Editorial Note from Editor-in-Chief

The first issue of Volume 12 of Protein and Peptide Letters brings many changes to our journal following a very successful 2004. First, we are pleased to welcome Anna Maria Papini as the new Editor-for-Europe. Dr. Papini replaces Robin Leatherbarrow, who served with distinction from 1997 through 2004. We also want to acknowledge the outstanding contributions of John Wade, Editor-for-Asia & Australia. Authors in those parts of the world should submit their manuscripts to either Dr. Papini or Dr. Wade. We have also begun the construction of a special website, www.bentham-mps.org, for the electronic submission of manuscripts and assignment of referees. We expect this system to be operational during 2005 and will provide updates on the regular Bentham Science website, www.bentham.org. Second, we have expanded the Editorial Board to reflect the wide scope of topics covered in each issue. Names and affiliations are given in the masthead on the inside front cover. Authors are welcome to suggest a member of the Editorial Board to oversee the peer review of their manuscripts. Third, we plan to publish eight issues in Volume 12 for 2005, an increase of 25% in pages. The fourth major change is that we have switched the format of the articles in the journal to the two-column style, which permits publication of 40% more pages in each issue. This is necessary for two reasons: first, the two-column style has become the standard for other Bentham Science Publishing journals; second, the increasing flow of manuscripts submitted and accepted to the journal has created a demand for more space. In the future, authors can submit their manuscripts in a more simplified format and the accepted papers will be type-set for publication. We will continue the policy of sending PDF files as the page proofs for author approval before publication. A big reason for the move to the two column format has been the increase in the number of Hot Topic issues that have been organized by volunteer Guest Editors. Hot Topic issues provide cutting-edge reviews of a focused topic and are an excellent way to stimulate further research on a subject of current interest. Publishing a Hot Topic issue can, however, cause a delay in publishing regular individual manuscript; thus, another new development is our new policy of combining regular manuscripts with some Hot Topic issues. We welcome new suggestions for the Hot Topic issues and volunteers to organize them. Please send a proposal to the Editor-in-Chief at bdunn@ufl.edu. We will continue our policies of publishing stand-alone mini-reviews on all topics in protein and peptide science, regular submitted manuscripts, and Crystallization Reports in addition to the special Hot Topics issues. Finally, I want to thank all contributors to Protein and Peptide Letters, both authors and referees. It has been my pleasure to be associated with this journal and to work with so many authors, editors, and referees from around the world of science. We look forward to significant improvements in Protein and Peptide Letters in 2005. As always, I welcome reader input at any time.