One year has passed since Plant Root was launched on the start of its long voyage. Let us take a break to commemorate the past year. During 2007, our first year of the journal, the foresighted authors have carved their names on Plant Root and joined the voyage. I would first like to show my gratitude for their contribution to this journal. Prof. Michael B. Jackson, the Chief Editor of Annals of Botany, joined the editorial board to support us. Although we are not yet even far from coast, I can share two observations.

One is that the spectrum of articles appearing in Plant Root is broad even though the purview of this journal is limited to plant roots. In the field of basic plant biology, the developmental processes of individual roots have been studied thoroughly at the molecular level as a model system for analyses of organ development. The next phase is application of that achievement for practical purposes.

The other observation is that we have demon-strated the feasibility of running this journal independently from a commercial publisher. Although we might seek assistance from such a publisher to meet future needs, Plant Root is bubbling creatively in a microbrew kind of state for the meantime. To publish manuscripts, all Subject Editors and Manag-ing Editors were nominated by root scientists and voluntarily served the journal cooperatively via communications, editing, web-site preparation, and publishing of related works. Through their efforts, Plant Root is legitimately run and published by root scientists. These processes concomitantly link root scientists together to reinforce our own scientific community.

Being independent from a commercial publisher enables us to enter new areas of communication and offer knowledge differently, with great flexibility, in ways that established journals might hesitate to undertake. Please solicit ideas from your colleagues and give us your own opinions. Recently, the 9th International Society for Plant Anaerobiosis (ISPA) Conference was held in Sendai, Japan. Immediately thereafter, we began to receive manuscripts from participants in the conference. Through this kind of grass-roots expansion, we are looking forward to receiving your innovative ideas, making use of this journal - the only journal devoted solely to plant root studies - to enhance any root-related studies and activities. Why not carve your name on this stone if you think of yourself as a root scientist? Come join us in making history.

Finally, but actually most importantly, the purpose of this letter is to express my gratitude to our Managing Editors, Subject Editors, and Reviewers, who are contributing sincerely and tirelessly to the handling of manuscripts. I would like to carve the Managing Editors and Subject Editors' names here in commemoration of their continuing efforts on our behalf.

t	Ichirou Karahara Editor-in-chief-Plant Root January 2008