The publication of the first issue of volume 8 of SRO marks the end of the period of editorship under Larry Ray and Graham Crow, and the start of the editorship of Amanda Coffey and Nicola Green. Now in its eighth year, SRO is well-established as a journal in which a wide range of sociological research findings and ideas from around the world are published. The journal is genuinely international, in terms of the topics covered, the institutional bases of contributors, the composition of the editorial board, and the readership. In their editorial in the first issue of the journal in 1996, the founding editors, Martin Bulmer and Liz Stanley, described SRO as an 'exciting opportunity for developing new and innovative forms of sociological writing'. In our view this opportunity has been exploited not only in the articles published in the journal but also in the 'rapid response' and 'debate' sections that have become regular features relating to matters in the news. As a result, we believe, SRO is at the cutting edge of much sociological debate, because of both the quality and range of the material published and the relevance of this material to the discipline's various audiences.
We wish our successors well in editing the journal as it develops this agenda. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank various people without whom the journal could not have achieved what it has: the review editors, past and present, for their work on the reviews section of the journal; the guest editors of issue 7(3) for bringing together that collection of articles; the past and present members of the editorial and management boards of the journal for their prompt refereeing and other contributions to the running of the journal; other colleagues not formally associated with the journal who have given their time to referee articles submitted to the journal that fall within their areas of expertise; Cathy Surgey, the journal's Editorial Assistant, for her efficient, effective and good-humoured administration; and the British Sociological Association, Sage Publications, and the Universities of Surrey and Stirling for their practical and moral support.
Graham Crow and Larry Ray
