It gives me great pleasure to write this editorial for the special 25th anniversary issue of Drying Technology. My association with the editorial team of Drying Technology started in 1997 when I was still a graduate student under the supervision of Professor A.S. Mujumdar at McGill University in Canada. At that time, the journal looked quite different visually from what it does today, as the journal was not typeset but instead produced from camera-ready manuscripts. It was quite usual to see at least 3 or 4 font types (and sizes!) in one single issue of the journal. Quality-wise, the journal was by no means less superior than it is now, however.
Over the past 10 years, the journal has maintained its status as one of the premier journals in engineering (in chemical/mechanical engineering in general and, of course, drying science and technology in particular). Many positive changes have occurred to the journal, however. Typesetting of the journal began in 2001 (Vol. 19), so the authors enjoyed a nicer journal format. Another big step of the journal was the transition from the former publisher, Marcel Dekker, to Taylor & Francis. The impact factor of the journal has also been on the continuous rise with the present value at 1.029. This number is quite satisfactory considering the fact that the journal publishes only manuscripts related to drying and allied fields and does not cover such diverse areas as other sister engineering (or engineering science) journals. The flow of manuscripts is also on the rise; it is heartwarming to note the continued interest in drying, which is sometimes inaccurately considered as a mundane topic in an era when most research funds are attracted by nano, info, and bio areas.
As is well known to the readers of this journal, drying is more important than many had thought. Apart from being a means to preserve products from being deteriorated, drying is now performed to produce many engineered materials that would not be possible to obtain otherwise. The scale of these materials ranges from macro to nano, of course. Given the fact that almost 100,000 commercial materials need to be dried, this unit operation is and will continue to be indispensable. On the other hand, people will be able to employ it in more and more innovative ways for a variety of purposes. As the editorial team, all of us would certainly love to see (indeed read!) and publish these new ideas.
Under the leadership of the Editor-in-Chief, Professor A.S. Mujumdar, the journal has enjoyed priority when it comes to selecting a medium for papers dealing with drying and dehydration. As associate editor of the journal, I was also blessed by enthusiastic assistance of many individuals for reviewing manuscripts for the journal. With an efficient production team at the publisher (Taylor & Francis), the authors also enjoy the speedy publication they deserve. I take this opportunity to thank all of them. This 25th anniversary special issue celebrates a quarter of a century of successful dissemination of archival research in drying science, technology, and engineering. For a highly specialized subject of long-term interest this is a major accomplishment by any standards.