control in the 1990s, the networked control and multi-agent systems revolution of the 2000s, and in recent years the convergence of control with machine learning, data-driven methods, and cyber-physical systems. Special issues organized over the decades — on topics such as networks, biosystems, control education, and agricultural applications — have repeatedly served as state-of-the-field landmarks that researchers still cite today.

Leadership and Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief (2025–present): Dr. Anuradha Annaswamy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Annaswamy was approved unanimously by the CSS Board of Governors at its December 2023 meeting in Singapore, with her term beginning January 1, 2025. The CSS Publications Content Digests for 2025 list her as the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Control Systems Magazine, confirming her current incumbency. In her editorials, she has described the magazine's health: more than 50 submissions over a recent twelve-month window, about a 15% acceptance rate, and special issues bookending the year on Connected and Automated Vehicles and the Internal Model Principle — evidence of an actively curated, selective publication.

She succeeded Rodolphe Sepulchre, who served as Editor-in-Chief from 2020 to 2024 and wrote thirty editorials across his term on themes ranging from cybernetics and dissipativity to the ethics of control. Before him, Jonathan P. How of MIT led the magazine from 2015 to 2019. Earlier Editors-in-Chief include Tariq Samad (1998–2003), who led the publication into the networked era and organized special issues on networks, biosystems, control education, and agricultural applications, and Dennis S. Bernstein, who served as Editor-in-Chief in the mid-2000s and wrote widely read editorials on the culture and philosophy of control engineering. Richard Braatz served as Deputy Editor-in-Chief beginning in 2010.

The magazine is supported by an editorial board of associate editors and department editors covering its regular columns and departments, plus the IEEE Periodicals Magazines Department in Piscataway, New Jersey (445 Hoes Lane), which handles production: the senior managing editor, art directors, and production coordination that turn manuscripts into the magazine's distinctive illustrated pages. Advertising and media operations are handled through IEEE Magazines' advertising sales office.

Aims & Scope

The IEEE Control Systems Society describes IEEE Control Systems as "the largest circulation technical periodical worldwide devoted to all aspects of control systems." Its official aim and scope states that the magazine publishes tutorial and expository articles on all areas of control system design and applications, and that its articles "are intended to inform the control systems community of recent developments in control."

The magazine's mission statement, printed in every issue's masthead, declares that "as the official means of communication for the IEEE Control Systems Society, IEEE Control Systems Magazine publishes interesting, useful, and informative material on all aspects of control system technology for the benefit of control educators, practitioners, and researchers." The scope is deliberately broad: modeling, analysis, and design of control systems across aerospace, automotive, communication networks, cyber-physical systems, manufacturing, power grids, process control, robotics, smart communities, and systems and synthetic biology.

The writing philosophy is what sets it apart from research journals. Submissions must "strive for high-quality exposition that explains the principal issues and challenges of their applications area." The introduction "must be of a tutorial nature to introduce nonexperts to the area of application." Articles are expected to be expository — delineating content to nonexperts — while assuming knowledge of control and systems theory at a graduate level. In plain terms: if your article cannot be understood and appreciated by a good graduate student outside your subfield, it does not belong here.

The editorial leadership has consistently emphasized tutorial and expositional flavor as the common ingredient of every article. Feature articles are expected to showcase an emerging trend, educate young researchers, and carry clear tutorial value — a standard that has made many of the magazine's tutorial features among the most cited articles in the entire control literature.

Article Types and Regular Columns

IEEE Control Systems Magazine publishes several distinct article types, each with its own character:

• Feature articles: The heart of each issue. A feature article typically provides an in-depth treatment of an application of control technology, a tutorial on some area of control theory, or an innovation in control education. Features are long-form, richly illustrated, and written for breadth.
• "Applications of Control" columns: Industrially oriented summaries of innovations in control technology — how control is being applied in real products, plants, vehicles, and infrastructure.
• "Focus on Education" columns: Descriptions of aspects of control education, such as novel control experiments, curricula, laboratories, and teaching innovations.
• "Lecture Notes" columns: Can be theoretical in nature as long as they have clear tutorial value and intent — concise lessons that teach a method or concept.
• Special issues: The magazine regularly organizes special issues on timely themes. Recent examples include Connected and Automated Vehicles and the Internal Model Principle. The editorial team encourages proposals for special issues from guest editors with a compelling theme.
• Editorials: The Editor-in-Chief writes an editorial for each issue, reflecting on the field's direction — from "Do we need feedback?" to "The ethics of control."
• Technical committee columns: The CSS maintains 21 technical committees on topics ranging from aerospace control to intelligent control; their activities, invited sessions, and workshops are reported in the magazine's columns.
• Society and community departments: News about the CSS, requests for nominations for the Board of Governors, minutes of BoG meetings, conference reports, conference calendar, book announcements and book reviews ("Bookshelf"), and information about recently published books and past and future conferences.

