Editorial

Transitions, Aims, and Initiatives for Alcohol with the New Editorship

Transitions

During my 3-month period of overlap with Tom and Jan, I got a glimpse of the effort they poured into this journal to insure high standards for scientific quality and integrity. As they helped me become familiar with the processes and demands of managing a journal, the extent of their efforts is ever more evident with each passing day, as the transition rolls to completion. I want to let them know what great respect I have for their effort now that I have had a chance to see what they did on a

Aims

The editorial staff will be working with the Editorial Board and Herb Niemirow to update and change certain aspects of the journal. Some will be cosmetic (such as changes in the cover and front matter that begin with this issue), whereas others will be more substantive, such as changes in the scientific emphasis and expansion of the types of research reported.

My first aim is to promote the journal's role as a primary source for studies on all aspects of the effects of alcohol on the central

Initiatives

During our tenure, the editorial staff will work to make Alcohol among the leading journals in substance abuse research and to increase the profile of the journal in the broader scientific community. One indicator of this goal, of course, is the dreaded impact factor. Certainly, increasing the impact factor of Alcohol—by publishing more articles that get cited more frequently—would suggest that progress is being made toward these larger goals, but I view it more like the changing mile-markers