In this issue of the Journal, we publish for the "rst time a set of papers that were originally presented at a scienti"c conference. Our intention is to provide a better alternative to the usual &&Proceedings'' books that arise from such meetings. Our policy is to consider such papers as we would any other submission. The manuscripts are given rigorous peer review. Only those papers that meet the aim and scope of the Journal and make signi"cant new contributions to Theoretical Biology will be accepted. Most acceptable papers must be revised to some extent, in response to the critiques of the reviewers. The only di!erence in handling these submissions is that we make every e!ort to synchronize their progress through the reviewing process and to expedite their publication in a single issue.
We hope everyone will bene"t from this mode of publication. Conference organizers gain a prestigious outlet for the novel scienti"c advances of their participants. Authors gain a peer-reviewed publication in a widely circulated journal. And the Journal gains a new source of quality submissions.
A second set of papers, derived from a conference held in memory of Joel Keizer, at the University of California, Davis, last September, is currently under review.