As the new editor of the International Journal of Middle East Studies, my goal is to maintain the excellent reputation and standards of the Journal set by its departing editor. To achieve that task constitutes a tall order for just about anyone in the field, as Peter von Sivers has done such an admirable job over the past five years of promoting the Journal's international reputation. Under his editorship, the quality, number, and scope of submitted manuscripts and reviews, as well as the Journal's readership, have increased. Scholars from the Middle East have taken a more active part than ever before, as evaluators, reviewers, and authors.