Greetings from the new Editor-in-Chief, Ronald Stambaugh

I am very pleased to join the outstanding leadership team for the journal Nuclear Fusion as Scientific Editor. The journal's high position in the field of fusion energy research derives in no small measure from the efforts of the IAEA team in Vienna, the production and marketing of IOP Publishing, the Board of Editors led by its chairman Mitsuru Kikuchi, the Associate Editor for Inertial Confinement Max Tabak and the outgoing Scientific Editor, Paul Thomas. During Paul's five year tenure submissions have grown by over 40%. The usage of the electronic journal has grown year by year with about 300 000 full text downloads of Nuclear Fusion articles in 2011, an impressive figure due in part to the launch of the full 50 year archive. High quality has been maintained while times for peer review and publishing have been reduced and the journal achieved some of the highest impact factors ever (as high as 4.27). The journal has contributed greatly to building the international scientific basis for fusion. I was privileged to serve from 2003 to 2010 as chairman of the Coordinating Committee for the International Tokamak Physics Activity (ITPA) which published in Nuclear Fusion the first ITER Physics Basis (1999) and its later update (2007). The scientific basis that has been developed to date for fusion has led to the construction of major facilities to demonstrate the production of power-plant relevant levels of fusion reactions. We look forward to the journal continuing to play a key role in the international effort toward fusion energy as these exciting major facilities and the various approaches to fusion continue to be developed. It is clear that Nuclear Fusion maintains its position in the field because of the perceived high quality of the submissions, the refereeing and the editorial processes, and the availability and utility of the online journal. The creation of the Nuclear Fusion Prize, led by the Board of Editors chairman Mitsuru Kikuchi, for the most outstanding paper published in the journal each year has furthered the submission and recognition of papers of the highest quality. The accomplishments of the journal's team over the last five years will be a tough act to follow but I look forward to working with this competent and dedicated group to continue the journal's high standards and ensure that Nuclear Fusion remains the journal of choice for authors and readers alike.