Arizona State University's Regents Professor Constantine A. Balanis is an inaugural Advisory Board member of the IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation. He is an accomplished author, lecturer, researcher and inventor, universally acknowledged by his peers as a true pioneer in the field of antennas and electromagnetics. He has made outstanding contributions in antenna research and applications, including antenna modeling, design, simulation, and measurements, as well as the enhancement of antennas’ electromagnetic characteristics towards realizing space, imaging and automotive radar applications. A sophisticated educational innovator, he has been instrumental in transforming electrical engineering education, while his books on antenna theory and electromagnetics have been established as the standard classic for engineering students and researchers around the world.

Balanis is an IEEE Life Fellow and has received numerous awards for his teaching, research and service. He recently earned one of the highest achievements in electromagnetic engineering. He is the 2021 recipient of the IEEE Electromagnetics Award for contributions to electromagnetics through excellence in book authorship, teaching, and antenna research.

An emblematic member of our antennas and propagation community, he unfolds his career path, shares his insights on open access publishing and presents a roadmap to writing a high-quality research article.

What is your background and how did you become a researcher in your field?

Electromagnetics is my area of teaching and research, with primary emphasis on antennas and computational EM methods. It all started in 1964 when I began my professional career with NASA, Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA; moved to the academic community in 1970. While at NASA, I was given the opportunity to select my research area of interest; initially I started in microwaves and then moved to antennas. I followed the antenna research and applications pathway for the remainder of my career.

Which issue would you identify as the most urgent in your field of work?

Electromagnetics has undergone a drastic evolution during the past 70+ years. This includes the advancement and proliferation of analytical methods, computational techniques and numerical algorithms to analyse and simulate previously intractable problems, and design more complex structures and systems. While personal and commercial full-wave EM solvers have been, and will continue to be, essential and indispensable tools for both companies, institutes and universities to design and simulate advanced and challenging structures and systems, we should not lose sight of the analytical methods and basic fundamentals which:

• Are and continue to be the foundation and cornerstone of electromagnetics
• Provide the basic principles, understanding and physical interpretation of EM phenomena and interactions.

Electromagnetics and antenna technology have a bright future and many challenges. We need to exercise creativity, imagination and science for their advancement.

Electromagnetics and antenna technology have a bright future and many challenges. We need to exercise creativity, imagination and science for their advancement.

You have achieved so much in your field. What keeps you motivated?

To captivate the interest and maintain the momentum over a long period of time, you have to be engaged in an area that is of appeal and curiosity to you and your profession, and your contributions will be recognized and appreciated by your employer and peers. It should be a vivacious pursuit, not a ‘drag’, that you look forward to perform daily; time should not be a factor to complete the tasks and meet the deadlines. I was fortunate throughout my career to have addressed research topics that kept me, and my research group, active and fascinated; my research complimented my teaching appeals, and vice-versa; the two formed an excellent tandem and enviable environment.

What advice would you give to a PhD researcher trying to write their first article?

One of the first things for a PhD researcher, when contemplating to write the first journal article, is select a journal/transaction whose readership has an interest in the topic of the contemplated article. The author should then search the literature to see what has already been published on the topic and compare its advancements, which should be notable, to the findings of previous work performed.

Some of the questions that should be addressed by the author:

• What is the topic; concise but illustrative of the theme of the paper
• Select the appropriate journal/transaction
• Search on what has already been published
• How the contents of the new publication will advance existing technology
• How the publication should be crafted to address advancements and to maintain the interest of the readership
• Write the paper, review it carefully, and submit to the journal/transaction.

How important do you feel it is for a journal to embrace fast-paced changes in scholarly publishing and modern technologies?

The main role of journals is to disseminate information to the readership on a timely schedule. Electromagnetics technology is evolving rapidly and new advances are pushing the boundaries of technology. Therefore, journals should evolve, embrace, maintain pace and report to the readership the fast-paced advancements of scholarly activities and state-of-the-art technologies; otherwise, the journals will diminish their role, effectiveness and existence.

Journals should evolve, embrace, maintain pace and report to the readership the fast-paced advancements of scholarly activities and state-of-the-art technologies.

Are there potential research topics, within the Antennas and Propagation field, you would like to see featured within the upcoming OJAP articles?

There are a plethora of topics that could be addressed by OJAP, some of which are already planned. What follows is an abbreviated list of general topics:

• Electromagnetic Metamaterial and Metasurface Engineering
• Antennas for 5-G Wireless Communication
• Novel Reconfigurable Antenna Designs
• Flexible and Body-Worn Antennas
• Antennas for Emerging Biomedical Applications
• Terahertz Antennas
• Conformal and Low-Profile Antennas
• Reflectarrays
• Efficient and Robust Computational Electromagnetics for Antennas on Large and Complex Structures

What are your thoughts on open access publishing?

Open access publishing is a fairly new model of publication. It is rapid, achieves wide visibility and dissemination without barriers, especially in developing countries, accelerates publication of emerging technical innovations, and it leads to author(s) visibility and citations. On the flip-side, open access publication must maintain quality control through peer-review, which should not be compromised. Initially, because of the novelty of open access publication, the impact factor may not be attractive, as it takes time to establish reputation for the journal; for the same reasons, the costs for ‘survival’ may be somewhat higher than those of traditional publications. Because of the nature of publication, there has been a proliferation of Open Access journals; the reputation of some open access journals may be of question. Therefore, authors should be vigilant when selecting an Open Access journal.

IEEE has rigorous publication procedures for its Open Access journals, including OJAP, very similar to those of its traditional journals and transactions.