oa Preface

This issue marks the start of Volume 19 of Protein & Peptide Letters. Since the beginning in 1994, the journal has continued to attract new readers and contributors. This has resulted in a steady increase in the Impact Factor of PPL to it's current level of 1.849. We anticipate that this will continue to climb, especially with the large number of special Hot Topics issues we have published in 2011 and the ones planned for 2012. Of equal importance is the higher and higher standards that are being applied by the Regional Editors and the referees. I want to thank each of the Regional Editors for their service to the journal: Prof. Anna M. Papini, Prof. John D. Wade, Dr. Kuo-Chen Chou, Prof. Liang Tong, Prof. Vladimir N. Uversky, Prof. Francisco A.P. Campos, Dr. Zhan-yun Guo. Of great importance, Bentham Science Publishing has begun a new and greatly improved online system for manuscript submission and processing (http://bsp-cms.eurekaselect.com/). As with any new endeavor, there is an initial learning curve, but all Regional Editors are now working with the new system and we anticipate increased speed in the peer review process in the coming year. Next, I want to thank the many scientists around the world who have submitted their best work to PPL. It has been and continues to be a great pleasure for me to interact with the scientists from many countries through the journal. This continues to be a very rewarding aspect of my professional career. With the continued loyalty of PPL's contributors, the journal will continue to grow in stature. Finally, and of great importance, I wish to thank the managers of PPL at Bentham Science; Sarwat Aziz Abbasi, Maleeha Naz and Beenish Anwer. Their tireless service to the journal and their valuable help and advice to me have been an absolutely crucial part of the long term development of PPL. I look forward to another productive year of PPL.