‘From the editor’s desk’: welcome to volume 54

I would like to open Volume 54 by conveying my best wishes for 2022 to our editorial board, publisher, contributors and readers. May we hope that it is a year where we are all less impacted by the ongoing pandemic and begin to return to some sort of normalcy in what ever form that may now take. From the domestic perspective, Australia is beginning to open up again to the rest of the world, although some States such as my own (Western Australia) remain somewhat of a fortress to the rest of the country, and indeed world, albeit with some hope of this changing in February should it be deemed safe to do so.

For those readers who receive the printed version of the journal, you may notice that it is a little more ‘weighty’ than usual. This is because for Volume 54 we have an increased page allocation of 20%, thus facilitating clearing some of the backlog of accepted articles that are awaiting assignation into a specific Volume and Issue. This will help to considerably reduce the time between acceptance to the finalization of articles.

A final reminder that the 25^th International Symposium of the Australian and New Zealand Forensic Science Society (ANZFSS) is being held in Brisbane on 11 to 15 September 2022. By the time you read this Editorial, abstract submissions are well underway, and presently close in early February. Don’t forget to check the website for further details (www.anzfss2022.com). I am hopeful that by the time September rolls around that we are all able to travel without excessive restrictions and hope to see many of you in Brisbane.