The magazine also accepts advertising for educational products, books, software, conferences, employment, and control-related technology, consistent with its role as the community's central bulletin board.

Editorial Process: How Articles Are Handled

Manuscripts are submitted electronically through the CSS submission site at css.paperplaza.net, and authors are encouraged to contact the Editor-in-Chief about the suitability of potential columns before submitting. Unlike transactions journals, where every paper undergoes anonymous peer review by multiple reviewers against a novelty standard, the magazine's editorial process is editorially led: the Editor-in-Chief and the relevant department or column editors evaluate whether a submission fits the magazine's tutorial and expository mission, and work with authors to shape the article for the broad readership.

The current Editor-in-Chief has reported that the magazine receives more than 50 submissions in a twelve-month period, with roughly 15% accepted and about 40% under review at any given time — selectivity comparable to respected journals, but on expositional rather than novelty grounds. Authors should expect revision requests focused on clarity, tutorial quality, illustration, and accessibility to nonexperts rather than on additional theoretical results.

Manuscripts must follow the CSm Author's Guide: typeset in single-column format (LaTeX preferred, Word accepted), pages numbered, no abstract, no numbered sections, centered and boldfaced major headings, references listed in order of citation and formatted in the magazine's style, no footnotes, and figure captions in CSm style. Digital images must be at least 300 dpi for publication. Authors are responsible for obtaining copyright permission for any third-party material, with explicit acknowledgment of permission in the article. A nontechnical sidebar summary (roughly 150–200 words) is encouraged so that each article carries a broadly accessible statement of the value, utility, and impact of the work — deliberately free of technical jargon.

Readership and Metrics

The IEEE Control Systems Society describes IEEE Control Systems as the largest-circulation technical periodical worldwide devoted to all aspects of control systems. It reaches the Society's membership — control researchers, educators, and practitioners across academia and industry in dozens of countries — as a membership benefit, with subscriptions included in the Society fee. Because of its tutorial style, its articles are widely read and unusually heavily cited for a magazine: several of its tutorial feature articles on networked control systems, switched systems, and multivehicle cooperative control rank among the most cited publications in control engineering.

A note on impact factors: IEEE Control Systems Magazine is a magazine, not a Journal Citation Reports (JCR) research journal. Third-party metric sites publish various estimated figures for it (impact-factor-style numbers, CiteScore-style numbers, h-index-style numbers), but these are unofficial aggregator estimates, not figures published or endorsed by the IEEE Control Systems Society. Because the magazine's mission is exposition and communication rather than archival research publication, citation metrics should not be used to compare it with research journals. The Society does not publish an official impact factor for the magazine.

Submission Guidelines for Prospective Authors

If you are considering writing for IEEE Control Systems Magazine, here is the practical path, based on the Society's official submission information:

• Decide whether your piece is a magazine article: Ask whether your contribution explains, teaches, or showcases an application. If your goal is to publish new research theorems, submit to a transactions journal instead.
• Check suitability first: Contact the Editor-in-Chief about whether your topic suits a feature article or a column (Applications of Control, Focus on Education, Lecture Notes). This saves everyone time.
• Download and follow the CSm Author's Guide: Available from the magazine's page on ieeecss.org. Key rules: single-column format; LaTeX preferred; numbered pages; no abstract; no numbered sections; centered bold major headings and left-aligned bold subheadings; punctuation after equations; references in citation order in the magazine's style; no footnotes; 300 dpi images minimum.
• Write tutorially: At least some of the introduction must be of a tutorial nature, introducing nonexperts to the area. Assume graduate-level control and systems theory knowledge — but no more. Use sidebars for self-contained digressions and tutorials, and include a nontechnical sidebar summary of the article's value and impact.
• Illustrate generously: The magazine encourages color illustrations, figures, and photographs. A well-illustrated article is far more likely to succeed than a text-only one.
• Submit at css.paperplaza.net: All submissions go through the CSS PaperPlaza site, with inquiries on content appropriateness directed to the editorial office.
• Special issues: If you have a timely theme, propose a special issue to the Editor-in-Chief — the magazine actively encourages such proposals.
• Books and conferences: Information about recently published books goes to the associate editor for book reviews; conference information goes to the conferences editor.

Acceptance is competitive (on the order of 15%), and review focuses on expositional quality, tutorial value, and interest to the broad control community.

