The Spanish Association of Project Engineering is pleased to publish the following selection of the best papers presented at the International Congress on Project Engineering. After having organized an annual Congress with an array of universities over the last 15 years — first at the national and then at the international level— by the end of 2007 the AEIPRO Directive Board decided to establish a Scientific Committee to evaluate the papers  presented at the Congress. The Scientific Committee has also chosen the works to be published in the selected proceedings of the Congress. The procedures to establish the Scientific Committee and evaluate the submitted papers are explained below in detail. It is the hope of the Committee that the compiled works contribute to the improvement of project engineering research and improve the transfer of results to the job of Project Engineers.

The Spanish Association of Project Engineering (Asociación Española de Ingeniería de Proyectos — AEIPRO) is a non-profit organization founded in September 1992. It is an entity for the professionalization of Project Engineering with the following goals: to facilitate the association of scientists and professionals within the Project Engineering area; to serve as a tool for improving communication and cooperation amongst these professionals; to improve experts’ knowledge in the different fields of Project Engineering; to promote the best professional practices in these fields; to identify and define the needs that may arise in the every day development of these activities; and finally, to adopt positions in order to orientate society when faced with differences within the fields of action. At present it is a National Association within IPMA (International Project Management Association), an international association that brings together more than 45,000 members and represents about half a million professionals from 47 countries.

From its beginnings, AEIPRO has been holding an annual Congress with growing concern for the improvement of the evaluation process of the presented papers. This consideration has led to the establishment of a scientific approach capable of adopting the evaluation criteria of the scientific activity. These criteria, specific to each scientific field, were defined by the Presidency of the CNEAI in its Resolution of 11/11/2008. The key issues in the area of Project Engineering are presented in subfield 6.3. In paragraph 3.b) of the mentioned subfield, one of the relevant types of contributions is: “The works published in the proceedings of congresses that are peer reviewed, whenever these proceedings serve as a vehicle to knowledge diffusion similar to prestigious international journals”. Taking the preceding statement into consideration, during the 12th International Congress of Project Engineering, held in Zaragoza in July of 2008, a scientific procedure was developed so that the works published in the proceedings of this Congress would meet these requirements. Tasks to create a Scientific Committee and design the action procedures for the evaluation of the presented papers at the Congress were developed in order to meet
these goals.