Editorial

It is my great pleasure to announce that Insect Science is indexed by the Science Citation Index (SCI) starting from 2007, which makes Insect Science the only entomological journal that is covered by the SCI in China. It opens a new page for Insect Science and it is a new milestone in the history of entomology in China. Although Insect Science has been known within the scientific community for only two-and-a-half years, it has a high level of confidence and recognition from the international entomological community.

In 2005, our journal was rejuvenated by a joint partnership between the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Science and Blackwell Publishing. The two parties had a simple goal ? to make a new beginning for Insect Science. In the past 2 years, with the efforts of the two parties, the Editorial Board, referees and readers, now it has truly become an international journal!

In the past 2 years, we received 248 submissions from 28 countries. Of these submissions, 65% are from world-ranging entomology researchers, including the USA, Iran, India, Japan, Australia, Belgium and France, although those from China are still ranked the first. We have recruited many internationally well-known scientists to serve as members of the Editorial Board and as referees. These highly recognized referees helped the journal to publish higher quality papers. Of the referees, approximately 90% are from North America and Europe. The journal also has a wider readership, and more and more readers are able to access our journal through the Blackwell’s online journal site ? Synergy. In 2006, Insect Science articles were downloaded 7 577 times through Blackwell Synergy and other online hosts. This represents a 99% increase on the 3 807 article downloads in 2005. The average download for each article is approximately 59 times in the past 2 years.

We have already achieved our first goal ? to be indexed by the SCI. Now, we need to set our second goal ? to make the journal become a highly recognized, leading international journal in entomology. I know that it will take time and effort from all of those involved. Although it will be full of challenges ahead, I foresee the future as full of opportunities.

To achieve our second goal, we need to improve the quality of our papers, and publish papers as quickly as possible. To further encourage submission of the very best of papers, we have initiated a Fast-Track submission process: (i) for papers that contain very important discoveries and highly innovative research; (ii) for invited or commissioned review articles that will receive special consideration by the Editorial Board without being subject to the regular peer review process; (iii) for papers that contain incomplete but highly innovative research to be listed as Short Communications and these will have a shorter turnaround time than regular articles; and (iv) for papers that are recommended by one or more members in the Editorial Board, and those papers will be reviewed by only one more referee in order to encourage active involvement of our editorial team in improving the quality of the journal. We will also add value to the journal by commissioning special issues and reviews of rapidly advancing topics. I would like you to know that we will soon publish our first special issue on insect immunity, which will be guest-edited by Dr. Liangbiao Zheng, Yale University School of Medicine, USA.

I expect that we will receive more submissions in the near future. To cope with the increasing submission rate, we will add more pages per issue as needed, and make every effort to publish submitted and accepted papers within a period of 6 months from the time of submission. However, we have to realize that a rapid publication requires the willingness of referees to review papers quickly and authors to respond to referees’ comments in a timely fashion. Therefore, our editors, referees and authors have to work together, and together, we can!

I am sure you agree with me that the success of Insect Science is dependent on numerous internationally well-recognized referees. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, all our referees. We will continuously make every effort possible to have our papers reviewed by highly qualified referees. To recognize and appreciate the effort of our referees, we will list all referees who helped the journal in the previous year in the first issue of each volume.

I am very grateful to our diligent editors for making many of the exciting changes happen. To my colleagues at Blackwell Publishing, Mark Robertson, Rose Williams, Rod Faulkner, and Caroline Sultana, thank you very much for your great effort assisting us in promoting the journal.

Professor Le Kang

Editor-in-Chief