Dear Readers,

After four special issues in a row (a record for J.UCS that probably will remain a record for quite a while!) this is again a "regular" issue with a stimulating mixture of papers. I trust you will enjoy them!

J.UCS continues to develop. Note that we now have the possibility to also print special issues. If I get strong input that this is also desirable for all other issues we may add a facility for printing on demand of any issue.

J.UCS continues to grow. We have been happy to welcome a number of new editors and are still open for further suggestions. If you want to nominate someone (or yourself) just make sure that we have the curriculum vitae, publication list and areas of interest of the person involved: the four editors-in-chief will then decide whether a further expert for a particular area is needed.

Also, please don't forget to ask your library to take out a subscription: after all, any university can get access for all staff and students for just US $ 100.- a year (and it is just twice that for companies), but we need some 500 such subscriptions to keep J.UCS alive. We still have not reached this number. However, in a number of cases J.UCS is used heavily by those universities that have a subscription, so the number of readers is actually quite substantial.

Finally, let me conclude once more by asking you to keep up the stream of good submissions - do encourage your students to submit their papers to J.UCS and recommend J.UCS to your colleagues! There is no upper limit to the size of a number in J.UCS, so let's make use of this!

All the best,