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Final Editorial

THIS issue marks the official transition of Editors of the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences. It has been a distinct pleasure and signal honor to serve as Editor. Indeed, I was blessed with the opportunity to take on the Editorship from the able and thoughtful hands of David J. Ekerdt, and I am delighted to announce that Charles F. Longino, Jr., will now take up the Editorship. Chuck is an eminent scholar and a fine and thoughtful gentleman. It is hard to imagine the Journal in better hands. Chuck will be responsible for all new manuscripts submitted after January 1, 2002. I will be responsible for any manuscripts, including revisions, submitted prior to that date.

Although the Editor's name appears on the Journal cover, the work is shared with many people. They include authors, reviewers, members of the editorial board, and editorial assistants. Authors are the Journal's engine—without their manuscripts, there simply isn't anything for the rest of us to do. Therefore, it is with the greatest appreciation that I thank the authors of the 501 manuscripts that have so far been submitted during my term. We have tried to provide each of you with three constructively critical reviews, to do so in less than 2 months time from submission, and to publish your articles no later than 6 months after final acceptance. I would like to think that, for the most part, we have succeeded.

That success comes from the wonderful work of the 939 individuals who have reviewed one or more manuscripts for the Journal. Although I have read every version of every manuscript at least once, the insight and wisdom brought to bear by the scholars in the peer review process have made the published manuscripts (about 27% of those submitted) as good as they could be and have provided guidance for the unpublished manuscripts to become better than they originally were for the journals in which they will no doubt ultimately appear. To these reviewers I express my deepest and heartfelt thanks and appreciation. It simply could not happen without you.

Among the 939 reviewers, there is a special subpopulation. This consists of the 32 members of my editorial board, whose names and institutional affiliations are proudly and prominently shown on the masthead. Each one has graciously reviewed up to six manuscripts, not counting revisions, each and every year of my term. They did this for the love of the Journal, and for the love of the field. I cannot thank them enough. They gave up precious time and opportunities from their own careers so that the Journal could prosper. And they made being Editor as joyful a process as it could probably ever be. I hope to be able to personally thank all but two of them at this year's Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting in Chicago. Sadly, I will have to settle for a prayer of remembrance for M. Powell Lawton and Lee A. Lillard and to reflect on all that they gave to help me and so many others during their time on this earth. They will be sorely missed for generations to come.

During my term I have been blessed with two wonderful editorial assistants, first Carolyn F. Williams and then Janet L. Bafia. They made the Journal work, and work smoothly. When my term started, the traditional editorial lag (i.e., elapsed time to an initial decision) on a new manuscript was about 77 days. As shown in Table 1 , we (i.e., Carolyn and Janet) have been able to reduce that each and every year. Indeed, for manuscripts that make it into the peer review process, the editorial lag this year is down to about 45 days. From where I sit, that is truly remarkable, and I cannot thank Carolyn and Janet enough. They have been wonderful partners in this process.

God bless you all, and thank you.

September 27, 2001

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