JBO Begins Bimonthly Publication

Welcome to the first bimonthly issue of the Journal of Biomedical Optics!

After eight years of quarterly publication, JBO has increased its publication frequency to bimonthly (six issues per year). We are grateful for the support of the biomedical optics community in making the growth of the journal possible.

As I mentioned in my last editorial, we have planned special sections for each of the six issues in 2004 (see the calls for papers in this issue). This issue of JBO contains a special section on Ophthalmic Diagnostics, guest edited by Rafat Ansari and Jerry Sebag. These special sections are designed to highlight certain topical areas in biomedical optics and accelerate the growth of the journal.

If your manuscript does not seem to fit in with the special section topic, note that special sections are only a portion of each issue. We have structured the JBO to accommodate both regular submissions and special sections every month. We will always publish regularly contributed papers, now with a frequency of 6 issues per year.

In my previous editorial I also mentioned that new “author-friendly” features would be introduced. One of these now in effect is “color online only.” All figures submitted electronically in color will now automatically be published in color online without charge, provided the figures meet the guidelines (see the Information for Contributors in the front of this issue for proper format). We hope that this new feature will provide a helpful alternative to color printing costs.

Another feature under development is a new web-based submission process. Look for more information about that to come soon on our website: www.spie.org/jbo.

Thank you again for your continued support of JBO. With your help, we will transition successfully to bimonthly publication. I look forward to seeing your manuscripts!

Bruce J. Tromberg

Editor-in-Chief