Once again, the world of publishing is moving apace and the WPSJ is keeping up with the new trends. By the time of this publication, the FirstView system should be set up and running – whereby papers, once completed at the editing side, will go online in advance of the print publication. This will help us to get papers out to members as soon as possible, rather than waiting for the next quarterly print run. Citing the papers will still be as before, as each will be allocated to the next available issue. I would like to thank our team at Cambridge University Press for assisting with this change.

Our little team at WPSJ have been busy in the last few months with such changes, and also working with the new Editorial Board appointed in October by the Board Members, which will be have direct input into the running of the journal, making life rather easier on my side. Our previous editorial board members remain an important part of the process, but rather being concerned with reviewing, as with only one meeting per year, their input to the actual running of the journal is, obviously, more limited. In addition, my right hand woman, Dr Shay Hill, whom many authors have had correspondence with, has been invited to attend the next board meeting in Prague in June. Dr Hill is responsible for much of the day-to-day running of the journal, and I would like to thank the board for recognising her efforts by this invitation.

Otherwise, we have various papers for this issue. One aspect that has cropped up recently is the number of more ‘general’ reviews we have received on topics such as plant extracts. As this field is, like many others, very large now, such reviews must be specifically targeted at specific modes of action or individual active compounds. In addition, we are receiving papers on more novel ideas – which are always most welcome. We try to help authors with their papers as much as we can, believing that the advancement of science is principally dictated by communication, and younger scientists should be encouraged to publish their work.

We are now in the middle of 2015, with many exciting conferences and meetings in the poultry world, and I look forward to seeing as many members and authors as possible this year!

Dr Lucy Waldron

Editor