Editorial

This issue of the journal marks the formal change of editorship, and the start of our period of office. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Graham Crow and Larry Ray, the outgoing editors, for their support and advice during this transition period. We hope to continue and build upon their excellent editorial work. We are delighted that Cathy Ternent remains with the journal as publishing assistant, and we are already indebted to her for her effective and efficient administration. We are pleased to report that Gayle Letherby has agreed to replace Sue Scott as chair of the editorial board. and we would especially like to thank Sue Scott for the support she has given the journal over the years.

We hope that under our editorship the journal will continue to publish sociological work of the highest standard. Through articles, special issues and thematic collections, we remain committed to ensuring that the journal is genuinely international in terms of relevance, authorship and readership, and that the range of themes is wide and inclusive. We are also keen to ensure that the journal remains an innovative forum for sociological debate, and the periodic 'rapid response' and 'debate' sections of the journal will continue to support this aim. In our term as editors, we hope to further encourage and develop the unique strengths of the journal as an online publication. The journal's role as a pioneering forum for online and multimedia publishing remains strong, and we particularly welcome the publication of innovative sociological research that builds on these strengths.

We are certainly very pleased to have this opportunity to carry through the work of previous editorial teams, and to continue to support and promote the research and publication of the international sociological community.

Amanda Coffey and Nicola Green