"We submitted the Springer Handbook of Robotics to the PROSE Awards because Springer was convinced that it constitutes the most authoritative publication in this modern and growing scientific discipline. Springer is one of the leading publishers in this field and we have excellent contacts to this group of distinguished experts, not only in the field of robotics, but also in biomechanics, neurosciences, virtual simulation, animation, computational intelligence and sensor networks," said Thomas Ditzinger, Senior Editor, Engineering/ Applied Sciences at Springer. The Handbook was the Springer bestselling title in engineering in 2008.
Bruno Siciliano and Oussama Khatib, editors of the Handbook, said, "This is a tribute to robotics as an established scientific field and an acknowledgment of the accomplishments of the 50 years of work our research community has achieved. The PROSE Awards recognize, above all, the efforts our editors and authors have devoted to this challenge, with their contributions, commitment and passion." The editors also emphasized, "The bestowal of this prize brings a distinct appreciation for the unrelenting support of Springer as publisher."
More good news is that Springer was also awarded two honorable mentions for excellence in publishing. Evolution: Education and Outreach received an honorable mention for journals in the category Social Sciences & Humanities, and Solar Sails: A Novel Approach to Interplanetary Travel received an honorable mention for books in the category Cosmology & Astronomy.
The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP's more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies. This year's PROSE Awards received a record-breaking 439 entries from 60 professional and scholarly publishers across the USA.
Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) is one of the world's leading suppliers of scientific and specialist literature. It is the second-largest publisher of journals in the science, technology, and medicine (STM) sector, the largest publisher of STM books and the largest business-to-business publisher in the German-language area. The group publishes over 1,700 journals and more than 5,500 new books a year, as well as the largest STM eBook collection worldwide. Springer has operations in over 20 countries in Europe, the USA, and Asia, and some 5,000 employees. In 2007, it generated annual sales of around EUR 906 million.