In May 2000 I was invited to become Editor of the Cereal Rusts and Powdery Mildews Bulletin. I was pleased to accept the offer as I believe that the Bulletin has played a very valuable role in the past, but more importantly, it has great potential to serve the rust and powdery mildew research community in future. To do this it must change and respond to new opportunities, particularly use of the internet. More of that later.

Firstly, let me express thanks on behalf of both authors and readers to Gert Kema for editing the Bulletin since 1993, including the supplement of the Proceedings of the 9^th European and Mediterranean Cereal Rusts and Powdery Mildews Conference held in Lunteren, The Netherlands in 1996.

The emphasis for many of us is on publishing high quality papers using the latest methodologies in high impact journals. So where does this leave the Cereal Rusts and Powdery Mildews Bulletin? It certainly does not mean that it simply publishes papers which fail to make it in the high impact factor journals. It does mean that it will publish high quality communications which contain valuable information but which may not use the latest methodologies, or may be limited in scope. The information will be no less valuable for many users.

The Bulletin has other advantages. We also encourage the publication of short notes and letters to the Editor. It is especially important for the development of such communications that they are published very rapidly. The Bulletin has therefore become a free access web journal first, although hard copy will be produced periodically for subscribers who wish to continue to purchase a copy.

I would continue to encourage communications in the 'traditional' areas, including race surveys. However, I would like to encourage those utilising molecular biological methods to publish in the Bulletin also. Speed of communication is perhaps even more important in such fast moving fields.

Volume 24 was published in 1996. Volumes 25, 26 and 27 will probably be published soon. The web publication will no longer have a 'volume' number in its citation, but articles published in 2000 will nominally be volume 28. Individual articles will have unique citations which indicate their web location. These are recognised by traditional journals such as 'Plant Pathology' which recommend a citation format. The recommended citation for the first papers published in the Bulletin in 'Plant Pathology' format is:

Czembor JH, 2000. Sources of powdery mildew resistance in barley land races collected from Algeria and Tunisia. Cereal Rusts and Powdery Mildews Bulletin [http://www.crpmb.org/] 2000/0607czembor

Dreiceitl A, Steffenson BJ, 2000. Structures of barley mildew populations in the Czech Republic and North Dakota in 1995. Cereal Rusts and Powdery Mildews Bulletin [http://www.crpmb.org/] 2000/0608dreiseitl

The square bracketed component of the citation is optional as it is effectively analogous to describing which shelf to find the journal on in the library. Nevertheless it is recommended as it is useful. The latter part of the citation gives the volume number which is also the publication year and directory in which it is located, followed by the acceptance date (month then date) and the first author's surname. The root web address could theoretically change, hence the square brackets. The latter part of the citation (e.g. 2000/0608dreiceitl) will remain unchanged wherever the journal is housed.

Please support the development of the Cereal Rusts and Powdery Mildews Bulletin by frequently submitting your high quality articles for publication. I will do my best to 'publish' your articles as rapidly as possible when I am at SCRI.

19^th June 2000