[1] Paleoceanography occupies a central role for publications on how the oceans have evolved over time. On 1 January 2006 we officially began 4-year terms as the new Editors of this journal. Following tradition, we share some opening commentary. [2] Our journal presently sits at the cusp of our discipline for two reasons: great editing over the past 4 years and a steady stream of strong papers. The journal was in a difficult situation several years ago, with long turnaround times between submission and publication and a mostly hard copy format. During their editorial terms, Lisa Sloan and Larry Peterson have expertly guided the journal, which has experienced a significant reduction in the handling time of manuscripts and a very successful transition to full electronic format. Along with their active nurturing of submissions and an emphasis on a constructive and fair review process the journal has received and published a series of exciting and incisive contributions. Once again, Paleoceanography resides as the flagship journal for our discipline. On behalf of all who read and usePaleoceanography, we thank Lisa and Larry for the energy and effort they devoted as Editors. Of course, a peer-reviewed scientific journal can only remain top-notchwith outstanding submissions, excellent refereeing, and an active audience. We also thank you. [3] As the new Editors, our first aim is to maintain the high standards set by Lisa and Larry. We will strive for outstanding science, a rapid turnaround of papers, and a fair and constructive reviewing process. Like our predecessors, we also take a broad view of Paleoceanography. Our discipline naturally spans incredible scientific diversity and invites links to other research fields, such as oceanography, geology, climatology, geochemistry, biochemistry, physical geography, paleontology, and more. We see these attributes as a key to the past and future strength of our journal, and we encourage submissions that cover a wide range of timescales and topics. As a general guideline, Paleoceanography should be a choice for excellent work that has been or could be presented in most ‘‘Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology’’ (PP) sessions at annual AGU meetings. We stress, though, that the exact content of our journal depends on you. [4] Although we are generally pleased with Paleoceanography, we will strive to make a few changes that reflect the nature of our discipline. As highlighted at the 2005 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting by Jim Kennett, the founder and first Editor of our journal, the focus of research in our discipline has shifted considerably over the past 50 years; paleoceanography has now matured into the cornerstone for understanding and constraining global processes in the time domain (J. P. Kennett, Paleoceanography and beyond: Changing perspectives over more than four decades, Eos Transactions AGU, 86(52), Fall Meeting Supplement, Abstract PP24A-08, 2005). One consequence of this progression is the increasing need to truly integrate location-specific data with large-scale models for mass and heat transfer. Too often, interpretations of data are made without considering a larger modeling context (Is the interpretation plausible? How might the interpretation be used?), and models are presented without considering the full range of available data (Does the model explain all relevant observations? What data can be generated to test the model?). We will make a concerted effort to improve data-model interaction. [5] We will also encourage open discussion about the quantification and robustness of results. Paleoceanography has long emphasized innovative studies that present new and exciting interpretations, concepts, and proxies. We feel that, in a specialized journal with relatively generous page limits, it should also be the norm to include discussion about key assumptions, process representations, potential problems, uncertainties, and alternative explanations. Such discussions, applicable to analytical and numerical studies, trigger new developments that improve our reconstructions and make our efforts more useful to the wider community. We are fully aware that well-defined qualitative observations can offer critical constraints, even if they cannot be easily incorporated into quantitative models. In these cases the robustness of the interpretations should still be transparently evaluated. [6] In addition, we will institute a few changes to the journal format. First, we will resurrect Paleoceanography Currents, the section for short, provocative papers, ideally 5 pages or less when printed. Right now, Paleoceanography does not embrace these papers so they are being published elsewhere. We want great short papers on topics relevant to our discipline published in Paleoceanography. [7] Second, we will limit all articles to the equivalent of 16 printed pages, including text, figures, tables and references. Frankly, we find very few colleagues interested PALEOCEANOGRAPHY, VOL. 21, PA1000, doi:10.1029/2006PA001272, 2006