I am pleased to report on the progress that JBO has made toward shortening the manuscript-review cycle. As of the end of April 2010, the average time from receipt to first decision has been improved to 40 days for full-length manuscripts and 25 days for letter-length manuscripts. These review speeds are considered highly competitive among journals on optics—moreover, all JBO Letters are openly accessible online free of charge. This feat would not have been possible without hard work by the journal staff, editorial board members, and numerous reviewers.

While maintaining sufficient time windows for the reviewers, we would like to condense the other phases of the review cycles further. Authors, as the experts most versed in their fields, are strongly encouraged to suggest 2–3 editorial board members and 4–6 potential reviewers during online manuscript submission. Such information is invaluable: reviewers whose interests are germane to the submitted work have greater inclinations to accept the review invitations and complete the reviews on time. These suggestions will be used at the discretion of the editor and editorial board members.

Let me express my gratitude for all your contributions to JBO. Any further suggestions are most welcome.