EDITORIAL
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《核酸研究医学期刊》
This is the fourth year that Nucleic Acids Research has published a special issue devoted to web servers. These Issues complement the annual Database Issue, which first appeared in January 1993 and annually thereafter. The Web Server Issue highlights the many servers that are available on the internet to perform useful computations on DNA, RNA and protein sequences and structures as well as a few servers that help to mine the literature or cover other aspects of biology. Between them, these issues describe an unparalleled array of useful computational services. The current issue includes a summary of web servers produced by Francis Ouellette and his colleagues at the UBC Bioinformatics Centre that complements the compilation of databases produced by Michael Galperin . The purpose of the latest Web Server Issue is to provide a repository where authors of web servers can highlight their offerings and readers can find out what is available.
In the current issue there are 150 papers describing web servers that run the gamut from simple analysis programs to three-dimensional protein structure prediction. The servers described have all been subjected to rigorous peer review, are available free of charge and provide invaluable resources to the scientific community. The scientists and programmers who have provided these resources deserve our immense thanks. They illustrate the very best of the scientific spirit that transcends national boundaries and promotes cooperation in the sharing of the resources.
On a personal note I would like to express my sincere thanks to the many authors and especially the referees who have produced reviews quickly and skillfully over the many years I served as editor, first for the Database Issue until 2002 and then for the Web Server Issue since then. Your efforts have ensured that both the Database and the Web Server Issues are a great success. After 14 years of editing these issues, I am finally stepping down from this role. Next year, Dr Gary Benson from Boston University will be the new editor of the Web Server Issue. Alex Bateman will continue as the editor of the Database Issue.
Authors interested in submitting articles for the 2007 Web Server Issue should read the Instructions to Authors for Web Server papers on the NAR website (http://www3.oup.co.uk/jnls/list/nar/instauth/submission_webserver.html) and should contact Dr Gary Benson (gbenson@bu.edu) before sending in their articles, preferably before December 31, 2006. The deadline for submission of articles will be January 31, 2007.
In the current issue there are 150 papers describing web servers that run the gamut from simple analysis programs to three-dimensional protein structure prediction. The servers described have all been subjected to rigorous peer review, are available free of charge and provide invaluable resources to the scientific community. The scientists and programmers who have provided these resources deserve our immense thanks. They illustrate the very best of the scientific spirit that transcends national boundaries and promotes cooperation in the sharing of the resources.
On a personal note I would like to express my sincere thanks to the many authors and especially the referees who have produced reviews quickly and skillfully over the many years I served as editor, first for the Database Issue until 2002 and then for the Web Server Issue since then. Your efforts have ensured that both the Database and the Web Server Issues are a great success. After 14 years of editing these issues, I am finally stepping down from this role. Next year, Dr Gary Benson from Boston University will be the new editor of the Web Server Issue. Alex Bateman will continue as the editor of the Database Issue.
Authors interested in submitting articles for the 2007 Web Server Issue should read the Instructions to Authors for Web Server papers on the NAR website (http://www3.oup.co.uk/jnls/list/nar/instauth/submission_webserver.html) and should contact Dr Gary Benson (gbenson@bu.edu) before sending in their articles, preferably before December 31, 2006. The deadline for submission of articles will be January 31, 2007.