Editorial

Citation

Gibson, I. (2006), "Editorial", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 12 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/rpj.2006.15612caa.001

Editorial

It has been a while since I wrote an editorial for the RP Journal. Ian Campbell asked me to write this one, not for sentimental reasons, but because I was involved in the review process for most of the papers in this issue. As you know, the increasing popularity of the journal has led us to divide the editorial review into geographical sectors, with my responsibility being the Asia Pacific region.

The number of papers coming out of Asia in the field of RP has risen dramatically over the last few years, with papers from China and India factoring particularly prominently. Some of you might not be aware of this, but since the journal received an impact factor from SCI, academics from some parts of Asia have targeted the RP Journal because they receive financial remuneration for publications in top-class publications. I wish one day they will do the same for the editors of such journals, but in the meantime I am satisfied that high quality publications will now be submitted to this journal rather than going somewhere else where they might not have the same actual impact within the RP research community.

I note in particular the diversity of the publications in this issue. No fewer than five countries are represented, with papers ranging from systems to materials to applications and software analysis. A number of the papers are focusing on applications which either directly or indirectly involve rapid manufacturing (RM). RM is definitely the hot topic of the moment. One can view RM as an application for RP technology, so there is no need at present to change the title of this journal. The underlying principles for this technology have not changed even if the performances of the machines, the materials and the applications have. All that we need to say is that RP is still as active an area as it was 10 years ago when this journal started to take form. We have come a long way since then but for sure have many miles to go before we sleep.

I hope you appreciate the research efforts that have led to the publication of papers in this issue of the RP Journal. I also hope that you benefit from their insights and results and they help you in formulating and refining your own research. RP is truly a global phenomenon that has forced manufacturers to look at the way they develop new products as well as develop new manufacturing techniques. The research and applications papers published in this journal have gone some way to fuel this revolution and I hope this will continue to support and strengthen activity in this area for years to come.

Ian Gibson