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Since its inception just over a year ago, the Current Index to Statistics (CIS) central Web server for database queries (http://query.statindex.org) has been very successful. About 100 institutions now make use of this service, which offers an improved interface while imposing no administrative burden on the subscriber. All institutional subscribers (university, general and commercial licenses) are eligible to obtain access to this site. We thank Associate Editor Douglas Bates of the University of Wisconsin for donating his time and technical skills to set up this server.
To extend the benefits of this server, and CIS in general, as widely as possible, two free servers are being run from the same site. The first indexes the entire contents of The American Statistician since its inception, and is the product of a special project of the American Statistical Association.
A second server includes the complete contents of the CIS database, but with a 6-year lag (currently, records through 1992). The latter is intended as a service to individuals and institutions that cannot afford the license fee but could benefit from access to a partial version of the database.
Either of these query services may be reached on the web at the same URL as the main query server. General information about CIS, instructions for ordering licenses, and current news are all posted on our informational Web site, http://www.statindex.org. The Web site also includes information about a limited-time sale of back issues of the CIS Print Volume for a fraction of the usual price.
George P.H.Styan, Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at McGill University, has been appointed as Abstracting Editor of CIS. He succeeds Klaus Hinkelmann, who served as Abstracting Editor from 1995 through 1999. George has extensive editorial experience; among his other service, he is currently editor of Image, The Bulletin of the International Linear Algebra Society, and formerly was editor-in-chief of Chance and the IMS Bulletin. We thank Klaus for the excellent work he has done over the past five years, and look forward to continued expansion of our coverage and products under George's leadership. Editorial suggestions, including corrections and additions of bibliographic items (see below regarding Contributing Editors), can be sent to George (<styan@together.net>, or Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McGill University, Burnside Hall Room 1005, 805 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2K6, Canada).
The CIS Management Committee has opened a search for our next Database Editor. The Database Editor is the other member of the two-person editorial structure of the CIS. This editor directs processing and automated checking of database records generated by the Abstracting Editor and generation of our products (the Extended Database, distributed on CDROM and on the Web, and the Print Volume, produced each year with coverage for the current year). Database Editorship requires a person concerned with the accuracy and consistency of the bibliographic record contained in the CIS database and products, with excellent computational skills, teamwork, creativity, and initiative in development of new CIS projects. The Editor supervises technical staff, who implement policies in this area. Contact Alan Zaslavsky, Chairman, CIS Management Committee, for further information, to express your own interest, or to suggest candidates for this editorship (<zaslavsk@hcp.med.harvard.edu>, or c/o Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, 180 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115-5899, USA).
The success of CIS depends to a large extent on the dedicated work by its Contributing Editors. They scan about 200 `selected article journals' outside the main stream of statistics and probability for articles with substantial statistical or probabilistic content for inclusion in CIS. In order to increase the range and coverage of such journals and to replace retiring Contributing Editors the Editors of CIS are always looking for volunteers to serve as Contributing Editors.
The criterion for inclusion of an article is that it contains a contribution to statistical methodology or a substantial and innovative application of methodology, not simply a routine use of statistics. Among the areas represented are agriculture, biology, computing, economics, education, epidemiology, genetics, insurance, management, mathematics, medicine, operations research, philosophy, physical sciences, psychology, and social sciences. A list of current selected-article journals is posted on the CIS Web site (http://www.statindex.org). New suggestions (perhaps a subject matter journal that you publish in or that you read regularly) are always welcome, especially if accompanied by an offer to scan that journal regularly for suitable articles. If you run across an article that you think is suitable in an issue from 1997 or earlier of a non-core journal, and it is not in the most recent edition of the CIS database, this may indicate that the journal is a candidate to be added to the list of selected-article journals. We are also interested in increasing our coverage of journals that publish in languages other than English. Titles of articles not in English will be included in CIS together with an English translation. Suggestions for new `core journals' will also be most welcome.
If you would like to help by becoming a Contributing Editor, please send your name and selection of journals (or general area of interest) to the Abstracting Editor, Dr.George Styan (contact information above), who will send you instructions. Each Contributing Editor's name is acknowledged in the printed volume of CIS and each Contributing Editor will receive a complimentary copy of either the printed volume or the CD-ROM version of CIS for his or her personal use.
Alan Zaslavsky
Chairman, CIS Management Committee
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