Indexing and Availability

IEEE Control Systems Magazine is available in print to IEEE Control Systems Society members and through institutional subscriptions, and digitally through IEEE Xplore (periodical number 37), where the full archive back to 1981 is accessible to subscribers. The publication is indexed in Scopus and other abstracting and indexing services covering engineering periodicals. Its identifiers are: print ISSN 1066-033X (codename ISMAD7), electronic ISSN 1941-000X, and ISO 4 abbreviation IEEE Contr. Syst. Mag. Early volumes also appear in library catalogs under ISSN 0888-0611 (1985–1990 era records). The magazine is published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., headquartered at 3 Park Avenue, New York, NY, with production through the IEEE Periodicals Magazines Department in Piscataway, New Jersey.

Notable Articles and Issues

Several IEEE Control Systems Magazine feature articles have become landmark references in the field — a testament to the power of tutorial exposition. Widely cited examples include tutorial features on the stability of networked control systems, basic problems in the stability and design of switched systems, and information consensus in multivehicle cooperative control — articles that researchers across the field consult as standard entry points into those topics.

The magazine's special issues have also been influential. Recent ones organized under the current editorship include a special issue on Connected and Automated Vehicles and one on the Internal Model Principle. Earlier special issues covered networks, biosystems, control education, and agricultural applications. The Editor-in-Chief's editorials themselves — from "Cybernetics" and "50 years of dissipativity" to "The ethics of control" and "Control and diversity" — are collected by former editors and read as a running commentary on the field's evolution.

The magazine's article "The history of control: from idea to technology" (a special-issue feature on the history of feedback control) and the many "History" columns by associate editors have made the magazine one of the main venues where the control community writes its own history. For students and newcomers, browsing a decade of the magazine's features is arguably the fastest way to gain a panoramic education in control engineering.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is IEEE Control Systems Magazine a peer-reviewed journal?

No — it is a magazine, not a peer-reviewed research journal. While submissions are evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief and editorial board with a competitive acceptance rate (around 15%), the standard is expositional and tutorial quality rather than the anonymous peer review of novel research results used by transactions journals. Do not submit original research theorems here; submit them to a journal such as the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, and use the magazine to explain and teach.

Who publishes IEEE Control Systems Magazine?

It is published bimonthly by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE), on behalf of the IEEE Control Systems Society (CSS). The CSS is a professional society founded in 1954, dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practice of systems and control.

Who is the current Editor-in-Chief?

Dr. Anuradha Annaswamy of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose term began on January 1, 2025, following unanimous approval by the CSS Board of Governors. She succeeded Rodolphe Sepulchre (2020–2024); earlier Editors-in-Chief include Jonathan P. How (2015–2019), Tariq Samad (1998–2003), and Dennis S. Bernstein (mid-2000s).

What is the magazine's ISSN?

The print ISSN is 1066-033X (codename ISMAD7) and the electronic ISSN is 1941-000X. Its ISO 4 abbreviation is IEEE Contr. Syst. Mag.

How often is it published?

Bimonthly — six issues per year (February, April, June, August, October, December). It has been published continuously since 1981.

What does the magazine look for in submissions?

High-quality exposition with a strong tutorial flavor: in-depth treatments of applications of control technology, tutorials on areas of control theory, innovations in control education, industrially oriented applications-of-control summaries, and lecture-notes-style lessons. The introduction must be tutorial enough to bring nonexperts into the area.

How do I submit an article?

All submissions go through https://css.paperplaza.net, following the CSm Author's Guide (available on ieeecss.org). LaTeX is preferred, single-column format, no abstract, no numbered sections, 300-dpi minimum images, and references in the magazine's style. Authors are encouraged to contact the Editor-in-Chief first about suitability.

Does the magazine have an impact factor?

No official impact factor is published or endorsed by the IEEE Control Systems Society for the magazine. It is a magazine, not a JCR-indexed research journal, and citation metrics should not be used to compare it with archival journals. Third-party aggregator sites publish unofficial estimates; treat them with caution.

Is the magazine indexed in Scopus?

Yes — it is indexed in Scopus and other engineering indexing services, and its full archive back to 1981 is available on IEEE Xplore.

How can I access back issues?

Past issues are available through IEEE Xplore (periodical number 37) for subscribers, and IEEE Control Systems Society members receive the magazine as a membership benefit. Individual and institutional subscriptions are available through IEEE.

Does the magazine accept special issue proposals?

Yes. The magazine explicitly encourages proposals for special issues; proposers should contact the Editor-in-Chief to discuss potential topics.

What is the difference between IEEE Control Systems Magazine and the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control?

The Transactions on Automatic Control is the CSS's archival peer-reviewed research journal, publishing rigorously reviewed original research. The Magazine is the Society's official communications magazine, publishing tutorial, expository, and application-oriented articles plus society news. They complement each other: the journal advances the field's knowledge; the magazine spreads it.