From the Editor

A picture paints a thousand words. Are the words in Spanish?

The 2004 calendar year represented Volume 12 for the Journal of Swine Health and Production. Twelve years of evolution! Writing this message provides me with the opportunity to reflect on the past year and look forward in anticipation to the upcoming year. I re-read Dr Waddell's messages, which were filled with optimism and country wisdom. Personally, for me, they were worth reading over and over again. Thank you, John. The 2004 journals were adorned with images that reflect modern swine production. Thanks in large part to Tina Smith, our Graphic Designer, we saw the pigs and the farms that are the focus of our work.

In future issues, it is our aim to publish digital photographs submitted by our readers. Images are to represent modern pigs, production facilities, or both. Please ensure that the photos do not include people. Digital images must be 300 dpi to accommodate the requirements of print media. If you are interested in submitting an image, please set your digital camera to take the largest image size available. This means that you will use the quality or compression setting which allows you to store the smallest number of images on the memory card. If the camera will save a .tif file, then select that option. Do not resize, crop, rotate, or color-correct the image prior to submission to the journal. Please send the images by e-mail attachment to tina@aasv.org. Tina will also need to know your name, affiliation, and the approximate location of the image, or other details that you would like to submit which describe the image.

The issues published in 2004 represented a banner year for the quality of solid scientific articles published in JSHAP. These manuscripts covered a variety of applied research topics that were investigated using a wide spectrum of scientific methodologies. One aim of the journal was to reach beyond the borders of the United States to publish applied research work from around the world. As editor, I am sure this change will occur slowly. However, I am pleased to report that in 2004 we published manuscripts from Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Greece, Spain, and United States.

An important new initiative for the journal in 2005 is the translation of the manuscripts' abstracts into French and Spanish. It is anticipated that this will provide a better service for our French-speaking and Spanish-speaking AASV colleagues and for others around the world. Hopefully these new abstracts will enable us to share the valuable scientific information published in our journal with a wider audience. I would like to thank Dr Laura Batista and Sandra Pérez, who have assumed the responsibility for the translations.

I am looking forward with great anticipation to the 2005 volume. It promises to be filled with new ideas to move swine health and production forward in an ever-changing world. The journal is possible because of the continued support of authors, reviewers, the editorial board, the industry support council, the staff in the AASV office, and the journal staff. Thank you for all of your hard work in 2004.

I wish each of you a New Year filled with joy, health, peace, and prosperity.

-- Cate Dewey