Volume 23 (2007) of the Professional Animal Scientist (PAS) was completed with 742 pages. This compares with 480 pages in volume 22 and an average of 507 pages in the previous three issues. There were 7 review articles, 59 research articles, 21 case studies, 2 symposium papers, 1 technical note, and 1 commentary published in PAS last year. Authors provided reviews about field pea grain for cattle, feeding to mitigate environmental impacts of feedlots, the decision of retained ownership of cattle, the response to ractopamine by swine, rice milling co-products for beef cattle, vitamin E supplementation of beef calves, and mineral and vitamin requirements of swine in NRC. The new commentary section was initiated by an article titled, "Performance Indicates Animal State of Being: A Cinderella Axiom?," by Dr. Stanley Curtis.

I believe that the conversion from paper submissions to the on-line process using Manuscript Central has been the major positive incentive that increased submissions. It has certainly helped keep us organized and aided timely acceptance of manuscripts. We currently average 80 days to make a final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of manuscripts. Again, the reviewers have generally responded promptly with a 21-day average for the first review. The acceptance rate has been 86%.

The annual “Information to Contributors” was revised for the February issue. The first three issues of volume 24 contained 276 pages compared to 308 the previous year. At the time of this report, there were 24 manuscripts in press, 11 manuscripts were being revised, and 23 manuscripts were in various stages of review. Thus, it appears that the size will be sustained.

Bids were obtained, and the one submitted by HighWire was accepted. They are developing a Web page with search capability, installing back content, and will provide a PDF + references site. This is projected to go on-line on August 19, 2008. It will be similar to Journal of Dairy Science, Journal of Animal Science, and Poultry Science. This meets a long-term goal of developing a search engine to find articles, will increase the visibility of PAS, and will allow accessibility to the information in our articles to non-members. The Web site will allow links to other Web sites.

Changes in the Editorial Board include four who will complete two 3-year terms in December: Drs. C. Ross Hamilton, David Sanson, Carolyn L. Stull, and Michael L. Westendorf.

I especially appreciate the support of Susie Rahn, Susan Pollock, Lisa Krohn, Louise Audrieth, and Jeremy Holzner. I also appreciate the support of the ARPAS board in implementing the many changes that were accomplished. Dr. K. C. Olson and Dr. John Arthington have graciously served as editor for manuscripts that were blinded to me. Finally, the Editorial Board members and invited reviewers have worked diligently to publish the journal, and I sincerely appreciate their excellent assistance.

Note: Dr. John Wagner and Dr. K. C. Olson, who have agreed to serve on the Editorial Board for a second three-year term (2009 to 2011), were approved by the Governing Council.