Editorial Changes

Readers of ASTIN Bulletin will know, just from looking at the bulging issues on their bookshelf, that the journal is going from strength to strength. The numbers of papers submitted in 1998 and 1999 were 31 and 42 respectively. The acceptance rate remains steady at about 50%. The aim of the editors is that there should be no backlog of papers awaiting publication and, to date, final versions of accepted papers have gone into the next issue (appearing within 6 months on average). Processing times for papers submitted during 1998 and 1999 have been analysed with good results. In particular, the mean time between submission of a paper and the communication of a decision after the first set of reports from the two referees is 5.0 months with a standard deviation of 2.1 months. There is no significant difference between accepted and rejected papers. Note that we record time to decision rather than time to publication. Since authors are often requested to make substantial improvements to their contributions before the paper can be published, the time to publication can be substantially longer than the time to decision. The referees of ASTIN Bulletin, through thorough and conscientious reviews, make this journal possible. Their task is difficult and time consuming with no material reward. On behalf of the ASTIN Bulletin readership, the Editors and the Editorial Board offer their sincere thanks.