It is a great honor to be appointed as the new Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American Aging Association [AGE]. The journal has a long history of publishing pioneering research in the field of aging and our relationship with the American Aging Association is key to both its past accomplishments and future successes. I would personally like to thank Dr. Donald Ingram whose leadership over the past 11 years has been critical to the continued growth of the journal. We are fortunate that he will remain on the editorial board and continue to be a valuable part of our growth in the future.

This is an exciting period for those of us conducting research in the field of aging. Over the past several decades there have been great strides in theoretical concepts of aging, the identification of genes that are associated with aging and investigation into mechanisms that contribute to aging and diseases associated with aging. In addition, great strides are being made in translating basic science research to the clinic.

As we look to the future and publishing the next generation of discoveries in the aging field, there are both opportunities and challenges. Our primary goal is to continue to publish outstanding research in the field and provide an invaluable resource for the members of the American Aging Association and all our authors and readers. An obligation that we have to those submitting manuscripts is to ensure a fair, impartial review and reduce the time from submission to first decision to less than 20 days. We will need to provide insightful reviews of the recent literature and increase the impact factor of the journal. In addition there is increasing concern among all scientists regarding the reproducibility of published experiments. In the next few months we will review our current policies and procedures to address each of these issues.

We are in the early stages of redesigning the cover of the journal to reflect the exciting changes that are occurring in the field and we will be inviting the submission of graphics/artwork for the cover of the journal. If you have compelling graphics that you would want considered, please feel free to send them to me.

The success and growth of the journal will depend on authors who submit their best research and the editors and reviewers who volunteer their time. We are grateful for their service and we look forward to an exciting year. Let us continue to work together to strive for excellence.