2009 is turning out to be an interesting year, with the global recession hitting many countries, companies and individuals hard. However, it seems that agriculture has been somewhat (I use the word advisedly) unaffected in certain areas. Whether this is because of the major changes and efficiency measures that the industry undertook in the past decade, or because of food shortage issues, is hard to say. Although many countries have seen turmoil in their poultry industry, others appear on the up, which is good news in those quarters. The demand for efficiently produced, safe and healthy meat and eggs continues unabated, although it seems likely that the high end of the market will be affected in affluent countries that have been hardest hit in the recession. Predictions have been voiced regarding the increased demand for cheaper, healthy food, which has been a major focus of poultry production for a long time. However, from the media, the global recession is still very much in a ‘wait and see’ state. Let’s hope that our industry comes out of it stronger, whatever guise that may take.

In the WPSJ world, things have been getting busy! I have seen more and more unsolicited papers coming across the editorial desk, which has been very good news. The latest figures regarding our citation index made very good reading recently too – we are on the up again with a rating of 1.398, a 0.125 increase over last year. For those of you who aren’t familiar with these figures, these ratings relate to the number of times each paper is cited in other published work. The higher the rating, the more authors want to use the journal for publishing papers. However, this greater flow of manuscripts and increased interest in the journal has meant some unavoidable delays in processing papers – so I would like to take the opportunity to thank any authors that have seen some delays for their patience in this matter.

It’s been a good year for WPSA meetings too – the eagerly awaited European Nutrition Symposium will be held in Scotland in August, and will also host the annual board meeting. Other meetings include the new Mediterranean meeting, the Finland conference and targeted Working Groups, such as genetics being held later this year. The reports from these will be available in the December issue, for those of you who couldn’t make it. For those of your who will be there – do come and see us on the WPSA stand in Scotland and give us feedback on the journal and what you get out of it. We are always happy to see members, and encourage new membership.

Lucy Tucker

Editor