2004 provided yet another banner year for our journal. NIM-B reached 21 years of age, achieving a wellrecognized marker of maturity. Over 14 volumes of NIM-B were published containing the most significant research results on the interaction of energetic beams with atoms and materials. Dr. Christina Trautmann of GSI, Darmstadt, joined our team as co-Editor. Substantial enhancements were made in electronic access and publication capabilities. With this year now behind us, we look forward with great enthusiasm to 2005! At this opportunity we wish to address a topic of growing and serious concern within the scientific research and publishing communities at-large. From our perspective as Editors, we have seen cases of what in our opinion constitutes blatant plagiarism in a still very small, but apparently increasing number of submissions to our journal. Additionally, we also see escalating numbers of research results being subdivided into what may be called ''least publishable units'', in order to inflate publication numbers. Such examples of unethical behavior are certainly not confined within our professional purview. From conversations with Editors and readers of other journals, we learn that they too have experienced a similar trend that is emerging across a wide variety of scientific disciplines. The plagiarism typically consists of lifting large sections of text, and often figures, from previously published and copyrighted articles, and reusing this material without proper attribution. Note that this practice is unacceptable, even when using the authorΓs own previously published, and hence copyrighted, papers! Please remember that each submittal to NIM-B implies that the material has not been, nor is in the process of being, submitted elsewhere. Senior co-authors must accept full responsibility if such plagiarism occurs, and should supervise and instruct their junior colleagues so that such violations of professional ethics, and established law, do not occur. As Editors we point out that such practices can have serious professional consequences, and we promise, with the able assistance of our referees and readers, to be vigilant and proactive regarding any further occurrences.
We also remain committed to making the publication criteria for NIM-B conference proceedings as equivalent as possible to those for individually submitted manuscripts. In particular, conference papers should be thoroughly refereed, with the referees allotted sufficient time to provide critical comments. In essence, this means that completed referee reports should not be requested during the conference itself. All accepted conference papers must contain original scientific findings comprising a significant research contribution of interest to our readers. If you encounter situations in variation with these policies, please let the conference organizers, and us, know immediately.
At this time, we regretfully bid farewell to one member of our Editorial Board, Gary Was of the University of Michigan, who has served his maximum allowed term of six consecutive years. The consistently constructive advice he provided is gratefully acknowledged. At the same time we are pleased to welcome two new members, William Stirling, Director General, ESRF, Grenoble, and Marcel Toulemonde, CIRL, Caen. Both represent basic and applied research directions, respectively, the use of synchrotron radiation