This goal can only be achieved with the active and conscientious involvement of you as referee. To be of value, your recommendations must be accompanied by a detailed and reasoned evaluation. To be publishable, papers must contain significant new physics or understanding, must be of high quality and scientific interest, and must be written in good, scientific English. Mere correctness is not sufficient justification for publication in this journal.
While there is a long-standing tradition that brief, preliminary reports in a Letters-type format should be followed by full-length articles, the increasing growth of the journal requires that there must be rigorous requirements for such work. A follow-up article should be encouraged only if the earlier work was really a preliminary announcement and only if a substantially increased understanding of the subject will result. Please pay particular attention to figures and tables; if previously published, they may be cited and discussed but not repeated unless warranted by unusual circumstances.
The number of non-native-English speaking authors continues to increase, with a concomitant decrease in the readability of submitted manuscripts. Where appropriate, specific recommendations for improvement in the English and the presentation would be useful. If necessary, papers will be returned to authors solely for such problems, with no scientific review.
Adherence to these broad objectives will allow papers that have been accepted to appear quickly and will give the authors of those papers that have not been accepted an opportunity to exercise other options with a minimum of delay.
Peter D. Adams
Editor