A Note From NIDA’s Director

Addiction Science & Clinical Practice (AS&CP) is about to enter a new stage in its development. After this issue, the journal moves to a new publisher, Biomed Central, and assumes a new format as an openaccess, Internet-only publication. Taking over as Editors are Richard Saitz, M.D., M.P.H., and Jeffrey Samet, M.D., M.A., M.P.H., of the Clinical Addiction Research and Education Unit at Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine and School of Public Health. AS&CP was launched in 2002 with its original title, Science & Practice Perspectives. The journal was a key component of NIDA’s response to a challenge issued by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The IOM had identified a gap between substance abuse research and practice as a major obstacle to progress and called upon the field to close it. NIDA’s new peer-reviewed journal set out to foster rich, creative exchanges between researchers and clinicians. That goal informed its every aspect— its diverse editorial board, article selection, additional features, style, design, and layout. In its 9 years under the outstanding leadership of Founding Editor David Anderson, M.S., AS&CP has proved that the field values that mission and product. Top authorities at bench and clinic have welcomed the opportunity and the challenge of imparting their knowledge across the research-practice divide, with special attention to practical implications and constructive advice. Response panels in which clinicians and researchers engage in free give and take in reaction to a particular article have been among the journal’s most distinctive and popular features. AS&CP has more subscribers than any other addiction journal, and articles have been translated into several languages. At its new home, AS&CP will be well placed to continue to advance the research-practice interchange. Drs. Saitz and Samet are experienced editors who spend every working day at the interface of the creation of new knowledge and its application. In their hands, the journal has a bright future.