EDITORIAL

PROTIST - The First Five Years

After editing 20 issues or 2028 printed pages of Protist, it may be appropriate to provide a brief résumé and to introduce some new features. The journal continues to define the leading edge of published protist research and is widely regarded as the premier journal in protist biology. Last year it again obtained the highest impact factor (IF 2001: 2.574; ISI, Philadelphia) of all journals in the fields of protistology/phycology. Since its transformation from the venerable Archiv für Protistenkunde, Protist has become a truly international journal with an increasing international authors' and subscribers' base. Although published only quarterly, average publication times for original papers are relatively short, i.e. 6.6 months from submission to publication. This is in part due to the introduction of an electronic submission and review system but more importantly because the journal has no backlog of manuscripts.
The journal from 2003 on will feature two new sections named Editors' Choice and Protist Tools. The first provides the editors with an opportunity to voice opinions, briefly review influential papers while providing background data, discuss landmark achievements in which research on protists has led to recent important advances in medicine, industry and environmental issues, and discuss the impact which political, legal or administrative changes might have on research with protists. The second new section will present information to aid research on protists such as novel developments/strains in culture collections, sources for molecular tools (libraries, databases, microarrays, proteome maps), and novel or useful methodology applicable to protists. Protist Web Alerts will appear more irregularly in the future and be part of the new Protist Tools section.
Protist is dedicated to maintain and enhance the high standards for novelty, significance and interest to a broad readership that have come to define the journal. The journal's stakeholders should be confident that the editorial process, while emphasizing Protist's goals, is also fair, balanced, and inclusive of reasonable differences in point of view. The quality and reputation of the journal depend heavily on the commitment of our Editorial Board, Editorial Office, expert reviewers, and the publisher's staff. It is a true pleasure to edit Protist, and I wish to thank all of the aforementioned for their dedication and hard labor to ensure a high quality in publication.

January 2003

Michael Melkonian, Editor
Cologne