Studies Development 2011; volume 1:e1

Welcome to a new, international After a long career in research and publishing, open-access research journal I have the perspective to provide several good Correspondence: Fulvio Melia, Professor with a particular focus reasons for helping to promote the evolution of of , Astronomy and Applied Mathematics, publishing in Astronomy and to a , 1501 N Campbell Ave, on the development place more in line with present technology, Tucson, AZ 85724, USA. of theoretical and experimental taking advantage of the fast paced environ- E-mail: [email protected] techniques and methodology ment in which we live. The Open Access format will allow us to pub- Received for publication: 6 March 2011. Accepted for publication: 7 March 2011. Fulvio Melia lish manuscripts within one-to-two months of submission in an environmentally responsible This work is licensed under a Creative Commons University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA manner. This format permits the widest possi- Attribution 3.0 License (by-nc 3.0). ble distribution of published results with a I have recently had the privilege of being speed and efficiency almost rivaling those of ©Copyright F. Melia, 2011 appointed Editor-in-Chief of this very exciting archival preprint servers, though with the Licensee PAGEPress, Astronomy Studies Development 2011; 1:e1 and innovative Open Access Journal, and here- greatly added advantage of a thorough referee- doi:10.4081/asd.2011.e1 by extend a warm welcome to everyone as we ing process. It is never easy starting a new launch Astronomy Studies Development, which journal, but we strongly believe that these fac- will seek to publish high quality, peer- tors are among the many that create a niche reviewed, original manuscripts in all fields of for this type of medium, and we are placing tions we've had on the various editorial boards astronomy and astrophysics, though with a ourselves at the forefront of open-access pub- on which I've sat is that well-established jour- particular focus on mathematical techniques lishing in Astronomy and Astrophysics. nals tend to be ultra-conservative. One of my and methodology and innovative ideas for This alone is reason enough to make principal goals with an Open Access Journal instrumental development and modeling in Astronomy Studies Development a viable such as this is to promote not only timely and astronomy and astrophysics. The journal will medium, but there is more. In addition to pro- important papers, but also to stress the need also seek to publish simulations in all areas, viding a fast dissemination of refereed for new, creative ideas from its authors. Think including , particle astrophysics, research reporting with open access to the outsideonly the box! You will find that Astronomy accretion, and diffuse media. Our journal will world’s growing research community, we will Studies Development will encourage you along include both full length research articles and also be striving to achieve a reputation for fos- the way, maintaining very high standards with letter articles, and its coverage extends over tering creativity in our authors, encouraging rigorous refereeing, but also quite receptive to solar, stellar, galactic and extragalactic astron- them to explore not only areas withinuse the tra- any innovations that may move the field omy and astrophysics, and will report original ditional purview of our field, but also beyond beyond the current mainstream. research in all wavelength bands. the rather conservative boundaries often I am delighted to invite you to collaborate Astronomy and Astrophysics are rather imposed by other existing journals. with us in this endeavor as an author, referee, mature disciplines, with a history of quality I have been an editor with well-established and reviewer in your particular area of expert- journals over the past century or more. So one journals for many years and am also currently ise. I hope very much that you will accept our may reasonably ask why a new journal such as the editor of the theoretical astrophysics series invitation and look forward to working with this is needed. Obviously, I myself have of books at the Press. I you on the creation of innovative, timely, and answered this question in the affirmative. don’t mind telling you that one of the frustra- groundbreaking knowledge.

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