With this issue, The Journal of Public Health Management and Practice begins its tenth year of publication. In the Winter of 1995, the title of the first editorial, "Fulfilling a Need: A Focus on Public Health Practice" expressed the purpose of starting a new journal. The words of that introduction to our first issue remain on target:

fPHMP is dedicated to offering timely, relevant information about population-based health programs, as well as commentary that will analyze ongoing programs and support scientifically based innovation and reform. Our contributors will not only be public health professionals-practitioners in public health agencies, teaching institutions, and other settings-but also be public health workers at all levels who are committed to innovation and reform. JPHMP will also be a forceful advocate for public health, asserting the critical importance of population-based measures to policy makers and the public.

We have worked to achieve our mission by providing quality content relevant to public health practice. We have been timely with contributions describing current and innovative practice from authors at all levels of government: local, state, and federal, as well as from academia and the private sector. For the first two years, we published quarterly. Interest in the Journal led to our current bimonthly schedule. Each year, a number of focus issues are published, whereas two to three issues annually, including this January 2004 issue, contain articles on a range of subjects.

The remaining issues are focused on a particular topic of high interest to our readers: Public Health Professional Training (March 2003), Health Systems Research (May 2003), Chronic Disease Epidemiology (July 2003), Bioterrorism Preparedness (September 2003), and Public Health Workforce (November 2003). For 2004, a series of exciting issues are already in development, including Health Systems Research 2, Public Health Finance and Economics, Data and Research Integrity in Public Health, and Practice-Based Evidence.

Issue Editors work with the Editor to gather excellent contributions. Authors can submit articles for special issues or for our nonfocus issues. All manuscripts are peer-reviewed. A sharp increase in the number of submitted manuscripts attests to an increasing interest in public health and the recognition of JPHMP as a leading publication.

As we enter our 10th year, I am pleased to report on several new major areas of progress. In September 2002, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins acquired the Journal and have made significant improvements in the format, marketing, and support. In the future, an online version is planned.

We have been able to form an official affiliation with the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). Beginning with this issue, we will publish a two-page section on this organization's activities.

Also beginning with this issue, we will publish two new columns: Urban Health, edited by Earl Fox, MD, MPH, and Public Health Ethics, edited by Robert Olick, JD, PhD. Both columns invite reader input.

The contents of this January 2004 issue attest to the changes in public health in the last 10 years and JPHMP's alignment with these trends. The first two articles by Suen et al. and by Landrum and Baker, followed by two commentaries by Browning et al. and Roher key on the relatively new area of performance measures and standards for public health agencies. An article by Sirio et al. that describes state health improvement in Pennsylvania illustrates the partnership theme increasing relied upon in the last decade. Articles on smoking policies and tobacco use by Williams et al. and Reinert et al. also document public health progress on this very key preventive issue. The last article in the issue describes a Washington State National Pharmaceutical Stockpile Dispensing Exercise. Bioterrorism preparedness is a key area of content for JPHMP and will continue to be so.