Annual Review 2003

I want to express sincere thanks to a number of people who contribute to the success of the journal. First, I’d like to thank all members of ASCE for their continuing support. Membership in ASCE is a mark of support for excellence in hydraulic engineering. Most active hydraulic engineers are members of ASCE, and we are proud of their endorsement. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank all volunteers in the ASCE organization. The activities of our volunteers are effectively the brain and blood of the society. I want to congratulate and welcome those who joined ASCE this year. We are seeking to extend membership privileges to a larger number of professionals nationwide and abroad. A comprehensive list of ASCE-JHE reviewers is presented at the end of this issue. The list should include all those who reviewed articles during a period of 12 months starting August 2002, and we hope we did not leave anyone out. After 2 years as editor, I really appreciate the time commitment and effort spent by the reviewers of the journal. The reputation of the journal largely depends on the high-quality reviews that we receive. The importance of the peer-review system and the role of external reviewers in improving the readability of all manuscripts cannot be overstated. This year we want to specifically thank the following reviewers for their outstanding work: Jim Best, A. Borthwick, Curtis Cooper, Ken Edwards, Randall Gentry, Fred Gessner, Steve Monismith, Arthur Schmidt, Peter Steffler, John Trowbridge, Larry Weber, Scott Wells, Steven Wright, John Buffington, and Adrian Law. These individuals are recognized for providing particularly thorough and helpful reviews to the Editorial Board. The role of the Editorial Board in ensuring quality reviews for our articles is extremely important. I appreciate all the support and commitment of the associate editors in handling timely reviews on a continuous basis. The significant amount of time they volunteer to seek out the best possible articles for the journal is paramount to our success. This year, the Editorial Board has been expanded to meet the high demand and increased number of manuscripts submitted in some areas. We are continuously seeking ways to reduce the processing time of all manuscripts while enlarging readership and attracting more forum articles, casestudy papers, and book reviews. Again this year, the collaboration with Jackie Perry, Johanna Reinhart, and the production staff at ASCE has been particularly well coordinated and effective. Finally, I am grateful to all the authors of the journal for submitting their finest manuscripts. It is always a pleasure to work with authors willing to spend extra time and effort to revise and improve their manuscripts. We acknowledge receiving a large number of articles. Manuscripts that have been reworked several times gain tremendously in clarity. These substantial articles are pleasant to read and serve as future references. Of course, rewriting manuscripts takes some time, and the patience that the authors exhibit with the review process is greatly appreciated. We are committed to assist authors with timely and constructive reviews.