The Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series C (Applied Statistics) is a journal of international repute for statisticians both inside and outside the academic world. The journal is concerned with papers which deal with novel solutions to real life statistical problems by adapting or developing methodology, or by demonstrating the proper application of new or existing statistical methods to them. At their heart therefore the papers in the journal are motivated by examples and statistical data of all kinds. The subject-matter covers the whole range of inter-disciplinary fields, e.g. applications in agriculture, genetics, industry, medicine and the physical sciences, and papers on design issues (e.g. in relation to experiments, surveys or observational studies).