Editorial

Abstract

For five years, from 1995 until March 2000, Dr Paul Craven was Publishing Editor of Measurement Science and Technology. In April of this year he took a posting at a large medical faculty near London, responsible for coordinating their research grant programme. As Publishing Editor, Paul was the Journal's main external contact for both authors and referees as well as being responsible for coordination between the Editorial Board and the Publisher. We owe Paul tremendous thanks for his efforts during this period, a period that saw substantial expansion of the Editorial Board, geographically and in subject scope, and a period in which Internet access to journals became standard practice. Improvements in author service including a substantial decrease in the time between manuscript submission and publication were also achieved, thanks largely to the efforts of the rest of Paul's team, namely Barbara Bostock, the Publishing Administrator, and Katie Pennicott, the Production Editor. Furthermore, since 1995, the Editorial Board has pursued an ambitious programme of review articles, special topical issues and feature sections. This puts an extra burden on the publishing team, not only because of the necessary timing of many articles and authors, but because we are often dealing with guest editors and specially chosen referees. Paul met all of these challenges superbly and we add to our thanks our good wishes for a successful career in his new position. Paul has been succeeded at Institute of Physics Publishing by Sharon D'Souza, who brings equal enthusiasm to the challenges facing us. We welcome Sharon to the Measurement Science and Technology staff and are confident that together with Alan Evans, who takes over asProduction Editor and has extensive experience in journal production, we will be able to maintain the high standards to which our authors and readers have become accustomed.Indeed, many of the radical changes that publishers are currently undertaking due to Internet capabilities may not be immediately apparent to all readers. Subscription practices are moving rapidly to consortium agreements, individual readers are more interested in immediate online access, authors increasingly request multimedia capabilities, and publishers are cooperating in programmes like CrossRef to provide readers with seamless links from references. Institute of Physics Publishing has always been a leader in Internet-related services and at Measurement Science and Technology we intend to exploit these services fully to expand upon our position as one of the leading archival journals in our field. We have enjoyed a steadily increasing impact factor over the last few years, an honourable tribute to both our authors and readers. In the current year our page count has increased by 25% over last year alone and present plans see similar increases in the future. The Editorial Board has received wholehearted support from Institute of Physics Publishing, both in staff and facilities, and we look forward to maintaining these upward trends and therefore to an exciting period in the coming years.