EDITORS' NOTE

In recent years Physics Letters A has been the main rapid communication outlet for papers on "nonlinear phenomena". However, this has been "by default" since there has been no letters journal which has either wholly specialised in or contained designated sections on nonlinear science. Our new section on Nonlinear Science will bring ~ together many of the "nonlinear" articles which have previously been included in other sections, principally in General Physics. However, we hope that the existence of a dedicated section will act as an attractor to the "nonlinear community" so that both the number and quality of papers published under Nonlinear Science will continue to increase.

The subjects of nonlinear science include, of course, the conventional subfields of physics, but also extend to applied mathematics, particularly in classical areas such as bifurcation theory, instability analysis and dynamical systems. Ultimately science is what scientists do. Our main concern from the outset is not to be too exclusive in defining the scope of the Nonlinear Science section of Physics Letters A. Nonlinear science is an interdisciplinary field and it is important for progress that traditional boundaries separating subfields in physics be crossed by effi- cient scientific communication.

Letters must contain novel, timely results. The novelty may be in the ideas, techniques, application, experi- mental interpretation or feasible suggestions for new experiments. A letter is not defined to be just a short paper, but should also have a need for rapid communication. We ask prospective authors to give a short statement of this need in the cover letter accompanying the submission of a manuscript. Letters will generally be sent to 2 referees, so manuscripts should be sent in triplicate.

Alan Bishop Allan Fordy Darryl Holm

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