Note from the publisher

Welcome to this final issue for 2006. For the first time the journal has moved to three issues and we trust you have found much food for thought through the contents of our 17th volume. 2006 has seen excellent progress for the journal in terms of its dissemination. Now available online, articles from the journal are being downloaded at an increasing rate throughout the world. In 2006, 24,167 article downloads were registered around the world with the UK being the largest single source of downloads. Users in European countries,Malaysia, the USA and Australia have also demonstrated significant interest in the journal content. The five most downloaded articles are as follows:

(1) “Supply chain risk management: understanding the business requirements from a practitioner perpective” by Uta Jüttner which appeared in volume 16 issue 1 2005.

(2) “Supply chain collaboration: what's happening?” by Soonhong Min, Anthony S. Roath, Patricia J. Daugherty, Stefan E. Genchev, Haozhe Chen and Aaron D. Arn which appeared in volume 16 issue 2 2005.

(3) “The supply chain management process” by Keely L. Croxton,Sebastiàn J. García Dastugue, Douglas M. Lambert and Dale S. Rogers which appeared in volume 12 issue 2 2001.

(4) “Applying the strategy-structure-performance paradign to the supply chain environment” by C. Clifford Defee and Theodore P. Stank which appeared in volume 16 issue 1 2005.

(5) “Management development and the supply chain manager of the future”by John Mangan and Martin Chirstopher which appeared in volume 16 issue 2 2005.

It is interesting to note that one of these articles dates back to 2001. This is a key advantage of a searchable database – rather than gathering dust on a shelf issues/articles remain part of the living archive of journal content and will continue to be downloaded so long as the research which they present remains pertinent.

At the time of writing this note our Editors, Doug Lambert and Martin Christopher have just returned from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals event in Texas. I trust that some of our advisory board members,authors and reviewers will have had a chance to meet them there and pass on any thoughts they may have regarding the development of the journal. Usage statistics and rankings studies support the view that the journal is going from strength to strength. We would like to thank those of you who contribute your time and effort as advisors, authors and reviewers to make this success possible.

Richard WhitfieldPublisher