Editorial

Abstract

It is a privilege and an honor for me to succeed my friend, Professor Vijay Dhir, a distinguished and well-known scholar, as the new Editor of ASME's Journal of Heat Transfer. Over the past five years as Editor, Vijay has made many substantial improvements in the Journal, including increasing the frequency from bi-monthly to monthly and bringing out special issues on important areas of heat transfer. I am also honored to follow in the footsteps of the previous Editors of the Journal. It is an awe-inspiring list of leaders in the field of heat transfer and includes Professors E. M. Sparrow, K. T. Yang, G. M. Faeth, R. Viskanta, J. R. Howell, and V. K. Dhir. All these Editors have made the Journal what it is today and we all owe them much gratitude for their contributions. I have personally gained a lot from them, particularly from Ray Viskanta and Jack Howell, with whom I served as Associate Editor. I hope to continue the high standards and traditions set by them.The Journal of Heat Transfer has grown substantially in recent years, both in terms of the number of papers published and the impact on the field. It has become one of the preeminent avenues for the dissemination of research results in heat transfer and serves as a dominant source of archival information for academia, industry, national labs and other organizations. However, the scope and impact of the field of heat transfer has also changed and grown over the past two decades. Since heat transfer is concerned with the transport of thermal energy, the field is intimately coupled with a wide variety of problems and systems. These include problems arising in diverse areas such as energy, environment, transportation, space, electronics, manufacturing, refrigeration and air-conditioning, biological systems, security and, of course, heat transfer equipment. Thus, heat transfer must be considered in its broader concept of thermal sciences and engineering. The Journal welcomes papers in all such areas in which thermal energy transport is a major consideration. Obviously, specialized journals have been developed to present concerns and solutions in different areas, such as polymer processing, crystal growth, combustion, engines, gas turbines, electronic packaging and solar energy. However, basic and long-range concerns with heat transfer are common to many of these areas and similar solution strategies may be adopted. The Journal of Heat Transfer could be the natural venue for publishing the relevant analysis, experimentation and results.My main goal is to maintain the high quality and standards that the Journal is known for, while striving to expand its reach and impact. It is important to ensure that the papers are reviewed and published in a timely manner. The use of electronic submission and review has been a major help in this direction. Electronic submissions have also become critical due to the strong international base of authors, readers, reviewers and Associate Editors. I expect the international contributions to grow in the future, as research in thermal sciences and related areas continues to grow around the world. The participation of industry has increased somewhat in recent years, but clearly much more effort is needed to publish high quality, archival material that would be of practical and engineering interest to non-academic researchers and engineers. Similarly, publication of relevant papers by industrial researchers through review articles or contributed papers will strengthen the coupling between academic research and industrial needs.I realize that serving as the Editor of a prestigious journal such as the Journal of Heat Transfer is quite challenging. But the Journal has been fortunate in having had the support of many dedicated Associate Editors, who have spent enormous time and effort getting the papers reviewed by appropriate referees in time. The large number of reviewers used by the Journal has been instrumental in achieving the goals of timeliness and quality. The publishing department at ASME is staffed with very experienced, capable, dedicated and sincere people. I look forward to interacting with them, as I seek their help, guidance and support. The Heat Transfer Division has been a major partner in the growth and development of the Journal. I look forward to interacting with the Executive Committee of the Division as we go forward.Best wishes to all the authors, reviewers, Associate Editors, past Editors, ASME publishing staff and all others who have interest in the Journal of Heat Transfer.